--- title: Philae Lander: Robot Says Goodbye to Earth in Sad Tweets description: Philae, the first robot to land on a comet, said its final goodbye to Earth Tuesday canonical: https://time.com/4424055/comet-philae-farewell-earth/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-26T16:29:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:33:20.009Z article:section: Science og:title: This Space-Exploring Robot Tweeted a Heartbreaking Farewell og:description: "It's time for me to say goodbye" og:url: https://time.com/4424055/comet-philae-farewell-earth/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5abc1a69369495c7/69889f63428a9e623fcd39a5/philae-lander-foot.jpg?branch=production&width=1050&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1050 og:image:height: 591 og:image:alt: philae-lander-foot og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Space-Exploring Robot Tweeted a Heartbreaking Farewell twitter:description: "It's time for me to say goodbye" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5abc1a69369495c7/69889f63428a9e623fcd39a5/philae-lander-foot.jpg?branch=production&width=1050&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Space-Exploring Robot Tweeted a Heartbreaking Goodbye > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 26, 2016 4:29 PM UTC  This image was acquired by Philae’s CIVA camera 1 at the final landing site Abydos, on the small lobe of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, on Nov. 13, 2014. This image was acquired by Philae’s CIVA camera 1 at the final landing site Abydos, on the small lobe of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, on Nov. 13, 2014. ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 26, 2016 4:29 PM UTC Philae, the first robot to land on a comet, has reached the end of its life and is bidding a final farewell to Earth through a series of sad tweets. “It’s time for me to say goodbye,” [Philae tweeted](https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/757938537803153408) on Tuesday. “Tomorrow, the unit on [@ESA\_Rosetta](https://twitter.com/ESA%5FRosetta) for communication with me will be switched off forever…” After launching from a Rosetta probe, Philae landed on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014, becoming the [first spacecraft to touch down on a comet](http://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/). However, landing trouble led Philae to bounce across the landscape of the comet, finally settling down in a location about a [kilometer away from its intended target](http://time.com/3585141/comet-lander-philae-battery-67pchuryumov-gerasimenko/), in the shadow of a cliff. As a result, the probe received only 1.5 hours of sunlight for every 12-hour rotation—not enough power to replenish its battery. Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec announced in February 2016 that the [time to say goodbye](http://time.com/4220102/goodbye-philae-lander-comet/?utm%5Fsource=feedburner&utm%5Fmedium=feed&utm%5Fcampaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29) to the probe was fast approaching. The lander provided valuable data during the 57 hours it operated on battery power, but entered a hibernation period shortly after, waking only once for a brief period in July 2015. Team members on the Philae lander project announced Tuesday that the Electrical Support System on Rosetta, which is used to communicate with Philae, will be [turned off to save energy](http://www.dlr.de/blogs/en/home/philae/Say-goodbye-to-Philae.aspx) before Sept. 30, the day the mission will officially end. They encouraged fans of the lonely robot to send a picture saying goodbye to Philae. > [](https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/757938537803153408) > [](https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/757939299631394816) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4424055/comet-philae-farewell-earth/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4424055/comet-philae-farewell-earth/"},"headline":"This Space-Exploring Robot Tweeted a Heartbreaking Goodbye","datePublished":"2016-07-26T16:29:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:33:20.009Z","description":"As it reaches the end of its life","url":"https://time.com/4424055/comet-philae-farewell-earth/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5abc1a69369495c7/69889f63428a9e623fcd39a5/philae-lander-foot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5abc1a69369495c7/69889f63428a9e623fcd39a5/philae-lander-foot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"philae-lander-foot","caption":"This image was acquired by Philae’s CIVA camera 1 at the final landing site Abydos, on the small lobe of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, on Nov. 13, 2014.","creditText":"ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA","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/4424055/comet-philae-farewell-earth/","name":"This Space-Exploring Robot Tweeted a Heartbreaking Goodbye"}}]}] ```