Space agency issues Rosetta Philae lander status report

Space agency issues Philae lander status report. Credit: PA

The Rosetta Space agency has issued a status report after the Philae lander "woke from hibernation".

The report said that the signals were received at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt at around 9.30pm last night when researchers at the Lander Control Center at the German Aerospace Centre were able to analyse more than 300 "data packets".

For 85 seconds Philae "spoke" with its team on ground, via Rosetta, in the first contact since going into hibernation in November.

Lander control Center in Cologne. Credit: Rosetta.

When analysing the status data it became clear that Philae also must have been awake earlier. Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact.