Lander manager says Philae is doing well but battery life is low

Discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on 6 October 2013 a week before its last close flyby of Earth, 30-metre-wide asteroid 2013 TX₆₈ was initially thought to pass by Earth again on 5 March 2016. Additional observations of the body have now been obtained, refining its orbital path and moving the date of the asteroid’s close brush with our planet to 8 March.

We speak with Matt Taylor, Rosetta Project Scientist, at the European Space Agency’s mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, about the plan to crash land the spacecraft on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft is trying to contact the Philae landing probe for the first time since the robot fell silent after a bouncy landing on a comet in November.