Update: Friday, 9:14PM ET

The Philae lander's battery was meant to only last for two days, after which the craft was supposed to rely on its solar panels to recharge its batteries. Unfortunately, it's unable to recharge due to its position following the rough landing earlier this week. After a day of drilling where it was able to collect and send essential mission information, Philae was rotated in a risky attempt to better position its solar panels. Communication will be silent until 5 AM ET Saturday morning, but it's possible the batteries are fully drained and Philae has made its final transmission.

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.@ESA_Rosetta I'm feeling a bit tired, did you get all my data? I might take a nap… #CometLanding — Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 15, 2014

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Back to work! I’m now drilling into the surface of #67P… I’ll give you updates as soon as I can! #CometLanding — Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 14, 2014

Facing the possibility of the Philae comet lander draining its battery power and shutting down by tomorrow night, the scientists and engineers at the European Space Agency have made a risky decision: They have set Philae drilling into the surface of the comet C-G, a last-ditch effort to collect data on surface samples that might otherwise take another 20-plus years to obtain.

Why is it so risky? Because Philae is currently sitting lopsided and on uneven footing, and it's entirely unanchored to the weak-gravity comet. An unexpected push of little more than 2.5 mph (essentially a strong foot tap) could hurl the poor robot into the void. In a second-to-worst-case-scenario that uncomfortably likely, the drill could set Philae spinning out of control, throwing and possibly fatally damaging the robot.

Nevertheless, Philae's dire situation demands this immediate action. If ESA can't move the lander into sunlight by tomorrow, the chances that we'll ever hear from Philae again are slim.

Godspeed, little lander.

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