Video: Flight director updates status of comet lander

Emboldened by renewed contact with Europe’s comet lander, engineers are repositioning the mission’s Rosetta mothership this week to establish a reliable a communications link with the dishwasher-sized Philae landing craft, a prerequisite for resuming a science campaign abbreviated by a power shortfall last year.

The lander project manager Stephan Ulamec says tremendous science has been collected during Philae’s short time on the surface but battery life is now limited and it is unlikely to last much longer.

Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the rest of the year.