Probe sends back first image from comet's surface

The first photo image taken from the surface of a comet by the tiny European Space Agency lander Philae shows one leg of the spaceship perched on bleak, rocky terrain.
"Now that I'm safely on the ground, here is what my new home #67P looks like from where I am," Philae tweeted back to Earth, 300 million miles away, on Thursday.
67P is the shorthand name for 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the duck-spaped comet that is speeding through the universe at more than 80,000 mph.
Jean-Pierre Bibring, lead scientist for Philea, said the photo image was particularly exciting because it it shows "both what man built, the lander, and what nature built, six billion years ago, preserved as it was at that time."
The lander, about the size of a washing machine, is stable despite failing, so far, to latch on properly to the surface, ESA scientists said.
"Philae is stable, sitting on the nucleus and is producing data," said Gerhard Schwehm, a scientist on the Rosetta mission. "The lander is very healthy."
Philae landed on the comet Wednesday after a harrowing 7-hour descent at the end of a decade-long flight through space. ESA scientists say Roseta initially hit the surface of the comet about 100 meters from the planned landing site, then bounced three times before settling down.
Philae appears to be in shadow on the rim of a crater, standing on two of its three legs with the third one sticking up in the air. Bibring said scientists hope to maneuver Philae into a more secure position.
Philae is communicating with Rosetta, its orbiting mother ship, as it circles the comet.
"We had a perfect pass; the radio link was extremely stable and we could download everything according to the nominal plan," said Rosetta Flight Director Andrea Accomazzo.
Philae and Rosetta will use 21 instruments to analyze the comet over the coming months. Scientists hope the $1.62 billion project will help them better understand comets and other celestial objects, as well as possibly answer questions about the origins of life on Earth.
They said the primary battery aboard the lander is working propertly and at least one of its solar panels is up and running
The photos sent back to Earth show a rocky surface, with one of the lander's three feet in the corner of the frame. A key question is whether Philae's drill can be used to extract samples from beneath the surface without pushing the lander into space. Gravity on the comet is 1/100,000th that of Earth, meaning the washing machine-sized lander weighs just 1 gram (0.04 ounces) there.