Today the European Space Agency released images that may point to the final resting place of its lovely lost lander, Philae.

Philae landed on the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on November 12 last year, after a 10 year journey as part of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. Unfortunately, upon touching down on the dirty iceball, Philae's harpoons failed to fire correctly. (The landing, meant to trigger the harpoons, was softer than expected.)

Instead of anchoring to the landing site, Philae bounced, became airborne for about two hours, touched down again, became airborne a second time, this time for a few minutes, and eventually came to permanent rest more than a kilometer away from its initial touchdown point.

Images that Philae beamed back to the spacecraft Rosetta suggested the lander had settled in some kind of ditch. The walls around the lander blocked out sunlight, depriving Philae of the ability to recharge its batteries. The lander sent home images and materials and magnetic readings from the comet's surface with what stored power it had, before going to sleep 64 hours after landing.