Apprentice to seek out the
key to life amidst a rugged
alien landscape, ESA has been
on a decade-long ambitious
journey of its own, to unlock the
mysteries of a comet and the
origins of our Solar System with
its Rosetta spacecraft, hundreds
of millions of kilometres from
Earth. AMBITION complements
the ongoing communication
about Rosetta and adds a
“human dimension” to the
scientific and technological
achievements of the mission,
which include curiosity, drive
and ambition.
Following the screening
of the short film, the audience
was treated to a presentation
from ESA’s Rosetta Project
Scientist, Matt Taylor, and
Senior Scientific Advisor, Mark
McCaughrean, who explained
the status of the mission so
far. Renowned science fiction
39
author Alastair Reynolds also
took the stage to give his
perspective on the way that
missions like Ros etta turn
science fiction into science fact.
Launched in 2004, Rosetta
finally arrived at its destination
– a comet named 67P/
Churyumov-Gerasimenko – in
August 2014. It is now fulfilling
the ambitious goal of orbiting
and analysing the comet from a
distance of just 10 kilometres –
a first in spaceflight history. But
an even more audacious task
lies ahead: on 12 November,
the Rosetta mission team will
take the unprecedented step of
attempting to land a probe on
the 4km-wide jagged rock-ice
mountain to sample the comet’s
surface directly. Meanwhile, the
main spacecraft will continue
following the comet through
2015 as it makes its closest
approach to the Sun and back