Comet lander starts drilling amid battery life worries

The good news: The spacecraft that landed on a comet has begun drilling beneath the surface to see what secrets the celestial body can reveal.

The bad news: Scientists at the European Space Agency still don’t know exactly where the lander is on the comet and are anxiously hoping its batteries hold out long enough for them to get the mining data and adjust the spacecraft’s position.

It was a race against time yesterday for the Philae lander, which on Wednesday became the first spacecraft to touch down on a comet.