Rosetta's Philae lander completed main mission before going to sleep

Rosetta's Philae lander launched by European Space Agency (ESA) completed its main mission before going to sleep, it has been revealed.

The lander returned all of its housekeeping data, as well as science data from the targeted instruments, including ROLIS, COSAC, Ptolemy, SD2 and CONSERT and this completed the measurements planned for the final block of experiments on the surface.

Stephan Ulamec, lander manager at the DLR German Aerospace Agency, who monitored Philae's progress from ESA's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, said that it had been a huge success and the whole team was "delighted".

Researchers won't be able to make any contact the Philae lander unless sufficient sunlight falls on the solar panels to generate enough power to wake it up.

Matt Taylor, ESA's Rosetta project scientist, said that the data collected by Philae and Rosetta was set to make this mission a game-changer in cometary science.