Scientists made one last attempt to contact the Philae module – La Jornada (Bolivia)

Scientists at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will make Sunday a last attempt to contact the Philae module which has not received signals from the July 9 last year.

“Time is short and we want to exhaust all possibilities”, the project manager, Stephan Ulamec said.

The comet Churyumov-Geramisenko, on which is perched Philae, goes farther from the sun every day and, according to a DLR, conditions later this month will be so negative that the mission will find its natural end . By the time the temperature of the comet is placed below 51 degrees below zero the module no longer have a chance to work. On January 10 the DLR scientists and engineers sent a command to Philae in order to make a move that allows him to assume a more favorable position with respect to the sun and shake off the dust covering their solar panels. The worst that can happen, scientists say, is that the spacecraft can not receive the order. Currently there is no clarity about the state of Philae is because the probe does not send signals. The latest data available are summer last year. DLT’s team believes that one of the two receivers and one of the two transmitters are faulty Philae.