The Rosetta mission’s Philae lander recently woke up and re-established contact with Earth from the surface of Comet 67P. After seven months of hibernation, a message from Philae, lasting 85sec, was received at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

The message was sent via the orbiting Rosetta mother ship, from which Philae was launched to the surface of 67P last November.

According to ESA, more than 300 data packets have been analysed by the teams at the Lander Control Centre at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). However, there are still more than 8,000 data packets in Philae’s memory that could give the DLR team information about what happened to the lander on the comet.

DLR Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec said: “Philae is doing very well. It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24W available. It is ready for operations.”

Scientists and engineers involved in the project are both excited and relieved with this new development, as it was uncertain if Philae would be able to power up again following its hibernation.

The last contact with the lander took place on 15 November, about 60hr after it touched down on the comet. It was hoped that Philae would be able to recharge using its solar panels, but images sent from its landing position showed that a portion of the comet was partially obscuring the sun.

Since then, 67P has travelled closer to the sun, and the intensity of the light that Philae receives has increased, enabling it to reboot.