European Space Agency says final farewell to Philae comet lander
Rosetta spacecraft will use remaining power for science before it crash-lands on the comet Sept. 30
The European Space Agency says it is switching off its radio link to the probe that landed on a comet, after receiving no signal from the lander for a year.
Its time for me to say goodbye. Tomorrow, the unit on @ESA_Rosetta for communication with me will be switched off forever...
—@Philae2014
The agency says the decision to shut down a communications instrument on the Rosetta spacecraft Wednesday was taken to conserve energy. Rosetta had used the instrument to communicate with its lander, Philae, which touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014.
Farewell @Philae2014, the 1st robot to land on a comet. Congrats @ESA for this amazing achievement. #GoodbyePhilae https://t.co/DfiO0SekSn
—@NASA
During the next two months, Rosetta will use its remaining power to conduct scientific measurements before it crash-lands on the comet Sept. 30.
Data collected by Rosetta and Philae have improved scientists' understanding of comets and the role they played in the early universe.