Rosetta spacecraft checks in with Earth

After a 31-month deep sleep, the Rosetta spacecraft has successfully transmitted a signal to Earth.

ESA controllers can now prepare the spacecraft for its August 2014 rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. If the mission proceeds as planned, a robotic probe called Philae will land on the comet in November 2014.

This mission is the first attempt to put a spacecraft in orbit around a comet’s core and to land a probe on a comet’s surface.