<p>The European space probe Philae woke up overnight after a months-long sleep as it hurtled towards the Sun on the back of a comet, the French space chief said today.<br /><br />"We received new signals from (Philae) for a period of two minutes, as well as 40 seconds' worth of data," Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), told AFP.<br />"Hello Earth! Can you hear me?" the tiny robot lab tweeted under the hashtag #WakeUpPhilae.<br />Europe launched a new bid in May to communicate with Philae via its mothership Rosetta, which is in orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.</p>.<p>Their exploration aims at unveiling secrets of comets - pristine bodies of ice and dust that are believed to explain how the Solar System was formed. The 100-kilogramme robot lab touched down on "67P" on November 12 after a 10-year trek piggybacking on Rosetta.<br /><br />But instead of harpooning itself onto the dusty iceball's surface, Philae bounced several times before settling at an angle in a dark ditch. The little lander had enough stored battery power for around 60 hours of experiments, and sent home reams of data before going into standby mode on November 15.<br /><br />As "67P" drew closer to the Sun, scientists hoped better light would recharge Philae's batteries enough for it to reboot, then make contact, and ultimately carry out a new series of experiments.<br />"Philae has woken up at 13 June 2228 Central European Time," the European Space Agency (ESA) spokesman Pal Hvistendahl told AFP.<br /><br />Comet 67 is currently 215 million kilometres (134 million miles) from the Sun and 305 million kilometres from Earth, racing at 31.24 kilometres a second, according to ESA's website.<br />Rosetta and Philae have travelled an accumulated distance of 6.9 billion kilometres, it said.<br />By August 13 the comet will reach its closest point to the Sun, or perihelion, before veering off again into the deeper reaches of space. </p>
<p>The European space probe Philae woke up overnight after a months-long sleep as it hurtled towards the Sun on the back of a comet, the French space chief said today.<br /><br />"We received new signals from (Philae) for a period of two minutes, as well as 40 seconds' worth of data," Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), told AFP.<br />"Hello Earth! Can you hear me?" the tiny robot lab tweeted under the hashtag #WakeUpPhilae.<br />Europe launched a new bid in May to communicate with Philae via its mothership Rosetta, which is in orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.</p>.<p>Their exploration aims at unveiling secrets of comets - pristine bodies of ice and dust that are believed to explain how the Solar System was formed. The 100-kilogramme robot lab touched down on "67P" on November 12 after a 10-year trek piggybacking on Rosetta.<br /><br />But instead of harpooning itself onto the dusty iceball's surface, Philae bounced several times before settling at an angle in a dark ditch. The little lander had enough stored battery power for around 60 hours of experiments, and sent home reams of data before going into standby mode on November 15.<br /><br />As "67P" drew closer to the Sun, scientists hoped better light would recharge Philae's batteries enough for it to reboot, then make contact, and ultimately carry out a new series of experiments.<br />"Philae has woken up at 13 June 2228 Central European Time," the European Space Agency (ESA) spokesman Pal Hvistendahl told AFP.<br /><br />Comet 67 is currently 215 million kilometres (134 million miles) from the Sun and 305 million kilometres from Earth, racing at 31.24 kilometres a second, according to ESA's website.<br />Rosetta and Philae have travelled an accumulated distance of 6.9 billion kilometres, it said.<br />By August 13 the comet will reach its closest point to the Sun, or perihelion, before veering off again into the deeper reaches of space. </p>