After making history by landing on the surface of a comet, Philae has fallen into what may be a long sleep.
The robotic lander’s batteries have been drained and there is not enough sunlight for them to recharge, according to the Rosetta Mission blog.
READ MORE: Space probe drills into comet, turns toward light to keep batteries charged
But before going into idle mode and having most of its onboard systems shut down, Philae managed to transmit all of the data it had gathered since landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to its mother ship, the Rosetta.
Communication with the space probe won’t be possible again unless enough sunlight falls on its solar panels to rouse it from its sleep, officials said.
The $1.6 billion mission, which has been a decade in the making, was designed to answer some big questions about the origins of the solar system and life on earth.
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