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After a 7-Month Sleep, Philae Phones Home
Philae, the little lander sent to explore a comet, has woken up after seven dark months of hibernation.
Hello Earth! Can you hear me? #WakeUpPhilae
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) June 14, 2015
Late in the evening of June 13, the European Space Agency’s operations center in Darmstadt, Germany received an 85-second long transmission from Philae — the first sign of life from a lander that last phoned home in mid-November.
So far, Philae has sent more than 300 data packets back to Earth. The next communications pass is scheduled for 22:00 CEST tonight, and scientists are optimistic they will hear more from the robot. Then, it’s time to see if Philae is ready to go back to work.
“Philae is doing very
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