Comet-chasing probe sends signal to Earth
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This undated image provided by the European Space Agency ESA shows an artist's impression of the Philae lander. Scientists at the European Space Agency are expecting their comet-chasing probe Rosetta to wake from almost three years of hibernation at 11 a.m. Monday Jan. 20, 2014 (1000 GMT; 5 a.m. EST) and phone home to say all is well.
This undated image provided by the European Space Agency ESA shows an artist's impression of the Philae lander. Scientists at the European Space Agency are expecting their comet-chasing probe Rosetta to wake from almost three years of hibernation at 11 a.m. Monday Jan. 20, 2014 (1000 GMT; 5 a.m. EST) and phone home to say all is well.
BERLIN >> A comet-chasing space probe that has been in hibernation for almost three years has woken up and sent its first signal back to Earth.
The European Space Agency received the all-clear message "Hello World!" from its Rosetta spacecraft some 500 million miles away shortly after 8 a.m. Hawaii time.
Rosetta was put into hibernation in 2011 to conserve energy for its long journey to meet with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
If all goes as planned the probe will rendezvous with the comet in the coming months and drop a lander onto its icy surface in November.
