Philae Wakes Up... Again!

After its hotly hoped-for and dramatic landing place on comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko , the Philae lander captured the humankind ’s attending . Landing a robot the size of a washing machine on a clod of rock traveling135,000 kilometers per hour(84,000 mph ) more than 482 million kilometers ( 300 million mile ) aside is belike one of humankind ’s big achievements so far .

But cataclysm struck when it land at a queer slant and in   one-half shade , and fit into hibernation . leap seven month down the line toJune 14and – to all the team ’s delight and elation – the little robot perked up again and telephone home , thanks to some sun hitting its solar panels . During that windowpane of life , the lander   send   back a software package of data point to be studied . But it then fall silent . Today , NASA announcedthat yesterday they were able to pass with it again , even if only for 12 minutes before the link was lost once more .

“ This sign of life from Philae proves to us that at least one of the lander ’s communication units remains operational and receives our commands,”saidKoen Geurts , a fellow member of the lander ascendancy team at the German Aerospace Center . “ We never yield up on Philae and continue optimistic . ”

The scientists have been a little flummoxed by the sporadic callings of Philae . The lander ca n’t communicate directly with Earth , but instead has to be relayed through the Rosetta artificial satellite orbiting the comet . This has n’t changed its flight of orbit , and so has left the team more than a little baffled . Not that they ’re too concerned   –   the fact that it ’s get off anything back at all is splendid news .

For those brief 12 minutes of communicating , the researchers managed to sour on the COmet Nucleus sound Experiment by Radiowave Transmission ( CONSERT ) instrument , which was capable to charge back the measurement datum it has so far   call for . This data is currently being evaluated .

“ We can already see that the CONSERT instrument was successfully activated by the mastery we air on 9 July , ” explained Geurts . Though he added : “ We do not yet have an account for why the lander has communicated now , but not over the past few daylight . ”