Philae lander is currently sitting on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Researchers have now started gaining insight into the comet's physical and chemical profile. When lander bounced off the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, measurements were taken in two separate spots instead of one.

Physicist Fred Goesmann analyzed organic compounds on the comet. Researchers still need more time to understand what the big picture looks like.

The comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft dropped the lander on the comet in November last year, but the lander bounced off and settled at a place where there was no light available for its solar panels to power the lander. It eventually woke up in June as the planet went near the Sun and Philae's solar panels were able to harness light.

The researchers said comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko consists of at least 16 organic compounds. Efforts are being made to understand when the complex, carbon and nitrogen-rich molecules were formed on the planet.

"Taken together, these first measurements performed at the surface of 67P profoundly modify our view of comets", scientists wrote in a special issue of the journal Science. The data was collected over 64 hours before the planet went silent due to lack of sunlight.