Philae, the space probe that made history when it landed on a comet in November 2014, is awake. The European Space Agency (ESA) announced today (14 June) that it had received signals from the comet lander last night, at 22.28 Central European Standard Time. They were the first in over seven months.
Excited scientists on the mission told Nature that Philae has probably been awake for a few days and that they hope the lander will start some low-risk science activities in the coming days – assuming that Philae makes contact again.
"Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available," said ESA project manager Stephan Ulamec of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) near Cologne, according to an ESA statement. "The lander is ready for operations."
Great news. The little probe that could. To read more, click here.