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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Ground control has given up on Philae [npr.org], the craft that made a historic landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko:

Exactly 15 months after it completed a seemingly impossible journey to land on the surface of a comet, the Philae lander now faces "eternal hibernation," as officials at the European Space Agency say the craft doesn't get enough sunlight to power its batteries.

"The chances for Philae to contact our team ... are unfortunately getting close to zero," says Stephan Ulamec [esa.int], Philae project manager at the German Aerospace Center, DLR. He added, "We are not sending commands any more and it would be very surprising if we were to receive a signal again."

Philae is the lander from the Rosetta spacecraft, which for months now has been orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and listening for signs of activity from its companion craft. But after an encouraging period of contact [npr.org] last summer, Philae has been silent since July 9.

A tweet issued from the ESA's Rosetta Mission account today includes an artist's rendering of the current situation. But instead of an airbrushed space scene, this one is a cartoon [twitter.com] showing Rosetta thinking about its little lander taking a nap on the comet's cold surface.

BBC [bbc.com].

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