Rosetta: Waking Philae, ESA's sleeping beauty

It was an unhappy ending to a space fairy tale which may yet see its happily ever after.

The European Space Agency’s Philae lander hasn’t responded to Rosetta’s pings since it parked in a shady spot on Comet 67P back in November 2014.

Philae lander’s last tweet:

My #lifeonacomet has just begun @ESA_Rosetta. I'll tell you more about my new home, comet #67P soon… zzzzz #CometLanding— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 15, 2014


But as the comet gets closer to the sun, the chances of it recharging its batteries increases along with the hopes of re-establishing communications. This weekend the Rosetta team will begin a fourth attempt of making contact, hoping this time they’ll get lucky.

Somewhere out there in space today, #philae may be waking up, and Koen Geurts @DLR_en is watching out for him! pic.twitter.com/ylYMMadKjr— Jeremy Wilks (@WilksJeremy) May 30, 2015


Koen Geurts is part of the Rosetta Team working at the German Space Agency (DLR) in Cologne. He explains h