Vienna--Europe's comet lander Philae has remained obstinately silent since a new bid was launched to communicate with it, mission chiefs said Tuesday, but chances for contact were improving daily.
Philae's orbiting mothership Rosetta reopened communications lines on Sunday to listen for any call from the little robot, project manager Stephan Ulamec told reporters at a meeting of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna.
"At the moment the orbiter is in listening mode again," he said.
"We are waiting to get a signal, but yesterday and today so far we did not hear anything."
Rosetta lowered Philae onto the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 12 last year.
But instead of harpooning itself onto the dusty iceball's surface, the washing machine-sized lab bounced several times before settling at an angle in a dark ditch.
Philae had enough stored battery power for 60 hours of experiments. It sent home reams of data before going into standby mode on November 15.
As "67P" draws closer to the Sun, scientists hope better light will recharge Philae's solar-powered batteries enough for it to wake up, then make contact, and ultimately carry out a new series of experiments.
A previous contact attempt, from March 12-18, was unsuccessful.
"There is a chance to boot (the lander's computers) probably in the April-May timeframe," Ulamec said.
"If we also want to communicate, and of course we want to do this, it's May-June the most realistic dates for wakeup."
But the window is shrinking. By August 13 the comet will reach its closest point to the Sun, or perihelion, before veering off again into the deeper reaches of space.
AFP
