Philae has woken up so scientists are now gearing up for experiments the lander will be carrying out once it regains its full capacity.
Talking to the press at the Paris Air Show, Philippe Gaudon from France's CNES space agency said the rational thing to do is to schedule the simpler experiments first. Once those are out of the way, Philae can move on to trickier, more difficult experiments designed to not just understand the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko better but to hopefully shed light as well on how the Earth began.
Philae has beamed back data via the Rosetta spacecraft but no followup contact has been made. Mission scientists are not worried, however, saying this is to be expected. They are waiting to gain access to the lander's mass memory which will contain so much more data.
According to Gaudon, the first of future experiments will hopefully begin within just days. If everything goes as planned, the Romap magnetic field analyzer will be deployed, followed by the Mupus temperature gauge and equipment for measuring the comet's surface called Sesame. These experiments require just a few watts of power and don't need movement so they should not tax the Philae.
It's important to leave moving for the last experiments because the lander is precariously perched at an angle over a rocky outcrop, with just two of Philae's feet holding it steady on the surface.
After the Romap, Mupus and Sesame experiments, the lander will be busting out Rolis and Civa, its high-resolution cameras and the gas and dust analyzers Cosac and Ptolemy. Only after these will the SD2 drill and APXS X-ray spectrometer be used as these equipment needs to get close to comet's the surface, prompting the Philae to move.
As the Rosetta is responsible for the lander's data link, it will have to be moved closer to Philae to optimize transmission. The spacecraft earlier had problems after its navigational star-tracker force it to a distance of 124 to 149 miles away due to confusing dust particles coming from the comet with stars.
"Rosetta is being maneuvered now to come down again, which we reckon should be safe," said Elsa Montagnon, deputy flight manager for the Rosetta from the European Space Agency. However, as soon as activity is observed, the Rosetta will have to retreat.
If all goes well, the Philae should be producing samples as early as next month.
