It seems problems with Philae lander are never going to end. The lander landed on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November and settled in a place where there was no sunlight available for its solar panels to power it. It woke up in June when the comet moved closer to the Sun and sunlight was harnessed by the lander’s solar panel to activate it.

However, the lander has again gone silent as mission officials on earth have lost contact with it. The lander is no longer sending signals to its mother ship Rosetta, specialists working for the historic European Space Agency challenge stated.

The scientists said while explaining the likely problem this time, a fuel emissions appears to be the most probable cause to have moved the lander once more. Out-gassing from the comet perhaps pushed the probe. Nothing has been heard from the intrepid explorer since July 9, said the scientists.

“Philae is obviously still functional, because it sends us data, even if it does so at irregular intervals and at surprising times”, said Stephan Ulamec, a scientist with the German Aerospace Agency and project manager for the Philae lander.

The scientists said in a July 20 blog post that a slight shift has possibly occurred in the position of Philae. And if it is true, it then means that its orientation was changed with respect to the surface in its current location.

One of Philae’s two transmitters has stopped working and with one currently functioning, ESA researchers are facing difficulties to communicate with the lander.