Philae can move actually, in the very light gravity. It can do that by using springs in its landing gear, intentionally designed like that - on the remote chance that they needed to do it. Or they could try to do it by firing its harpoons.
They considered doing a landing gear hop at the end of its 60 hours on the comet
Philae to Attempt Risky Comet 'Hop' for Survival (Update) : DNews
But it would just be a random hop as they hadn't got enough data to be clear what its situation is or where it would hop to - the photographs don't give enough detail for that.
They didn't even know if it is lying on its side or vertical. It could easily end up in a worse situation than it is, even upside down and unable to communicate. Or if it was half way up a cliff, the hop could take it down to the bottom of the cliff into deep shadows.
They would probably have done that if there was no chance of it waking up in any other way. But because it might wake up later on - they decided to just rotate the panels to get the best light it can in its present location - and hope it would wake up later on. As it now has of course.
Rosetta’s lander Philae wakes up from hibernation
It could still hop with its landing gear, if they decided they want to give it a go, once they know a lot more about its situation.
The gravity of the comet is strong enough so it would land again after a gentle hop like that.
However now that it's in shadow and has woken up, it's actually quite good to be shaded so that it can survive until much later in the mission, even potentially all the way through the comet's flyby of the sun.
They considered doing a landing gear hop at the end of its 60 hours on the comet
Philae to Attempt Risky Comet 'Hop' for Survival (Update) : DNews
But it would just be a random hop as they hadn't got enough data to be clear what its situation is or where it would hop to - the photographs don't give enough detail for that.
They didn't even know if it is lying on its side or vertical. It could easily end up in a worse situation than it is, even upside down and unable to communicate. Or if it was half way up a cliff, the hop could take it down to the bottom of the cliff into deep shadows.
They would probably have done that if there was no chance of it waking up in any other way. But because it might wake up later on - they decided to just rotate the panels to get the best light it can in its present location - and hope it would wake up later on. As it now has of course.
Rosetta’s lander Philae wakes up from hibernation
It could still hop with its landing gear, if they decided they want to give it a go, once they know a lot more about its situation.
The gravity of the comet is strong enough so it would land again after a gentle hop like that.
However now that it's in shadow and has woken up, it's actually quite good to be shaded so that it can survive until much later in the mission, even potentially all the way through the comet's flyby of the sun.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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