Farewell, Philae: Rosetta's lost comet lander faces eteal rest - CNET

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Humans are good at holding out hope and waiting until all potential opportunities are exhausted before giving a project up for dead.

The European Space Agency team behind the Rosetta mission, which included the Rosetta spacecraft taking up orbital residence at a comet and sending a lander down to the comet's surface, has been holding out hope for the Philae lander since July of last year.

The ESA issued a press release on Friday with the title "Rosetta's Lander Faces Eteal Hibeation." It has been seven months since the ill-fated lander last phoned home to Rosetta on July 9, 2015. The lander has been out of touch due to a faulty thruster sending it out of control during its landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's surface in November of 2014.

"The chances for Philae to contact our team at our lander control centre are unfortunately getting close to zero," said Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec. "We are not sending commands any more and it would be very surprising if we were to receive a signal again."

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