After 7 months of absolute silence, the Philae robot has awakened from its slumber . Thanks to the fact that the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko on which Philae rests is getting closer and closer to the Sun, it has been able to receive enough energy to recharge its batteries and contact the Earth. ESA’s Rosetta probe transmitted the following message: “Incredible news. My ‘lander’ Philae is awake!” .
The long-awaited message was received on June 13 at 10:28 p.m. PDT and lasted 85 seconds. The dialogue between the two ships was relayed through ESA’s twitter account as they did in the beginning: “Hello Earth. Hello Rosetta. Can you hear me? I’m awake. How long have I been asleep?”, Asked Philae, to to which Rosetta replied: “Hello Philae. You have had a long sleep of almost seven months. First you need to check that you are fit, healthy and warm enough. Take it easy for now.” “I’m still a bit tired anyway. I’ll talk to you later,” he would reply.
The Space Operations Center of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Darmstadt (Germany) has already analyzed more than 300 data packages but there are still more than 8,000 in Philae’s memory to be examined , so scientists now begin a long study to find out all the details and events of the experience of the robotic probe on the surface of the planet that until now we do not know.
According to Philae’s chief of mission, Stephan Ulamec, the robot “has an operating temperature of 35º and 24 watts available, so it is ready to operate .”
On November 15, 2014, after 57 hours of activity, its batteries ran out of power due to lack of contact with the Sun due to an unfortunate landing on the comet that left it in a dark area. The next thing will be to wait until August 16 , when the comet will reach its maximum point of approach to the Sun, at 186 million kilometers.
Science magazine chose the Rosetta Mission as its 2014 Scientific Achievement.
