Spacecraft makes contact with scientists for first time in seven months after losing power following touchdown on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

From aliens bursting forth from crew members’ chests to onboard computers developing a psychopathic mind of their own, waking from space hibernation rarely results in a happy ending. But a real-life space voyage has bucked the trend of science-fiction counterparts such as Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey, as one of humankind’s greatest achievements “woke up” to the great relief of its earthbound masters.<!–more–>

Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, phoned home and made contact with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the first time in seven months on Saturday. In a series of whimsical messages, ESA scientists revealed contact had been re-established with the probe through the Philae lander and Rosetta mission’s Twitter accounts.

Travelling at up to 84,000mph and more than 300m miles away from Earth, the comet known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko seemed like an impossible target. ESA, however, pulled off a sensational feat of engineering and captured the imagination of space-travel enthusiasts across the world when it launched Philae from its orbiting mothership Rosetta and landed it on the duck-shaped comet’s surface on 12 November after a 10-year journey.

With its solar panels in shadow, the dishwasher-sized probe was operational for just 60 hours before its batteries died on 15 November and it was placed into hibernation. Since then, ESA has been hoping there will be enough sunlight to allow the lander to wake up, re-establish a communication link and send back a “hello” signal.

Now the wait is over. Signals were picked up at ESA’s operation centre in Darmstadt, Germany, at 10.30pm (9.30pm BST) on Saturday via Rosetta for just 85 seconds. “Philae is doing very well. It has an operating temperature of -35C and has 24 watts available,” said Philae’s project manager, Dr Stephan Ulamec. “The lander is ready for operations.”

More than 300 data packets have been analysed and there are a further 8,000 in Philae’s memory, which will give the team information on what happened to the lander in the past few days.

The Rosetta mission’s chief scientist, Matt Taylor, famous for tattoos that include Rosetta on one leg, said he felt “absolute elation”. The British scientist told the Guardian: “I heard last night. A message came up on my phone and I was like, ‘What?’ It was a surprise. It was difficult getting to sleep. It’s absolute elation.”

While the probe had already returned enough data for scientists to address questions of where the comet might have come from and how old it is, the team may now be able to progress the mission further, Taylor said. Drilling into the surface to analyse samples of its composition would be among the next steps for ESA to take.

“It means we can do even more science now if everything goes positively over the next few days,” Taylor said. But he warned it was early days as only a limited amount of contact had been established. It’s just pinged us a short signal. Things look good – better than expected. Things look promising, but we can’t see much more. This is just housekeeping – there’s no science going on yet. It’s a waiting game.”

The Rosetta team was unable to determine precisely where the lander touched down on the comet after it bounced twice on the icy surface when its anchoring system failed. Studies of images taken by the Rosetta orbiter revealed the probe had crossed a large depression before coming to rest at an angle, close to the wall of a crater or cliff. Data from one of the probe’s instruments suggested it was on a “landing strip” on the comet’s smaller lobe measuring 350 metres (1,148ft) by 30 metres (98 feet).

When analysing the latest status data, ESA said it became clear that Philae must also have been awake earlier.

With more than 2,000 people involved in its development, the Rosetta mission is one of the most complex and ambitious ever undertaken and the first to orbit and land on a comet. It was launched to aid understanding of the evolution of the solar system. The comet’s makeup reflects that of a cloud of gas out of which the sun itself was formed more than 4.6bn years ago.

Via: the guardian