The Philae comet lander has fallen silent, European scientists said yesterday, raising fears that it has moved again on its new home millions of miles from Earth.
The fridge-sized robotic lab last made contact on July 9, and efforts to reach it again have so far failed. The lander - the first mission to land on a comet - initially set down last November in a position too shadowy to power its solar panels. It woke up in June as the comet moved closer to the sun, but may now have shifted again, possibly due to a gas emission.