Europe's Rosetta probe set to wake up from hibernation

Rosetta, which was launched about ten year ago on a long quest to chase and land on a comet, will be roused by an onboard "alarm clock" at 10

Europe's Rosetta probe has spent the past two-and-a-half-years in hibernation trying to conserve power.

After waking up, Rosetta is going to warm its systems before sending a signal to Earth, the BBC reported.

Rosetta is due to meet Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August.

And after spending a couple of months studying and mapping the 4km-wide ball of ice and dust, it's going to drop a small robot on to the comet's surface to gather samples and panoramic images.

Controllers at the European Space Agency's (ESA) operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, have no idea precisely when Monday's all-important message will arrive, but they anticipate receiving it between 17:30 and 18:30 GMT.