The German Aerospace Center (DLR) said that Europe's robot lab Philae called back home on Friday after several days of its journey towards the Sun.

The latest contact with Philae lasted for almost 19 minutes. This was the third time after the Philae touched base with Earth since it landed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 12 after piggybacking on its mothership Rosetta.

The mission seeks to unlock the long-held secrets of comets, the primordial clusters of ice and dust that scientists believe may reveal how the Solar System was formed.

Scientists associated with the mission said after landing on the comet, Philae had used its stored battery power to send home reams of data before going into standby mode.

Scientists and engineers of the mission hoped that as the comet approaches the Sun, solar energy would recharge Philae's batteries enough for it to reboot, make contact and ultimately resume scientific work.

It finally took seven months before Philae woke up on June 13 from hibernation and made contact with Earth for two minutes. It reported back again just two days after that first contact.

On Friday, Philae transmitted 185 data packets back to Earth between 1320 and 1339 GMT, the agency said.

Michael Maibaum, a systems engineer at the DLR Lander Control Center in Cologne, said, "Presently, the lander is operating at temperature of zero degrees Celsius, which means that battery is now warm enough to store energy. This means that Philae will also be able to work during the comet's night, regardless of solar illumination".

ESA said among other things they have received include updated status information of Philae. The data transmitted also shows that the amount of sunlight available had increased.