Video: Flight director updates status of comet lander

Comet scientists planned to send up new orders to Europe’s Philae lander Thursday to kick off a second day of research after the probe endured a jumpy touchdown on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

A potential problem with a rocket thruster designed to keep the Philae lander from bouncing off comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after touchdown Wednesday will make the probe’s daring descent even more challenging, officials said.

Research teams across Europe spent the last half-year meticulously going through a wish list of experiments for the Philae comet lander without knowing whether they would ever get a chance to execute the tasks.