Carbon organics are the basic component of life and one of Philae's two gas samplers on Comet 67P "sniffed" some organics out.
Principal investigator on the COSAC instrument, Fred Goessmann, confirmed the discovery to BBC, but said investigators are still interpreting the results - results that could give us insight into how comets aided in Earth's evolution.
Initial results from the lander's mission hints at a hard water-ice under about a 10 to 20 centimeter (four to eight inches) deep layer of dust.
"It's within a very broad spectrum of ice models. It was harder than expected at that location, but it's still within bounds," Mark McCaughrean, senior science adviser to the European Space Agency, told BBC. "People will be playing with [mathematical] models of pure water-ice mixed with certain amount of dust."
"You can't rule out rock, but if you look at the global story, we know the overall density of the comet is 0.4g/cubic centimeters," McCaughrean explained to BBC. "There's no way the thing's made of rock. It's more likely there's sintered ice at the surface with more porous material lower down that hasn't been exposed to the Sun in the same way."
When Philae landed, it stopped "in some sort of high-walled trap," according to BBC.
"The fact that we landed up against something may actually be in our favor," McCaughrean told BBC. "If we'd landed on the main surface, the dust layer may have been even thicker and it's possible we might not have gone down [to the ice] ... But what we know is that the drill went down to its full extent and came back up again."
Philae was unable to obtain a soil sample before the batteries ran out over the weekend.
Scientists are hoping Philae's solar panels will catch some power in the months approaching as the comet draws toward the sun."There's a trade off - once it gets too hot, Philae will die as well. There is a sweet spot," said McCaughrean, according to BBC.
"By being in the shadow of the cliff, it might even help us, that we might not get so hot, even at full solar illumination," McCaughrean further explained to BBC. "But if you don't get so hot that you don't overheat, have you got enough solar power to charge the system."
