Comet Probe Philae

Ground controllers bid a final farewell today to robot lab Philae, cutting communications after a year-long silence with the tiny probe hurtling through space on the surface of a comet.

Ground controllers said today they would stop sending commands to comet probe Philae, announcing it was "time to say goodbye" to the tiny lab resting after a captivating science mission.

"When finally we 'kill' Philae, it will be like 'who killed Bambi'," ESA senior science adviser Mark McCaughrean said.

A last-chance manoeuvre was attempted Sunday to shift the tiny lander into a sunnier angle for its battery-replenishing solar panels.

A comet hosting the Philae robot and orbited by the Rosetta spacecraft zipped by past the Sun on Thursday with all systems go, The European Space Agency said.

Europe's comet-riding robot lab Philae has fallen "silent", said ground controllers today who feared it may have shifted on the rough, alien surface, out of radio range.

"I'm awake! How long have I been asleep?" This message was tweeted on Sunday by the European Space Agency's spacecraft Philae. The probe tumbled into a dark ditch on a comet last November after problems landing on the icy surface. Deprived of sunlight, Philae's solar panels were unable to supply power, and the craft was feared lost. But Philae's re...

ESA said it had received signals from the lander late on Thursday.

The European space probe Philae woke up overnight after a months-long sleep as it hurtled towards towards the Sun on the back of a comet, the French space chief said today.

The launch of the Hayabusa 2, postponed twice because of bad weather, comes less than a month after a European Space Agency probe landed on a comet in a pioneering mission.

No trumpet sounded to mark the historic event -- instead, it was a hollow, springy plop which heralded last week's landing by the comet probe Philae.

Mankind's first-ever probe of a comet found traces of organic molecules and a surface much harder than imagined, scientists said on Tuesday of initial sample data from robot lab Philae.

Gas jets from inside a comet hosting Europe's Philae lander may launch the hibernating probe out of its ditch and back into sunlight for a battery recharge, a former mission manager said on Monday.

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Sunday unveiled images of the probe Philae after it bounced while making its historic landing on a comet last Wednesday.

A pioneering robotic spacecraft shut down on Saturday after radioing results of its first and probably last batch of scientific experiments from the surface of a comet, scientists said.

Ground controllers bid a final farewell today to robot lab Philae, cutting communications after a year-long silence with the tiny probe hurtling through space on the surface of a comet.

Ground controllers said today they would stop sending commands to comet probe Philae, announcing it was "time to say goodbye" to the tiny lab resting after a captivating science mission.

"When finally we 'kill' Philae, it will be like 'who killed Bambi'," ESA senior science adviser Mark McCaughrean said.

A last-chance manoeuvre was attempted Sunday to shift the tiny lander into a sunnier angle for its battery-replenishing solar panels.

A comet hosting the Philae robot and orbited by the Rosetta spacecraft zipped by past the Sun on Thursday with all systems go, The European Space Agency said.

Europe's comet-riding robot lab Philae has fallen "silent", said ground controllers today who feared it may have shifted on the rough, alien surface, out of radio range.

"I'm awake! How long have I been asleep?" This message was tweeted on Sunday by the European Space Agency's spacecraft Philae. The probe tumbled into a dark ditch on a comet last November after problems landing on the icy surface. Deprived of sunlight, Philae's solar panels were unable to supply power, and the craft was feared lost. But Philae's re...

ESA said it had received signals from the lander late on Thursday.

The European space probe Philae woke up overnight after a months-long sleep as it hurtled towards towards the Sun on the back of a comet, the French space chief said today.

The launch of the Hayabusa 2, postponed twice because of bad weather, comes less than a month after a European Space Agency probe landed on a comet in a pioneering mission.

No trumpet sounded to mark the historic event -- instead, it was a hollow, springy plop which heralded last week's landing by the comet probe Philae.

Mankind's first-ever probe of a comet found traces of organic molecules and a surface much harder than imagined, scientists said on Tuesday of initial sample data from robot lab Philae.

Gas jets from inside a comet hosting Europe's Philae lander may launch the hibernating probe out of its ditch and back into sunlight for a battery recharge, a former mission manager said on Monday.

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Sunday unveiled images of the probe Philae after it bounced while making its historic landing on a comet last Wednesday.

A pioneering robotic spacecraft shut down on Saturday after radioing results of its first and probably last batch of scientific experiments from the surface of a comet, scientists said.