The crew will also perform science experiments during the mission in fields that include space medicine, biology and Earth observation.
Earlier in the day, the half-tonne spacecraft was on target to become the first from the European Space Agency to perform science on the Martian surface.
High above the distorting blanket of Earth's atmosphere, a space telescope could perform science far beyond the reach of ground telescopes, he argued.
It was early Saturday morning, and after 57 hours performing science experiments on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko the audacious Philae mission was coming to an end.
It was a rare opportunity to perform science while having science performed on you.At present NASA has a scattershot approach to exploration beyond the low-earth orbit of the ISS.
Although not as physically large as the International Space Station America, Russia, Europe, Japan and other countries have been building and using since 1998, China's space station will have a broadly similar capacity to perform science.
The loss of the half-tonne craft, which would have been the first European lander to perform science on the Martian surface, has echoes of the UK's failed Beagle 2 mission, which touched down in 2003 but failed to phone home and was only found a decade later.
JP performed science and edited the manuscript.
