1446: Landing
| Landing |
![[LIVE]](/wiki/index.php/File:%3F%3F%3F.png) Title text: [LIVE] |
Explanation
|
This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Buckle up, boys and girls. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks. |
This comic changes over time, tracking the progress of the Philae lander separating from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe to land on a comet. More info about it at rosetta.esa.int.
Frames of the comic began appearing at midnight (EST) on November 12, 2014 and updated every five minutes. Together, the images form a flip book, which you can view at xkcd1446.org.
The title text was originally "...", but changed to "[LIVE]" at <Fill in time here>.
Frame by Frame Breakdown
| Image | Day/Time |
|---|---|
| 00:00:00 | 1/00:00:00 |
| 00:05:00 | 1/00:05:00 |
| 00:10:00 | 1/00:10:00 |
| 00:15:00 | 1/00:15:00 |
| 00:20:00 | 1/00:20:00 |
| 00:25:00 | 1/00:25:00 |
| 00:30:00 | 1/00:30:00 |
| 00:35:00 | 1/00:35:00 |
| 00:40:00 | 1/00:40:00 |
| 00:45:00 | 1/00:45:00 |
| 00:50:00 | 1/00:50:00 |
| 00:55:00 | 1/00:55:00 |
| 01:00:00 | 1/01:00:00 |
| 01:05:00 | 1/01:05:00 |
| 01:10:00 | 1/01:10:00 |
| 01:15:00 | 1/01:15:00 |
| 01:20:00 | 1/01:20:00 |
| 01:25:00 | 1/01:25:00 |
| 01:30:00 | 1/01:30:00 |
| 01:35:00 | 1/01:35:00 |
| 01:40:00 | 1/01:40:00 |
| 01:45:00 | 1/01:45:00 |
| 01:50:00 | 1/01:50:00 |
| 01:55:00 | 1/01:55:00 |
| 02:00:00 | 1/02:00:00 |
| 02:05:00 | 1/02:05:00 |
| 02:10:00 | 1/02:10:00 |
| 02:15:00 | 1/02:15:00 |
| 02:20:00 | 1/02:20:00 |
| 02:25:00 | 1/02:25:00 |
| 02:30:00 | 1/02:30:00 |
| 02:35:00 | 1/02:35:00 |
| 02:40:00 | 1/02:40:00 |
| 02:45:00 | 1/02:45:00 |
| 02:50:00 | 1/02:50:00 |
| 02:55:00 | 1/02:55:00 |
| 03:00:00 | 1/03:00:00 |
| 03:05:00 | 1/03:05:00 |
| 03:10:00 | 1/03:10:00 |
| 03:25:00 | 1/03:25:00 |
| 03:35:00 | 1/03:35:00 |
| 03:40:00 | 1/03:40:00 |
| 03:50:00 | 1/03:50:00 |
| 04:10:00 | 1/04:10:00 |
| 04:15:00 | 1/04:15:00 |
| 04:20:00 | 1/04:20:00 |
| 04:25:00 | 1/04:25:00 |
| 04:30:00 | 1/04:30:00 |
| 04:35:00 | 1/04:35:00 |
| 04:40:00 | 1/04:40:00 |
| 04:45:00 | 1/04:45:00 |
| 04:50:00 | 1/04:50:00 |
| 04:55:00 | 1/04:55:00 |
| 10:00:00 | 1/10:00:00 |
| 10:10:00 | 1/10:10:00 |
| 10:15:00 | 1/10:15:00 |
| 10:25:00 | 1/10:25:00 |
| 10:30:00 | 1/10:30:00 |
| 10:35:00 | 1/10:35:00 |
| 10:40:00 | 1/10:40:00 |
| 10:45:00 | 1/10:45:00 |
| 10:50:00 | 1/10:50:00 |
| 10:55:00 | 1/10:55:00 |
| 11:00:00 | 1/11:00:00 |
| 11:05:00 | 1/11:05:00 |
| 11:10:00 | 1/11:10:00 |
| 11:15:00 | 1/11:15:00 |
| 11:20:00 | 1/11:20:00 |
| 11:25:00 | 1/11:25:00 |
| 11:30:00 | 1/11:30:00 |
| 11:35:00 | 1/11:35:00 |
| 11:40:00 | 1/11:40:00 |
| 11:45:00 | 1/11:45:00 |
| 11:50:00 | 1/11:50:00 |
| 11:55:00 | 1/11:55:00 |
| 12:00:00 | 1/12:00:00 |
| 12:05:00 | 1/12:05:00 |
| 12:10:00 | 1/12:10:00 |
| 12:15:00 | 1/12:15:00 |
| 12:20:00 | 1/12:20:00 |
| 12:25:00 | 1/12:25:00 |
| 12:30:00 | 1/12:30:00 |
| 12:35:00 | 1/12:35:00 |
| 12:40:00 | 1/12:40:00 |
| 12:45:00 | 1/12:45:00 |
| 12:50:00 | 1/12:50:00 |
| 12:55:00 | 1/12:55:00 |
Transcript
00:35:00
- Rosetta: Three hours to separation
00:45:00
- Philae: Has anyone ever tried this before?
00:50:00
- Rosetta: I don't think so.
01:25:00
- Rosetta: Ready to begin pre-delivery burn.
02:20:00
- Rosetta: We are go for separation!
02:25:00
- Rosetta: We are go for separation!
- Philae: Yessss!
03:05:00
- Philae: Can I just go now?
03:25:00
- Rosetta: Well it's been a fun 10 years together.
03:35:00
- Rosetta: Well it's been a fun 10 years together.
- Philae: Yeah! ... a little boring maybe.
03:50:00
- Rosetta: Ok, turning on concert. I'll send you signals through the comet, once you're down there, so we can measure what's inside it.
- Philae: Assuming comets even have insides!
- Rosetta: I'm, uh, pretty sure they do.
04:10:00
- Philae: Wheee!
04:15:00
- Rosetta: Quick, take a picture of me!
- Philae: Just take a selfie
- Rosetta: Can't. No front-facing camera
10:00:00
- Rosetta: Bye
10:15:00
- Philae: Spaaaaaaaace
10:25:00
- Rosetta: Lost track of earth thanks to that jolt.
10:30:00
- Rosetta: Lost track of earth thanks to that jolt. Let's see, where is it...
10:35:00
- Rosetta: Lost track of earth thanks to that jolt. Let's see, where is it... Aha!
10:40:00
- Rosetta: Hey! Earth!
10:45:00
- Rosetta: Hey! Earth! Check out these pics!
10:55:00
- Philae: Gonna harpoon a comet.
11:00:00
- Philae: Gonna harpoon a comet. This is so cool.
11:05:00
- Philae: Gonna harpoon a comet. This is so cool.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Not in space
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
11:10:00
- Philae: Gonna harpoon a comet. This is so cool. ... I hope harpoons work on comets.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Not in space
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
11:15:00
- Philae: Gonna harpoon a comet. This is so cool. ... I hope harpoons work on comets.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Not in space
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
11:20:00
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Not in space
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
11:25:00
- Philae: Hey Rosetta - you in touch with Earth?
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Not in space
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
11:30:00
- Philae: Hey Rosetta - you in touch with Earth?
- Rosetta: Yes!
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Not in space
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
11:35:00
- Philae: Hey Rosetta - you in touch with Earth?
- Rosetta: Yes! ... They're a little worried about your top thruster.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Not in space
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
11:40:00
- Rosetta: ... They're a little worried about your top thruster.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
11:45:00
- Rosetta: ... They're a little worried about your top thruster. There's a chance you might have to hang on to the surface without it.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
11:50:00
- Rosetta: ... They're a little worried about your top thruster. There's a chance you might have to hang on to the surface without it.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: In space
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
11:55:00
- Rosetta: ... They're a little worried about your top thruster. There's a chance you might have to hang on to the surface without it.
- Philae: I really hope harpoons work on comets.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Worried
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
12:05:00
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Worried
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
12:10:00
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
12:15:00
- Philae: Harpoons work on whales, right?
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
12:20:00
- Philae: Harpoons work on whales, right?
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Whales: Not in space
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
12:25:00
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Whales: Not in space
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
12:30:00
- [Whale appears inside the comet]
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Whales: Probably Not in space
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
12:35:00
- [Whale marked "Probably not"]
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Whales: Probably Not in space
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
- Has anybody tried this before: Nope
12:40:00
- Rosetta: They should be getting the pictures back on earth about now.
- Philae: The 28-minute delay is weird.
- Rosetta: I'm watching for the √seen 12:41 pm message.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Whales: Probably Not in space
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
- Has anybody tried this before: Nope
12:45:00
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Whales: Probably Not in space
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
- Has anybody tried this before: Nope
12:50:00
- Philae lander: Not to obsess, but what do I do of I touch down on a big slab of rock? Pretty sure harpoons don't work on rock.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Worried
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Whales: Probably Not in space
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
- Has anybody tried this before: Nope
12:50:00
- Philae lander: Not to obsess, but what do I do of I touch down on a big slab of rock? Pretty sure harpoons don't work on rock.
- Rosetta: Don't worry - the rocks should be full of pockets where ice used to be. Your harpoons will crunch right through.
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Brave
- Mission control: Worried
- Comet 67P: Big
- Whales: Probably Not in space
- Have we landed on a comet?: Not yet
- Do harpoons work on comets: Hopefully
- Has anybody tried this before: Nope
add a comment! ⋅ add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ 
refresh comments!Discussion
In 2021 July comic was broken!((
I would bet money that this comic will have to do with the Rosetta Lander that will be landing on a comet for the first time in history this morning. Info about it at Rosetta.esa.int
108.162.237.173 05:37, 12 November 2014 (UTC)pH
- from xkcd1446.org: "Note: This event is over. You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to browse through the images" 108.162.221.113 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Almost definitely. The URL for the image (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-40-00_wmf0bPtxDN.png) contains 'landing'.
Love this comic108.162.241.196 22:33, 17 May 2018 (UTC)
DeedleFake (talk) 05:44, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
The image changes every five minutes. (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-35-00_lVC98SMY1X.png) followed by (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-40-00_wmf0bPtxDN.png) followed by (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-45-00_MZprhbADHL.png) then (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-50-00_Z63bWhoaxd.png) (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-55-00_2wCeCFN0R1.png) (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-00-00_FRnIhqA5IZ.png) (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-05-00_Os6SVGalch.png) (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-10-00_xn4nUL9lry.png) http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-15-00_soIuPGfUYh.png , also I'm sorry about deleting other people's comments - firefox decided to not show the "other people have edited this" page :(. If anyone's interested, here's the command I'm using to grab the urls:
while :; do http --stream --body http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/landing\?method\=EventSource | awk '/png/ { print $2 }' | perl -ne '/(r_.+png)/; print "$1\n";' ; done
where the 'http' command is from http://httpie.org - not the neatest way to do it, but it works ;) Forkbomb (talk) 05:47, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Forkbomb, you are not supposed to delete other's comments... Yes. It is definitely about Rosetta. The image changed at 9.35 pm PST and it says "Three hours to separation", i.e. 12.35am PST, which is exactly the time at which PHILAE is going to separate... image_seen rosetta timeline
199.27.128.237 05:50, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Is anyone collecting URLs? I assume there's an easy automated way to do this that was used for Time. If not...
LONG LIST OF URLs HIDDEN. CLICK EXPAND OVER THERE →
Randall switched to SSL after 1:30 but you can of course use either server.
- Marcustyphoon/108.162.219.244 07:37, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-45-00_MZprhbADHL.png) "Has anyone ever tried this before?" "No but fetishes have to start somewhere, right?" Nexxuz (talk)
Probably just a mistake, but the transcript in the html source of 1446 is from 1445. --Pascal (talk) 05:58, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
It fetches things using this javascript tag.. <script type="text/javascript" src="/s/c3b919.js"></script> I've pasted it in pastebin, can we get zealous and fetch the images before they actually show up ? :P link_to_javascript 199.27.128.237 06:04, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
By the way, the current explanation says it's pinging c4.xkcd for updates. From the javascript source, it looks like there's more than one server for this: var SERVERS = ["http://c0.xkcd.com", "http://c1.xkcd.com", "http://c2.xkcd.com", "http://c3.xkcd.com", "http://c4.xkcd.com", "http://c5.xkcd.com", "http://c6.xkcd.com", "http://c7.xkcd.com"]; So that would be c0 to c7
Unfortuantely, as I had suggested, it seems that we cannot grab all the images beforehand :( The javascript only fetches a json, which actually gives image name. So there's a server side script running which generates the paths to actual images. The javascript just shows it.. You can see the json here. 199.27.128.237 06:23, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Attempting to load the URL directly in Firefox results in unreadable results, but it's something like
id: acae0462-6a34-11e4-8001-002590720087
event: comic/landing
data: {"image":"r_01-25-00_ADajYkIBoR.png","spread":1}
There are several other events as well, such as 'reload' and 'heartbeat'. DeedleFake (talk) 06:32, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
By the way, that UUID (i.e. acae0462-6a34-11e4-8001-002590720087) seems to encode the time the image was uploaded as a v1 UUID. Maths22 (talk) 06:58, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
The best part of this is ninja-ing the image uploads. The xkcd servers seem to be off atomic time by around 45 seconds. Skylarmt (talk) 06:45, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
What are people's thoughts on changing the image label to an image number? It seems redundant to use the timestamp twice, but I copied it over from time. Davidy²²[talk] 07:06, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
A lovely explanation. Itaigreif (talk) 07:45, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Why is the comic titled "???" and not "Rosetta" or something? Smperron (talk) 08:02, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- "Rosetta" would have given the game away in the first few minutes before we could figure it out. "???" is a strange choice, though. 103.22.201.157 09:20, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
The page has changed name from "???" to "Landing" about 5AM, and title text changed from "..." to "[LIVE]". Not sure about actual times, and don't know how to rename page. Can someone else handle this? 141.101.89.217 10:12, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
At 00:03:50 the comic mentions turning on CONCERT, which I think is a typo and should be CONSERT --Pudder (talk) 10:56, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I think this is a typo Randall made on purpose. SirKitKat (talk) 15:45, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Welp - if it's a joke or other reference, it's lost on me - do you have an explanation for what it could mean if intentional? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 19:15, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Keep uploading the images under the current naming convention, guys, I'll do a batch move to "landing[X]" later when things die down a little. Davidy²²[talk] 11:02, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Check out http://xkcd1446.org/list.json. E.g. http://xkcd1446.org/img/r_11-30-00_DEpbhsl54D.png. 141.101.105.189 11:54, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Shouldn't we write up the changing "Time until landing: [x] hours" top text in the transcripts as well? Phantom (talk) 12:39, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Oh no, not again! Petunia 12:45, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- What? What's happening? -- Bowl (talk) 19:20, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Hurling towards the ground, with all of these stupid whales around... well, "hurling" would have been better actually, so it could all end quicker. Instead, it is tens of thousands of times slower than last time. And instead of splatting, the whales are bouncing... they seem to be enjoying this. Petunia 08:07, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
In the transcript, added or changed text should be in bold for easy reading? also, this format reads a lot easier then the transcript. - sir KitKat - 141.101.64.137 12:57, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I think so. After adding 'Status Report' it's even harder to read it. Graphene (talk) 13:01, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I'm not sure... the purpose of the transcript is not to make it easier for those too lazy to compare the images and find what changed between them, but just to represent what the images contain for those that can not see them... preferably as accurately as possible, i.e. with the original formatting. 141.101.93.206 13:10, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I'd agree with the transcript not containing formatting that changes - especially since that formatting may confuse (or be confused with) the formatting used for emphasis in the comic itself - perhaps we could have a separated "changes" version of the transcript on another page? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 17:34, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Maybe the transcript should move to a subpage to avoid clutter? And can we add a section for the lazy people to follow the changes without going through every image? SirKitKat (talk) 15:18, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- By the way, the bold changed stuff helped me notice some subtle changes :) SirKitKat (talk) 15:27, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Did anyone notice that not all whales disappeared at 13:30? One is hidden behind the mountains in the background with a "? ->" pointing at it. I wonder if this should be included in the transcript... Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 14:28, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- It should be in a transcript. I missed it while editing. My apologies for that. Graphene (talk) 15:28, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
I did just notice that clicking on the image now takes you to http://xkcd1446.org/. 141.101.104.4 16:23, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
LONG LIST OF URLs HIDDEN. CLICK EXPAND OVER THERE →
Where is Randall getting his info? His news is the most current I can find - anyone have a good link to up-to-the-minute status reporting like Randall is providing, preferably with more detail? --Nipchee (talk) 18:08, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Nipchee: This seems to be very up-to-date: http://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/live/2014/nov/12/rosetta-comet-landing-live-blog 108.162.219.150 18:11, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- This one is pretty good: https://newscientist.creatavist.com/rosetta#chapter-132425 (scroll to bottom)
- Also, here is the list of feeds from ESA: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Live_updates_Rosetta_mission_comet_landing GreenWyvern (talk) 18:26, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I could imagine that, combining his influence as a web celebrity and connections he's maintained since working with NASA, he might be able to get a few extra details before everyone else (?) -- Brettpeirce (talk) 19:06, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
On a related note - what exactly is the distinction between "impact" and "landing" other than the perhaps intent? Is the result factored in as well? Where is the threshold between the two? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 19:10, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
I'd say it's more to do with the level of control. An impact is when an object forcibly hits something else, a landing is when it's directed and doesn't result in 10 years of wasted effort and money. --141.101.104.15 20:27, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Okay, looks like the comic is done, unless he picks it up again after radio contact resumes. -- Frankie (talk) 21:35, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- from xkcd1446.org: "Note: This event is over. You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to browse through the images" 108.162.221.113 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
p.s. The vertical sprawl here (particularly in the Frame by Frame section) is really ugly. It should be subdivided and/or columnized like in 1190: Time. -- Frankie (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- I doubt it's over yet. Also, it's actually a bit annoying to do multiple columns of homogenous data a la time, and those were done post-hoc. Subdivision and collapsing is a thing that could happen though. Davidy²²[talk] 22:59, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Did anyone notice 16-05 and 16-10 are missing from xkcd1446.org? Saibot84 21:41, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Why does it jump from 55 minutes to 75 minutes at image #33? Keavon (talk) 22:50, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
I love the GIF, good work, but is there any way it could be slowed down about 1/4 to 1/2 a second longer for a few frames, espicaly while the lander is landing. It is hard to catch all the jokes. Not all Frames need to be the same speed. 108.162.216.209 13:40, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
Not convinced there's any special reference to Hitchhiker's here. People seem to believe that "space whale art" was popular in the 1970s, and we know there were space whales in fiction long before the Guide, at least in Robert F. Young's series of stories published in genre magazines like F&SF and If starting in 1962, and in Pinocchio in Outer Space, an animated feature film from 1965. Pesthouse (talk) 23:09, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
- Might also be a reference to the second episode of "Futurama" — title: "The Series Has Landed". In that episode there is an amusement park on the moon with animated robots dressed as whalers (which is itself a parody of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction) singing "We're whalers on the moon; we carry a harpoon; but there ain't no whales so we tell tall tales; and sing our whaling tune."108.162.216.94 09:35, 14 November 2014 (UTC)
"Since the event is over, and the images don't show the rebounds, we can guess that Randall made all or most of the drawings before the landing." - I disagree with this statement. Between 16:35 and 16:55 you can clearly see Philae settle (stop moving), jostle, and settle again. You may have to watch the GIF closely to notice it. Smperron (talk) 04:36, 14 November 2014 (UTC)
All plain URLs:
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See The whale and the petunias. I wanted to include the picture but it's not licensed. --Thnidu (talk) 21:43, 15 November 2014 (UTC)
The image on the comic updated to [1], there may be more missing frames. 188.114.98.207 16:29, 18 November 2014 (UTC)
And now getting smaller! [2]
108.162.219.164 18:05, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
Did randall made a mistake with the "US Scientists" and fixed it to just plain "Scientists" when someone warned him about the mission being from European Scientists ? --173.245.52.108 23:42, 25 November 2014 (UTC)
It appears to be over, and is now (forever?) blank [3]. --199.27.128.182 20:08, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
These were not logged here at the wiki. Check the xkcd forum for release details.
https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_148_MLFkxqV4Dy.png https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_149_CQkN74U21V.png https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_150_LhNsD4qM0F.png https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_151_T9etbD9OH6.png
Azule (talk) 21:01, 1 December 2014 (UTC)
The image was updated! Now there is world thinking about Philae 108.162.229.91 21:34, 11 December 2014 (UTC)
There is a new image over at http://xkcd.com/1446/ !!! "Time since landing: 211 days" Philae says hi! https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta 162.158.80.59 13:36, 14 June 2015 (UTC)
![[1]](https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_149_CQkN74U21V.png){kind=link}
![[2]](https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_151_T9etbD9OH6.png){kind=link}
![[3]](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/%3F%3F%3F.png){kind=link}