--- title: Comet Drill Data Could Be Lost description: The robot Philae may not have the battery power needed to transmit data canonical: https://time.com/3585479/rosetta-comet-drill-data/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-14T14:34:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:26:41.453Z article:section: Science og:title: Comet Drill Data Could Be Lost og:description: The robot Philae may not have the battery power needed to transmit data og:url: https://time.com/3585479/rosetta-comet-drill-data/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a61a198a3061fce/698768ba0b72e3d0916dbe95/458901672.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: ESA Attempts To Land Probe On Comet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Comet Drill Data Could Be Lost twitter:description: The robot Philae may not have the battery power needed to transmit data twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a61a198a3061fce/698768ba0b72e3d0916dbe95/458901672.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Comet Drill Data Could Be Lost > 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 [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Nov 14, 2014 2:34 PM UTC  The surface of the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet as seen from the Philae lander. The surface of the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet as seen from the Philae lander. European Space Agency  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Nov 14, 2014 2:34 PM UTC The European Space Agency’s Philae robot may not have sufficient power to [send](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/comet-drill-results-may-not-back-earth-esa-134413820.html#peQ67Kb) data from its groundbreaking comet drill back to earth. “We are not sure there is enough energy so that we can transmit,” said lander manager Stephan Ulamec at a press conference in Darmstadt, Germany, Agence-France Presse reports. The unmanned robot landed on the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comment, becoming the first ever human landing on a comet. The probe successfully transmitted [images](http://time.com/3585141/comet-lander-philae-battery-67pchuryumov-gerasimenko/) but may not have the battery power to send results from a drill. The probe’s solar powered battery is in the shade of a cliff, giving it just 1.5 hours of sunlight a day, which isn’t enough to replenish the battery. \[[_AFP_](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/comet-drill-results-may-not-back-earth-esa-134413820.html#peQ67Kb)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3585479/rosetta-comet-drill-data/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3585479/rosetta-comet-drill-data/"},"headline":"Comet Drill Data Could Be Lost","datePublished":"2014-11-14T14:34:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:26:41.453Z","description":"The robot Philae may not have the battery power needed to transmit data","url":"https://time.com/3585479/rosetta-comet-drill-data/","keywords":["Space","NASA","esa","Comet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a61a198a3061fce/698768ba0b72e3d0916dbe95/458901672.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a61a198a3061fce/698768ba0b72e3d0916dbe95/458901672.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ESA Attempts To Land Probe On Comet","caption":"ESA Attempts To Land Probe On Comet","creditText":"European Space Agency","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/3585479/rosetta-comet-drill-data/","name":"Comet Drill Data Could Be Lost"}}]}] ```