Comet probe may be out of contact forever

GROUND-BREAKING data trapped on the Philae lander may be lost forever after scientists said that the probe could have moved and may no longer be contactable.

Philae, which landed on the comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko in November, last made contact with its mothership Rosetta on July 9. Rosetta has been flying at different latitudes and distances to try to pick up signals from the probe.

But the comet is becoming more active as it approaches the Sun, and scientists fear that a gas jet may have tipped Philae into a position where its antennae no longer works.

To add to the difficulty, the team has been forced to move Rosetta further away from the comet to protect it from dust and ice, making contact less likely. And one of the two transmission units of the lander appears not to be working properly. The team is hoping that Philae may still be able to pick up signals and are preparing new commands telling the lander to restart scientific experiments.

“Philae is obviously still functional, because it sends us data, even if it does so at irregular intervals and at surprising times,” said Stephan Ulamec, the Philae lander manager.

From the end of this week, Rosetta will begin alternating lander communication attempts with its own scientific observations of the comet, including exploration of the southern latitudes, which have only started to become illuminated in recent months.

“Studying these regions is an important part of our longterm science goals in the lead up to and beyond perihelion next month, when the comet is at its closest to the Sun along its orbit and activity will be at a maximum,” said Nicolas Altobelli, acting Rosetta project scientist.