Farewell Philae: Earth severs link with silent comet probe

Earth bid a final farewell to robot lab Philae on Wednesday, severing communications after a year-long silence from the pioneering probe hurtling through space on a comet. Philae sent home reams of data garnered from sniffing, tasting and prodding its new alien home hundreds of millions of kilometres (miles) from Earth. Its plucky exploits captured the imagination of children, and many adults, who followed its successes and tribulations via Twitter and an animated cartoon series.