Summary
Europe's trailblazing spacecraft Rosetta has resumed its exploration of a comet hurtling through the Solar System after a "dramatic weekend" in which contact with Earth was lost for nearly 24 hours, mission control said Thursday.
In orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta is now some 428 million kilometers (266 million miles) from Earth and 468 million km (291 miles) from the Sun – somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter – travelling at a speed of 17.65 km per second (10.96 m/s).
Rosetta, with Philae riding piggyback, arrived at 67P in August 2014 after a ten-year, 6.5-billion kilometer journey from Earth.
The lander went permanently silent in July 2015 after eight intermittent communications with Earth.
It is meant to wind down in September, reuniting Rosetta with Philae on the surface of 67P.
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