Philae, the first spacecraft to ever land on a comet, has made
contact with Earth for the first time in seven months.
The robot sent three short messages around 10 seconds long to
the European Space Agency on Saturday evening.
Philae landed on Comet 67P in November last year and worked
for 60 hours before its battery ran flat.
Recently the comet has moved closer to the sun allowing
Philae’s solar panels to generate the electricity needed to power up its systems
and make contact.
The mission’s chief scientist, Matt Taylor, said he felt ‘absolute
elation’ upon hearing the news.
‘It means we can do even more science now if everything goes
positively over the next few days,’ Taylor said.
While Philae had already gathered data in November to help the
scientists figure out how old the comet is and where it comes from, the robot’s
solar-powered rebooting, means the Rosetta Mission team can do further
important research.
The Rosetta Mission, one of the most ambitious space
missions ever undertaken, was launched with the goal of understanding more
about the evolution of our Solar System.
Watch Solar Power to
learn more about how the Sun’s rays can be converted into energy.
