Rosetta's Philae Lander Wakes Up on Comet 67P
Posted on June 14, 2015
Rosetta's Philae lander is awake. The spacecraft landed on Comet 67P last November. It was unknown if the lander would be able to regain power after its solar-powered battery expired shortly after landing. The lander operated for 60 hours before going into hibernation. The European Space Agency had the lander successfully transmit some data before it went into hibernation mode.
The ESA released the above cartoon image of Philae waking up. The ESA says in a statement that the lander communicated with the ESA on the ground via Rosetta for 85 seconds.
DLR Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec says, "Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available. The lander is ready for operations."
Now that the Philae lander is back there is excitement that scientists will soon be able to retrieve a lot more data.
ESA scientist Mark McCaughrean told BBC News, "I think we're optimistic now that it's awake that we'll have several months of scientific data to pore over."
Hello @Philae2014! You’ve had a long sleep, about 7 months!
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) June 14, 2015Image: ESA