Mission managers of the comet-landing Philae probe believe the machine will be close enough to the sun to turn on in a matter of weeks.
Stephan Ulamec, lander manager on the Rosetta team, confirmed to the Guardian the Philae probe could begin rebooting by the end of the month. For that to happen, the lander's internal temperature needs to warm up beyond -45 degrees Celsius.
"The situation is improving every day as we're approaching the sun, but we are very cold - this is the problem," Ulamec said at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna Tuesday.
After a decade drifting into deep space toward a comet, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta satellite successfully deployed the Philae lander onto Comet 67P. But the lander bounced upon impact and wound up on a part of the comet shielded from the sun, therefore unable to utilize its solar panels.
It has been in an idle state since that historic landing in Nov. The first spacecraft to even attach itself to a comet, the Philae lander will eventually resume its mission and track Comet 67P's journey toward the sun.
In a study published in the journal Science, researchers used Philae's landing as part of an analysis determining the comet does not have its own magnetic field. This finding would challenge a long-held theory about comets and the early solar system.
"The unplanned flight across the surface actually meant we could collect precise magnetic field measurements with Philae at the four points we made contact with, and at a range of heights above the surface," study lead author Hans-Ulrich Auster, a scientist on the Rosetta team, told the Guardian.
Said Ulamec, "One leading theory has to be deleted from the textbook now."
