--- title: Philae: Comet Lander Contacts Earth After Months of Hibernation description: Comet lander Philae wakes up after months of hibernation canonical: https://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/ author: Andrew Katz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-14T13:05:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:11:19.303Z article:section: Science og:title: Comet Lander Philae Wakes Up After Months of Hibernation og:description: The probe became the first spacecraft to land on a comet last year og:url: https://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf97754c16069ab37/69885475f887dc139be90eac/esa-probe-philae.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: esa probe philae og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Comet Lander Philae Wakes Up After Months of Hibernation twitter:description: The probe became the first spacecraft to land on a comet last year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf97754c16069ab37/69885475f887dc139be90eac/esa-probe-philae.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Comet Lander Philae Wakes Up After Months of Hibernation ## Video: Why The First Comet Landing Matters [Watch (HLS stream): Why The First Comet Landing Matters](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WaAkw0PP.m3u8) (0:56)  _Published 2014-11-12. This space mission may be the most informative one yet_  by [Andrew Katz](https://time.com/author/andrew-katz/)  ## Andrew Katz Jun 14, 2015 1:05 PM UTC  ESA  by [Andrew Katz](https://time.com/author/andrew-katz/)  ## Andrew Katz Jun 14, 2015 1:05 PM UTC The comet lander that went into hibernation last last year has [made contact](http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/06/14/rosettas-lander-philae-wakes-up-from-hibernation/) with its team back on Earth, European space officials said on Sunday. In a brief and excited statement, the European Space Agency said the unmanned Philae, which landed on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November to become the first spacecraft to touch down on a comet, sent a number of signals via its orbiter (“Rosetta”) to an operations center in Darmstadt, Germany. They were received on June 13 at 10:28 p.m., local time. > [](https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/610047412036595712) Dr. Stephan Ulamec, Philae Project Manager at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), said “Philae is doing very well.” The comet lander “spoke” for 85 seconds, the statement continued, and appeared to have been awake prior to sending the signals, as it transmitted “historical data” as well. After November’s historic landing, officials said Philae had settled in a spot where it didn’t receive as much sunlight as necessary, causing its battery life to drain. _Read next:_ [_See Pictures of Philae Detaching From Rosetta_](http://time.com/3581026/philae-europe-rosetta-comet/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/"},"headline":"Comet Lander Philae Wakes Up After Months of Hibernation","datePublished":"2015-06-14T13:05:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:11:19.303Z","description":"The comet lander \"spoke\" for 85 seconds via its orbiter, \"Rosetta\"","url":"https://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf97754c16069ab37/69885475f887dc139be90eac/esa-probe-philae.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Andrew Katz","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/andrew-katz/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf97754c16069ab37/69885475f887dc139be90eac/esa-probe-philae.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"esa probe philae","caption":"esa probe philae","creditText":"ESA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/","name":"Comet Lander Philae Wakes Up After Months of Hibernation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why The First Comet Landing Matters","description":"This space mission may be the most informative one yet","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WaAkw0PP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-11-12T21:29:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WaAkw0PP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```