The European Space Agency (ESA) is experiencing some of the after effects of Philae's not-as-planned landing on Comet 67/P.
According to BBC News, the ESA is having trouble locating its Philae lander, the probe that broke off of the Rosetta satellite and bound itself to a comet. The lander bounced, however, and wound up about a kilometer from its intended spot.
Making matters more complicated, Philae landed in a shadow and was not able to gather any light from the sun to charge itself. It has been in idle mode since Nov., waiting to soak up some rays and turn back on.
But now, mission managers cannot say with certainty where Philae is on Comet 67/P and the time for its re-booting is drawing ever closer.
"The conditions for Philae's wake-up are becoming more and more favorable as the comet approaches the Sun," Stephan Ulamec, Philae's project manager, said in a news release. "The team at DLR's Lander Control Center has continued to prepare long term operations for Philae and its instruments in the hope that it does wake up soon."
ESA mission managers are currently observing several images of the comet, BBC News noted, but to no avail yet. While it could be weeks or months until the sun reaches Philae, the ESA may have to wait for that to happen to get a reliable reading on where it is.
"Accurately locating the lander is of great scientific value, in particular for the joint orbiter and lander CONSERT experiment to get the best assessment of the interior structure of the comet nucleus," Matt Taylor, a project scientist on the Rosetta mission, said in the release. "Knowing where Philae is would provide important context for the lander measurements and valuable information for its possible future operation. In the meantime, Rosetta is continuing to observe the comet from a range of distances as the comet's activity increases."
