Sunshine wakes up ESA comet lander Philae

Comet lander Philae has woken up from hibernation after being missing for months.

Mon, 15 Jun, 2015 - 01:00

Shern Noah

The European Space Agency (Esa) announced the news in a tweet, which read: “Incredible news! My lander Philae is awake!” It said the probe communicated with the ground team for 85 seconds last night.

Philae had been in hibernation since November when it became the first spacecraft to touch down on the surface of a comet. It is designed to analyse ice and rock on 67P.

The German Aerospace Centre, which operates Philae, said the lander resumed communication at 10.28pm local time last night, sending data to earth via its mother ship Rosetta, which is orbiting the comet.

“Philae is doing very well,” project manager Stephan Ulamec said.

Hello @ESA_Rosetta! I'm awake! How long have I been asleep? #Lifeonacomet
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) June 14, 2015

Shortly after its historic landing, Philae managed to send data to earth for about 60 hours before its batteries were depleted.

In January, Esa called off the dedicated search for the probe. Scientists still do not know precisely where Philae touched down on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 12, after bouncing twice on the icy comet when its anchoring system failed.