2.57pm
The landing has just become riskier. The cold gas thruster appears not to be working on Philae. This thruster is on top of the lander and is designed to push the spacecraft onto the comet as the harpoons and drills anchor Philae to the surface. Without the thruster, the risk of Philae bouncing off the surface is increased.
The truster problem is the reason for the delay in last night’s third go/nogo. At one point, Paolo Ferri, Head of Mission Operations, European Space Agency, ESOC, said that it looked as if the third go would not be given. When the confirmation came, it was an hour later than originally planned.
All other systems on the lander are working as expected. Philae must now depend upon three screws to drill the legs into the surface, and two harpoons that it will fire into the comet as well.
- from the guardian.com live blog