Comet-riding craft drills, rotates

BERLIN – The spacecraft that landed on a comet performed two tricky maneuvers Friday, by drilling into the rocky surface and rotating to catch more sunlight.

Both operations carried considerable risks, because they could have toppled the probe or pushed it out into the void. But without them the Philae lander that scored a historic first by touching down on a comet Wednesday risked skipping a key scientific experiment and running out of battery.

Scientists at the European Space Agency said the maneuvers appeared to have worked.

“My rotation was successful (35 degrees). Looks like a whole new comet from this angle,” read a message posted on the lander’s Twitter account.

Earlier, the scientists tweeted: “First comet drilling is a fact!”

Since landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko some 311 million miles away, the lander has performed tests and sent reams of data back to Earth.

But with just two or three days of power in its primary battery, the lander has to rely on solar panels to generate electricity after that.

Scientists were concerned to find Thursday that not only had Philae unexpectedly bounced twice before coming to rest untethered to the surface, but photos indicated it was next to a cliff that largely blocked sunlight from reaching two of its three solar panels.

“Maybe the battery will be empty before we contact again,” Stephan Ulamec, head of operations for Philae, said earlier Friday.

With time running out, scientists moved the lander and performed one of the most important experiments it was sent into space for. Material beneath the surface has remained almost unchanged for 4.5 billion years, making samples a cosmic time capsule.

Officials said Philae was able to bore 10 inches into the comet to start collecting the samples.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the rotation had succeeded in putting the lander’s solar panels out of the shadow. Scientists are likely to know for sure early today.