Philae has gone to sleep, its batteries have drained, scientists collected as much science out of the small lander as possible.
Above: The first panorama obtained by cameras on November 13, 2014 at the surface of Comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Credit ESA
“Vital science done!”
“I’m feeling a bit tired, did you get all my data? I might take a nap…”
From now on, no contact would be possible unless sufficient sunlight falls on the solar panels to generate enough power to wake it up. The possibility that this may happen was boosted this evening when mission controllers sent commands to rotate the lander’s main body, to which the solar panels are fixed. This may have exposed more panel area to sunlight.
source ESA
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