By Melissa Chan
The Philae lander, which went missing in 2014 after making a historic landing on a comet, has been found wedged into a “dark crack” on the comet, astronomers said Monday.
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta space probe said a high-resolution camera has finally captured an image of the Philae lander, which got lost on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after a rough touchdown caused it to bounce and then fly away to another part of the comet.
“This remarkable discovery comes at the end of a long, painstaking search,” Patrick Martin, ESA’s Rosetta mission manager said in a statement. “We were beginning to think that Philae would remain lost forever. It is incredible we have captured this at the final hour.”
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