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janrinok [soylentnews.org] writes:

The Rosetta probe has started turning on its instruments. After coming out of a near three-year, deep-space hibernation in January, the satellite now has sufficient power to check out its science payload. The spacecraft is currently about 675 million km from Earth, and continues to close in on its comet quarry. Rosetta should arrive at the icy body in early August, when it will then start mapping the object to find a safe spot to put down its little lander. This craft, known as Philae, is piggy-backing the main probe, and was set to receive its wake-up commands on Friday. It will be another week, however, before they are actioned.

Dr Matt Taylor, the European Space Agency's Rosetta project scientist, told BBC News: 'The mission as a whole had this big emotional moment in January when the spacecraft was woken up. Now, individual teams must experience something similar again as each one of Rosetta's 11 instruments is turned on for testing.'

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