WASHINGTON: ESA’s Philae comet lander made contact with ground controllers for the third time Monday. Rosetta mission team disclosed that the probe should soon get its battery recharged and we should hear more from Philae as communications would become more stable.
Philae went into a blackout seven months ago after a bumpy landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s back. Its mothership Rosetta spacecraft continued to orbit the comet that approached the sun at dizzying speeds.
ESA engineers hoped that the lander, whose landing location remained largely unknown until a week ago, would turn back to life as its solar panels would start receiving more sunlight.
So, on June 13 and 14 Philae touched base with Earth for the first time in seven months by beaming back several data packages. On the other hand, communications was faint since Rosetta orbiter was out of range.
Currently scientists were able to get the orbiter closer to the lander, so the third contact was a lengthier one. It lasted about 19 minutes, while the first contact was only about two minutes long.
ESA scientists hope that the lander’s batteries would soon be enough recharged to allow the probe resume experiments and sample gathering on the comet’s surface, especially now that 67P gets closer to the sun and seems to have come to life as its icy core starts to melt and release gases.
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