It’s been a restful few months for the Philae Lander.
Back in November, the stove-sized robot successfully landed on a comet, where it was supposed to gather information about the space rock as part of the Rosetta mission. The objectives were to analyze the chemical makeup of the space rock and determine how it interacts with the sun. Philae was even tweeting back its progress:
Now that I’m safely on the ground, here is what my new home #67P looks like from where I am. #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/gFmt8Ldvpa
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 13, 2014
At some point, however, the machine’s anchoring mechanism failed and it slid across to an area with no sunlight, leaving its batteries deprived of solar energy. Soon, Philae shut down, and scientists have been trying to communicate with it ever since.
My #lifeonacomet has just begun @ESA_Rosetta. I’ll tell you more about my new home, comet #67P soon… zzzzz #CometLanding
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 15, 2014
That’s why officials with the European Space Agency were baffled when the comet lander suddenly contacted them. The agency received a surprise signal from the lander, which also transmitted a host of data.
Hello Earth! Can you hear me? #WakeUpPhilae
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) June 14, 2015
Officials are now eagerly awaiting the lander’s next contact, as its memory still contains more than 8,000 data packets that will tell them what’s been happening on the comet recently. The timing for its sudden wakeup call couldn’t have been better, either. The comet Philae is on is expected to make its closest approach to the sun yet in August, and amazing images should follow. The Rosette spacecraft, meanwhile, couldn’t be happier to know it’s lander is safe and sound.
Oh, OK @ESA_Rosetta! I’m still a bit tired anyway… talk to you later! Back to #lifeonacomet!
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) June 14, 2015
According to CNN, Scientists say that Philae has already helped change the overall perception of comets in space. So let’s just hope she doesn’t take another nap before August.
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