Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Rosetta's lander Philae wakes up from hibernation

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: June 15, 2015 at 9:36:45 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Rosetta's lander Philae wakes up from hibernation

Philae touchdown
14 June 2015

Rosetta's lander Philae wakes up from hibernation
Rosetta's lander Philae has woken up after seven months in hibernation on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The signals were received at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt at 22:28 CEST on 13 June. More than 300 data packets have been analysed by the teams at the Lander Control Center at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
"Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available," explains DLR Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec. "The lander is ready for operations."
For 85 seconds Philae "spoke" with its team on ground, via Rosetta, in the first contact since going into hibernation in November.
When analysing the status data it became clear that Philae also must have been awake earlier: "We have also received historical data – so far, however, the lander had not been able to contact us earlier."
Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact. There are still more than 8000 data packets in Philae's mass memory which will give the DLR team information on what happened to the lander in the past few days on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Philae shut down on 15 November 2014 at 1:15 CET after being in operation on the comet for about 60 hours. Since 12 March 2015 the communication unit on orbiter Rosetta was turned on to listen out for the lander.
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Comet lander Philae wakes up after seven-month hibernation
By Andrew V. Pestano   |   June 14, 2015 at 10:06 AM

WASHINGTON, June 14 (UPI) -- Philae, the Rosetta mission's lander on Comet 67P, awakened and communicated with the European Space Agency Saturday, after hybernating since November.
It took 10 years for Rosetta to reach the comet and send Philae -- first spacecraft to land on a comet -- down to 67P. Philae ran out of battery and slipped into hibernation 60 hours after landing because it touched down next to a cliff that blocked it solar cells from sunlight.
"For 85 seconds Philae 'spoke' with its team on ground, via Rosetta, in the first contact since going into hibernation in November," ESA said in its official blog. Philae, designed to analyze ice and rock samples from the comet, delivered more than 300 data packets.
"Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact. There are still more than 8000 data packets in Philae's mass memory," the ESA said. Drilling into the comet to examine its chemical attributes is one of the agency's main goals.
The comet, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, is about 190 million miles away from Earth. The Rosetta orbiter had communications turned on since March 12 to listen in case Philae awoke.
"Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available," Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec said. "The lander is ready for operations."
Incredible news! My lander Philae is awake! http://t.co/VtzAQHx4zT pic.twitter.com/SZqnsnNpUZ
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) June 14, 2015

© 2015 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Philae Wakes Up, Makes Contact!
by Bob King on June 14, 2015

The Philae lander "woke up" yesterday afternoon and contacted Earth for the first time since November. Credit: ESA
Fantastic news! Philae's alive and kicking. The lander "spoke" with its team on ground via Rosetta for 85 seconds — its first contact since going into hibernation in November.
Signals were received at ESA's European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt at 4:28 p.m. EDT yesterday June 13. The lander sent more than 300 data packets reporting on its condition as well as information about the comet.
"Philae is doing very well. It has an operating temperature of -35ºC (-31°F) and has 24 watts available," said DLR Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec. "The lander is ready for operations."
Philae spent two hours drifting above Comet 67P/C-G after its harpoons failed to anchor it to the surface. Credit: ESA
If coming out of hibernation isn't surprising enough, it appears Philae has been awake for a while because it included historical data along with its current status in those packets. There are still more than 8000 data packets in Philae's mass memory which will give the mission scientists information on what happened to the lander in the past few days on Comet 67P/C-G.
Philae went into hibernation on November 15, 2014 after running out of battery power. Credit: ESA
Philae shut down on November 15 after about 60 hours of operation on the comet after landing at the base of a steep cliff in a shaded area that prevented the solar panels from charging its batteries. Since March 12, the Rosetta lander has been "listening" for a signal from the lost lander.
First image taken by Philae after landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 12, 2014 showing a steep cliff and one of the lander's legs. Credit: ESA/ROSETTA/PHILAE/CIVA
Throughout, mission scientists remained hopeful that the comet's changing orientation and increase in the intensity of sunlight as it approached perihelion would eventually power up the little lander. Incredible that it really happened.
Yesterday, we looked at the many attempts to find Philae. A day later it's found us!
Both amateurs and professional astronomers across the world are in constant contact sharing observations of Comet 67P/C-G and news from the Rosetta mission. Klim Churyumov, co-discoverer of the comet, had this to say upon hearing the news of Philae's awakening:
"Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Landing probe Philae awake! Everybody, please accept my sincere congratulations! It happened on 13 June 2015 in the day of birthday of my mother – Antonina Mikhailovna (108 years have passed since the day of her birth). And I'm starting from 13 November 2014 to this day, every morning pronounced a short prayer: "Lord, please wake Philae and support Rosetta". God and the Professional Navigators woke Philae! It is fantastic! All the best! – Klim Churyumov.
How poignant Philae awoke on Klim's mother's birthday!
Padma Yanamandra-Fisher, Senior Research Scientist at the Space Science Institute, who runs the PACA site, and comet co-discoverer Klim Churyumov. Courtesy Padma Yanamandra-Fisher
Churyumov made his statement on the Pro-Am Collaborative Astronomy (PACA) site devoted to pro-amateur collaboration during comet observing campaigns. I encourage you to check out the group and participate by submitting your own observations of Comet 67P as it brightens this summer and early fall.

By William Harwood
CBS News
June 14, 2015, 9:56 AM
Philae comet lander wakes up, phones home
A composite image showing how the European Space Agency's Philae lander might have ended up in heavily-shadowed terrain after bouncing across comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during touchdown last November. The lander, which fell silent 60 hours after landing, radioed data back to Earth via the Rosetta orbiter over the weekend, indicating it is finally getting enough sunlight to snap out of electronic hibernation. ESA

The European Space Agency's Philae comet lander, out of power and presumably lost after bouncing into heavily shadowed terrain last November, phoned home Saturday after finally getting enough sunlight on its solar panels to transmit data to the Rosetta orbiter for relay to Earth, ESA reported Sunday.
Hello Earth! Can you hear me? #WakeUpPhilae
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) June 14, 2015
More than 300 data packets were received at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in a burst lasting 85 seconds, the first sign of life from the lander since it went into electronic hibernation Nov. 15, about 60 hours after touchdown.
25 Photos
Historic comet landing

The data were relayed to Earth by ESA's Rosetta orbiter, which released Philae more than three months after matching orbits with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last August.
"Philae is doing very well," project manager Stephan Ulamec said in an ESA blog post. "It has an operating temperature of -35 (degrees Celsius) and has 24 watts available. The lander is ready for operations."
Philae was designed to fire harpoons into the comet's crust at the moment of touchdown to help secure it in the feeble gravity. It also was equipped with ice screws on its landing legs to help hold it down. But the systems failed to operate properly and Philae bounced across the surface, coming to rest in heavily shadowed terrain amid cliffs and piles of debris.
The lander dutifully beamed back data about its surroundings and a handful of pictures that indicated it may have ended up on its side. Whatever its orientation, its solar panels were mostly shadowed, and the lander's batteries quickly drained.
When it finally fell silent, engineers said they were hopeful that as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko moved closer to the sun, the lighting conditions at the landing site would improve, possibly allowing enough sunlight to fall on one or two solar panels to charge up its depleted battery.
The Philae lander, seen in an artist's impression, touches down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November. Ice screws and harpoons failed to lock the lander in place and it bounced away into heavily-shadowed terrain, losing power and slipping into electronic hibernation.
ESA
Engineers still do not know where, exactly, Philae ended up, but Rosetta has identified several candidate landing sites that will be inspected in more detail in the days ahead.
Jean-Pierre Bibring, the lead lander scientist, was optimistic from the start that Philae eventually would get enough sunlight to come out of hibernation.
"I think within the team there is no doubt that we will wake up," he told reporters last year at the American Geophysical Union's Fall meeting in San Francisco. "And the question is OK, in what shape? My suspicion is we'll be in good shape."
The lander faced two major issues. Without power, and with most of the spacecraft in shadow, extreme cold could damage internal systems. And without a minimum amount of solar power, Philae's battery would be unable to charge and its computer system would not be able to reboot.
"For the electricity, we need to have solar panels with a few watts, typically 5 watts, which is sufficient to reboot the system," Bibring said. "If we want to do (science) we need to have another 5 or 7 watts. ... It really depends on how the sun will go over the local horizon. The total energy we need is something like 15 watts, which is less than what you have in your fridge (light)."
Based on the data received Saturday, Philae apparently has more than enough power to function and continue science observations. Analysis of the data indicates the lander actually woke up earlier, but was unable to reach Rosetta.
"Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact," ESA said in a Rosetta blog post. "There are still more than 8,000 data packets in Philae's mass memory, which will give the DLR team information on what happened to the lander in the past few days on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko."
An image from the Philae comet lander showing the tip of one landing leg in forbidding, heavily shadowed terrain. Engineers still do not know exactly where Philae ended up on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
ESA
Rosetta and Philae began their 10-year 3.7-billion-mile odyssey on March 2, 2004, boosted into space by an Ariane 5 rocket. To reach 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the spacecraft had to carry out four planetary flybys, repeatedly using the gravity of Earth and Mars to boost its velocity enough to move out into deep space.
Finally, on Aug. 6 last year, the spacecraft matched orbits with 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to begin a year-and-a-half of close-range observations. Then, on Nov. 12, the Philae lander was released.
The lander was equipped with two downward-firing harpoons and ice screws on its three landing legs designed to hold the craft down in the comet's low gravity.
But the harpoons failed to fire, the ice screws did not engage and Philae bounced off the surface, soaring through a huge arc before coming back down again two hours later. The lander then bounced away again, finally coming to rest lodged in rocks and apparently on its side.
Frames from a panorama taken after it came to rest revealed a nearby cliff and a chaotic jumble of dark rock-like debris casting long shadows and allowing only minimal sunlight to reach Philae's solar cells.
Restoring contact with Philae gives the already successful Rosetta mission a welcome boost. ESA promises "more information when we have it!"

© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Europe's Philae comet lander phones home
14 June 2015 by Astronomy Now
The European Space Agency reports it has received signals from the Philae lander on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Mission managers had always hoped the lander would resume communications once the comet moved close enough to the Sun for the solar powered craft to recharge its batteries.
The signals were received via the lander's Rosetta mothership by ground controllers at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt at 22:28 CEST (2028 GMT) on Saturday, 13 June.
"Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available," DLR Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec told the European Space Agency's Rosetta Blog. "The lander is ready for operations."
The space agency said 300 packets of house keeping data were received in the first transmission but the lander had obviously emerged from hibernation earlier as there are more than 8000 more data packets stored in memory awaiting transmission.
On 12 November 2014 Philae became the first probe to land on a comet but it had bounced several times before appearing to settle in a crevice where its solar panels were starved of sunlight. It operated for 60 hours on its batteries before falling silent.

© 2015 Pole Star Publications Ltd.

Philae Lander Reawakens on Comet
by Peter B. de Selding — June 14, 2015
Mosaic of the first two images showing Rosetta's lander Philae safely on the surface of Comet 67P. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA
PARIS — The German and European space agencies on June 14 said Europe's Philae lander, which has remained silent since mid-November after operating for nearly 60 hours on Comet 67P, reawakened and began sending fresh data for a total of 85 seconds on June 13.
Stephan Ulamec, Philae project manager at the German Aerospace Center, DLR, said Philae's temperature is minus 34 degrees Celsius and that it has 24 watts of available power. "The lander is ready for operations," Ulamec said in a statement.
European officials had been training Philae's mothership, the Rosetta comet chaser satellite, on Comet 67P since March in hopes that, as Comet 67P approaches the Sun, the lander's batteries would recharge sufficiently to permit continued observations from the surface.
Ulamec said an early analysis of the recent data packets show that Philae had in fact awakened earlier and had been collecting data but had been unable to communicate.
© 2015 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.

Comet lander Philae wakes up: How it happened and what's next
An artist's rendering shows Philae on the comet's surface. (European Space Agency)
By Lauren Raab contact the reporter

Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, delighted scientists this weekend by waking up and reestablishing contact with Earth, seven months after running out of power. It "spoke" for more than a minute, according to the European Space Agency, and it's expected to be able to continue gathering information and sending it home.
Hello Earth! Can you hear me? #WakeUpPhilae
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) June 14, 2015
Here's a look at what the lander has done so far and what will happen next.
What is Philae?
Philae is a mobile laboratory the size of a washing machine that landed in November on a comet as part of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. The mission was launched to better study the makings of comets, which scientists believe date back to the earliest days of the solar system.

Is Philae's awakening a surprise?
Somewhat. Scientists had hoped that as the comet approached the sun, the lander would get enough charge through its solar panels, but they didn't know when or whether that would happen. That's because when Philae reached the comet's surface, it bounced, so it didn't end up in its intended landing spot. Instead, it settled in a place where it was surrounded by rock-like structures that blocked the sun.
Why did Philae wake up now?
The comet finally brought it close enough to the sun. If Philae had landed at the intended site, it probably would have overheated and become useless by March, according to the European Space Agency. Because Philae is in a shadowy spot, though, being nearer to the sun is what's enabling it to power up. The comet will travel closer and closer to the sun until August, when its orbit will pull it away again.
Where is Philae?
The lander is on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a comet that orbits the sun along a path between Earth and Jupiter, but its exact location on the comet's surface is unclear. Philae is so small that images taken by its mother ship Rosetta, which is orbiting the comet, have not revealed its position.
What has Philae accomplished?
In November, during the nearly 60 hours Philae could operate on battery power, the lander scooped up material from the comet's surface, took its temperature, sent radio waves through its nucleus and went hunting for hints of organic material.
Because comets are believed to date back to our solar system's earliest days, they can provide clues about the solar system's formation. Scientists wonder, for example, how big a role magnetic fields played in causing the gas and dust that surrounded the young sun to clump together into objects such as planets and moons. Measurements from Philae helped scientists find that the nucleus of comet 67P is not magnetized. If that's representative of all comets, they concluded, "magnetic forces are unlikely to have played a role in the accumulation of planetary building blocks greater than one meter in size."
Philae also took the first panoramic images from the surface of a comet.
Philae's first panorama from its point of final touchdown, with a superimposed sketch of the lander in what scientists believed was its position. (European Space Agency)
What did scientists find over the weekend?
On Saturday, Philae communicated for 85 seconds with the team on Earth, but it must have come out of hibernation before then, because there are more than 8,000 data packets in the lander's memory, according to the European Space Agency. The team has analyzed more than 300 packets so far and are waiting for more communication, it said.
"Philae is doing very well," Stephan Ulamec, the space agency's Philae project manager, said in a statement. "The lander is ready for operations."
What's next?
Now that Philae is communicating again, scientists hope to find out exactly where on the comet it's located and to have it do experiments it couldn't take on before it ran out of power in November.
One bonus of the timing is that Philae should be operational during the time the comet is closest to the sun, a point called perihelion, European Space Agency system engineer Laurence O'Rourke told CNN.
"It's incredible that we have a chance to get data from the surface of a comet approaching perihelion," O'Rourke said. "We weren't expecting that."
Times staff writer Deborah Netburn contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times

European space probe, thought lost, awakes in comet's shadows
By Thomas Atkins

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A robotic space lander has surprised scientists by waking up and sending a signal to Earth, seven months after straying into the shadows of a comet where they feared it might be marooned for ever.
The European Space Agency said on Sunday that it had received signals from the lander, named Philae, late on Thursday, when it began "speaking" with its team on the ground for the first time since it went into emergency hibernation following a botched landing on the comet in November.
Scientists believe the space probe is receiving increasing amounts of sunlight as the comet speeds closer to the sun, enabling its solar panels to produce the power needed for it to send data.
"There's great excitement about it being back," ESA senior science adviser Mark McCaughrean told Reuters by telephone. "But we have to make sure it's not the last croak of a dying cowboy."
In the shadows, Philae's solar panels, which were meant to power the probe after its batteries ran out several days after landing, received far less than the expected six to seven hours sunshine per day. It went into hibernation on Nov. 15.
After reawakening, Philae "spoke" for 85 seconds with its team on the ground via its mothership Rosetta, which is orbiting the comet at a distance of about 6.5 km (4 miles). Analysis of the detailed data suggests the lander had been awake earlier but unable to make contact, ESA said.
"It's very fascinating and we're all very happy to have received this signal," project manager Stephan Ulamec told Reuters by phone. "The lander seems to be perfectly healthy."
Philae's official Twitter account also came back to life on Sunday, tweeting: "Hello Earth! Can you hear me?"
Scientists hope that samples drilled from the roughly 3-by-5 km comet by Philae will unlock details about how the planets – and possibly even life – evolved. The rock and ice that make up comets preserve ancient organic molecules like a time capsule.
The lander was released from Rosetta in November after a 6.4 billion km journey that took more than 10 years - a mission that cost close to 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion).
But harpoons to anchor Philae to the surface failed to deploy and it bounced twice before floating to rest two hours later. Scientists scoured the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for months in the hope that the lander would revive.
The mood at ESA shot from despondency to "unalloyed joy" when the first signal arrived, triggering a flurry of midnight emails and emergency meetings among scientists keen to see what Philae would reveal, said McCaughrean.
The challenge now is to assess the state of the lander itself, with scientists waiting for the next contact. There are still more than 8,000 data packets in Philae's mass memory that will provide information on what happened in the past few days, ESA said.
Comets date back to the formation of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago. Some scientists suspect comets delivered water to Earth when they collided with the planet aeons ago.
"Comets are treasure chests of material from the birth of the solar system," McCaughrean said.
Scientists must now race to extract as much data from the comet as possible before its orbit takes it back away from the sun in several months' time and towards the outer reaches of the solar system.
At that point, the mother ship Rosetta will have burned most of its fuel. Unable to maneuver, scientists are likely to let it spiral slowly towards the comet's surface, making an increasingly detailed analysis from above until it comes to rest and loses contact with the Earth.
(Editing by Digby Lidstone)
Copyright © 2015 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Spacecraft that landed on comet finally wakes up
.
BERLIN (AP) — To scientists' relief and delight, the Philae spacecraft that landed on a comet last fall has woken up and communicated with Earth after seven long months of silence, the European Space Agency announced Sunday.
Philae became the first spacecraft to settle on a comet when it touched down on icy 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November. But the solar-powered probe came down with a bounce and ended up in the shadow of a cliff instead of in direct sunlight.
As a result, Philae managed to conduct experiments and send data to Earth for only about 60 hours before its batteries ran out and it was forced to shut down its systems and go silent.
Scientists had hoped the probe would wake up again as the comet approached the sun, enabling Philae's solar panels to soak up enough light to charge the craft's main battery. But there were fears its mission would be cut short.
Those fears were dismissed at 10:28 p.m. (2028 GMT; 4:28 p.m. EDT) on Saturday, when the lander sent a signal back to Earth.
"I'm not really surprised it happened, but if you wait for several months and then suddenly in the middle of the night you get a call saying, 'We have a signal from Philae,' it's exciting," said Stephan Ulamec, project manager at the German Aerospace Center, or DLR. "We're very happy."
The brief burst of communication contained 300 packages of data that were relayed by the probe's mother ship, Rosetta, which is orbiting the comet.
"We only received data for about 85 seconds. These data are housekeeping and system data from the lander," Ulamec said. But it was enough to tell scientists that the probe is doing well and getting sufficient sunlight to keep communicating.
Ulamec said the probe appears to have been awake for several days before it called home.
Scientists will now work to change Rosetta's orbit so that the link to the lander lasts longer and they can start sending commands for it to carry out new measurements. The next opportunity to communicate with Philae should come on Sunday night, Ulamec said.
Scientists also hope that Philae's restart will allow them to pinpoint where on the 2.5-mile (4-kilometer)-wide comet the washing machine-size probe landed. Its exact location has been a mystery.
On Aug. 13, the comet will reach the point at which it is closest to the sun before swinging back out again. Ulamec said the lander should get enough sunlight to operate until October, when it will once again fall silent, possibly forever.
Copyright © 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

It's Alive! Comet Lander Philae Phones Home After Months of Silence
by Tariq Malik, Space.com Managing Editor   |   June 14, 2015 08:50am ET

The European Space Agency's Philae comet lander is seen by the Rosetta spacecraft in this image captured on Nov. 12, 2014 as Philae headed for its landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The probe went silent 60 hours later and reawakened on June 13, 2015.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA View full size image
A European probe that made a bouncy landing on a comet last year, and then slipped into a silent hibernation, is alive again and phoning home.
The European Space Agency's Philae comet lander, which dropped onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from the Rosetta spacecraft last November, beamed an 85-second wake-up message to Earth via Rosetta yesterday (June 13), ESA officials announced today. It was the first signal from Philae in seven months since the probe fell silent on Nov. 15 after its historic comet landing.
"Philae is doing very well," Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), said in a statement. "The lander is ready for operations." [See more comet photos from Rosetta and Philae]
According to Ulamec, Philae is currently experience temperatures of minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 35 degrees Celsius) and has about 24 watts of power available. During its wake-up call to Earth, Philae beamed 300 data packets home and was most likely active before the first signal reached Earth on Saturday, ESA officials said.
"We have also received historical data – so far, however, the lander had not been able to contact us earlier," Ulamec said in the same statement.
These images from the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft show the approach of the Philae comet lander (insets) to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Nov. 12, 2015, including views of the probe's bounces on the surface.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
View full size image
Philae is a solar-powered probe about the size of a washing machine that landed on Comet 67P on Nov. 12, 2014. It dropped to the surface from its mothership Rosetta, but bounced twice when its anchor-like harpoon system failed to secure it to the surface. The probe ultimately ended up in the shadow of a cliff face on the comet. After about 60 hours the probe's batteries ran out and it went into hibernation on Nov. 15.
Over the last seven months, Rosetta and Philae mission scientists in Europe have hoped that once Comet 67P approached closer to the sun, Philae might receive enough sunlight to wake itself up from its forced slumber. Those hopes, it seems, have finally been realized.
This European Space Agency image of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko show the five most likely candidates for the final landing spot of the Philae lander after it separated from the Rosetta spacecraft on Nov. 12, 2015. The top left candidate may be the most likely site for Philae.
Credit: Centre image: ESA/Rosetta/NavCam – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0; insets: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
View full size image
ESA officials said Philae has more details about Comet 67P to share with scientists on Earth.
"Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact," ESA officials wrote in a statement. "There are still more than 8,000 data packets in Philae's mass memory which will give the DLR team information on what happened to the lander in the past few days on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko."
The Rosetta comet mission launched toward Comet 67P in 2004 and traveled 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) over 10 years to reach its destination. Rosetta arrived at the comet in August 2014 and is expected to continue studying 67P through December.

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