On Wednesday, things were looking relatively rosy for the Rosetta mission and its Philae lander. The lander made history by reaching the surface of comet C-G, provoking an outburst of joy from the European Space Agency team and around the world. But all was not well.

As the team re-established contact with Philae today, they found that the facts were looking grimmer by the minute for Earth's first and only comet-landing robot. While the lander is safely on the comet's surface, is it not sitting exactly where the engineers hoped to land. Instead, it's in a shadowy spot. That's a big problem because Philae needs to recharge via solar energy.

With the lander's battery life in trouble, the ESA team is debating plans to save the mission. Here's what we know.

Here's How It Happened

When the Philae lander touched down on the comet yesterday afternoon, following a 7-hour flight from the Rosetta spacecraft, it faced two troubling issues. First, the lander's top-thruster was not functioning. That thruster was meant to provide a downward push upon impact to dampen the bouncy recoil of Philae's landing. Second, Philae's twin harpoons, which were supposed to anchor the robot to the low-gravity comet, failed to fire.

The combination of events meant that the lander ricocheted off the comet immediately after touchdown and soared upwards of half a mile off the surface. Thankfully, the weak pull of the comet's gravity was enough to bring Philae back down…almost two hours later.

Following two gentler bounces, the lander settled away from the target landing zone and with only two of its three feet on the ground and totally unanchored (it could even be on its side). Worse, Philae now sits in the shade of a giant cliff. The darkness is threatening to shut down the solar-powered robot, which has only 60 hours of battery life.

While the situation may seem bleak, it could be much worse: Philae was not flung entirely off the comet, and right now the minds at ESA are working on the best possible fix. These are their two immediate options.

Option 1: Shut Down and Wait for More Sunlight

Let's start with the default option. If, by the time Philae runs out of juice, the scientists and engineers at ESA don't have enough information to make a safe decision—or can't decide on the best course of action—they can let Philae hibernate and wake it at a later date.

In a few months, it's possible that Philae's shadowy nook will be receiving enough solar energy that engineers can boot him up again. Presumably, they'd have a new plan by then. However, there's no guarantee that Philae's location will be more sun-drenched anytime soon. It it's not exposed to more sunlight, then Philae's landing spot is little more than a dank grave.

Another problem with shutting down Philae indefinitely is that the lander is currently unanchored. Not only have its harpoons not deployed, but also the lander's corkscrew-like feet have not affixed themselves to the comet. This means the ESA scientists could be crossing their fingers and hoping that nothing in the interim throws the lander either into a worse position or off the comet entirely.

Keep in mind, the gravity on C-G is weak. A flea could easily gain the needed escape velocity.

Option 2: Hop to a New Spot ASAP

The second option reads like a nightmarishly complex Physics 101 problem. If the ESA can determine the exact angle and position in which Philae sits, and then calculate the spin of the comet with regard to exactly where Philae is currently resting, they may be able to use some of Philae's onboard equipment to jolt it aloft for long enough to land it in a better position.

This risky plan hinges on figuring out a lot of unknown variables. A bad throw could break the lander, hurl it into space, or, frustratingly, put it in an even worse position. The BBC has reported that some of the ESA engineers want to do this. But if they're going to go this route, they'd better do it fast before Philae runs out of power.

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