Video: Lander manager provides update on Philae status

Europe’s Philae lander — still latched inside its mothership — has been activated and should be ready for release Wednesday to begin a daring first-ever descent to a comet, the mission’s flight director said.

The tiny European Philae lander after its historic touchdown on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has apparently ended as batteries depleted and the craft fell asleep Friday night.

Rosetta mission scientist Matt Taylor says the science team is jubilant after the Philae lander captured the historic, first close up images of the surface of a comet and began returning data from its science instruments.