Rosetta mission managers with the European Space Agency (ESA) may have missed some time communicating with the Philae lander, but its recent discoveries since waking up has been well worth the wait.

Clinging to Comet 67P/C-G since last Nov., Philae initially bounced in its landing attempt and wound up under a cliff, blocking sunlight from recharging its batteries. A little more than a month after waking up in June, Philae found evidence of organic materials occurring naturally on its host, Time noted.

The ESA also benefitted from Philae having enough energy to snap some photos and gather data before having to shut off for an extended period. But now, Philae is another step closer to the ride of its life, literally.

According to the ESA, Comet 67P/C-G is 12 days from reaching its perihelion, the closest distance from the sun it will reach during its orbit. By the ESA's calculations, the comet's orbit will sit between that of the Earth and Mars between July 13 and Sept. 13.

The ESA stated in its release that Comet 67P/C-G has orbited the sun several times before, so it is expected to survive another trip. Mission managers are expecting an increase in activity on the comet, since the Rosetta satellite and Philae lander have already noticed an uptick of late.

"Perihelion is an important milestone in any comet's calendar, and even more so for the Rosetta mission because this will be the first time a spacecraft has been following a comet from close quarters as it moves through this phase of its journey around the Solar System," Matt Taylor, a Rosetta project scientist at the ESA, said in the release. "We're looking forward to reaching perihelion, after which we'll be continuing to monitor how the comet's nucleus, activity and plasma environment changes in the year after, as part of our long-term studies."