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Everyone of a certain age has their own experience playing The Oregon Trail on a computer as a kid.

Some of us started with the Apple II Oregon Trail, while some of us played later Oregon Trail versions. But we all learned what it meant to “ford a river” and “caulk a wagon.” Some of us played the Oregon Trail Deluxe version on Windows and acted out the scenes of our wagon train passing through what is now Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and, if you were lucky, more western states. Some of us started as bankers and went crazy buying laudanum in the General Store. Some wanted the challenge and started as teachers. Some of us eschewed gameplay when things got dire and spent our time throwing out supplies to make room for everything we brought back from hunting.

The European Space Agency has found its long-lost Philae lander. After making a rough, bouncing landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November, 2014, the spacecraft was unable to deploy its solar panels in a proper configuration to capture enough energy. Its batteries ran out within a few days of landing.

Although scientists have made a few more fleeting contacts with the dying spacecraft since then, Philae's fate—was it stuck in a ditch, or nudged up against a cliff wall?—has remained largely a mystery.

Until now. The high resolution camera aboard the orbiting Rosetta spacecraft—which has remained near the comet since deploying Philae two years ago—flew within 2.7km of the comet's surface on September 2, and spied the missing lander. At such a distance from the comet, the resolution of the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera is about 5 cm/pixel, high enough to reveal Philae’s distinctive 1 m-sized body, and two of its three legs.

Enlarge / Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrives in China for the G20 summit... just as his country's awkward Brexit memo lands. (credit: Etienne Oliveau/Getty Images)

Prime minister Theresa May said at the weekend that she wanted to take her time to secure the best trade deals for a post-Brexit Britain, and reiterated—in her trademark vague terms—that the so-called Article 50 won't be triggered this year. But political pressure from governments as far away as Japan continues to mount.

On Sunday, in a bold move, the Japanese government published a 15-page memo (PDF) setting out a number of demands it wants the UK to adhere to, once it leaves the European Union.

It underscored that Britain faces a torrid time of negotiations—not just with member states in the EU, but further afield, too.