Spacecraft That Landed on Comet Finally Wakes Up

To scientists’ relief and delight, the Philae spacecraft that landed on a comet last fall has woken up and communicated with Earth after seven long months of silence.

This artist impression from Dec. 2013 by ESA /ATG medialab , publicly provided by the European Space Agency, ESA, shows Rosetta’s lander Philae (front view) on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA/ATG medialab/ESA via AP

BERLIN—To scientists’ relief and delight, the Philae spacecraft that landed on a comet last fall has woken up and communicated with Earth after seven long months of silence, the European Space Agency announced Sunday.

Philae became the first spacecraft to settle on a comet when it touched down on icy 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November. But the solar-powered probe came down with a bounce and ended up in the shadow of a cliff instead of in direct sunlight.

As a result, Philae managed to conduct experiments and send data to Earth for only about 60 hours before its batteries ran out and it was forced to shut down its systems and go silent.

Scientists had hoped the probe would wake up again as the comet approached the sun, enabling Philae’s solar panels to soak up enough light to charge the craft’s main battery. But there were fears its mission would be cut short.

Those fears were dismissed at 10:28 p.m. (2028 GMT; 4:28 p.m. EDT) on Saturday, when the lander sent a signal back to Earth.

The brief burst of communication contained 300 packages of data that were relayed by the probe's mother ship, Rosetta, which is orbiting the comet.