---
title: "Philae Discovers Organic Molecules On The Surface Of The Comet"
description: "Shortly before being powered down the Philae probe detected organic molecules on the surface of the comet, the same molecules that were first detected in the comet's atmosphere"
date: "2014-11-18"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "Andreea Popescu"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/andreeathecat"
url: "https://futurism.com/philae-discovers-organic-molecules-surface-comet"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "space"
---

# Philae Discovers Organic Molecules On The Surface Of The Comet

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

- Research is being conducted to see if the discovered molecules are complex compounds like amino acids or simple ones like methane and methanol
- One of the main missions of the probe was was to ascertain if complex organic molecules, which could have helped create Earth billions of years ago, existed on comets
- Prior to falling silent, the probe was able to transmit all science data gathered during the First Science Sequence