The European Space Agency says the comet lander Philae has woken up after seven months and sent messages back to Earth.<br /><br /> Last November Philae became the first spacecraft to land on a comet, named 67P, having been dropped there by its mothership Rosetta. <br /><br /> At the time there were celebrations for the project team, but Philae was only able to work for around sixty hours before its solar-powered batteries went flat. <br /><br /> It had landed in a ditch on the comet and that severely limited the amount of sunlight it needed to recharge the batteries. <br /><br /> Engineers now think the comet is moving towards the sun and the increasing intensity of the light reaching Philae’s batteries could be sufficient to recharge them. <br /><br /> The scientists are now feeling optimistic and are awaiting the next messages from Philae.
