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Lander control center regains contact with Philae

Xinhua, June 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

The team at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) received data from Rosetta's lander Philae for the third time on Friday.

According to the DLR, Philae sent 185 data packets from 15:20 o'clock to 15:39 o'clock local time.

"We have received, among others, current data," said Michael Maibaum, system engineer at the DLR control center in Cologne and Deputy Operation Manager.

"Meanwhile, the lander has an operating temperature of zero degree Celsius which means that the battery is now sufficiently heated to be able to store energy. Thus Philae can be worked with during the comets night, regardless of the illumination by the sun," he said.

Within the 19 minutes of transfer, Philae also sent data that were recorded last week. From this, the engineers were able to realize that the illumination is increasing, according to the DLR.

The connection was interrupted several times, but was otherwise stable, said the DLR.

"The contact has showed that Philae it's pretty good," said Michael.

The lander sent signals on 13 and 14 June this year after seven months of silence.

Philae, who started a comet chasing tour more than 10 years ago, separated from its mother ship Rosetta on November 12, 2014 and descended to its target Comet 67P/Chuyumov Gerasimenko, some 500 million kilometers away from the earth.

However, the lander bounced twice before landing to a location where it's solar panels could not receive sufficient sunlight to generate enough power. After sending back all acquired scientific data during its first 60 hours on the comet, Philae, whose batteries had exhausted, fell asleep on November 15, 2014. Endit