In his 1987 novel, 2061 Odyssey three, Arthur C Clarke landed his spacecraft ”Universe” on Comet Halley in the first manned landing on a comet.
Today; Clarke’s fiction became reality. Coming 50 years to the month since the launch of Mariner 4, the first successful Martian flyby, the landing of the Philae lander on the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is yet another landmark moment in the history of unmanned space exploration.
After the failures of the Äntares launch vehicle and the Virgin Galactic Spaceship 2 the success of the Rosetta mission serves to remind us just how innovative we can be.
Launched from Khourou French Guiana in 2004; The Rosetta spacecraft; on a 10 year mission highlighted by flybys of Mars in 2007 and asteroids 2867 Stenis in 2007 and 21 Lutetia in 2010 culminated in orbital insertion around the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with a periapsis of 29KM on August 6 of this year.
Today, after separation from Rosetta and a seven hour decent marred by the failure of landing clamps and issues with thruster rockets , the washing machine sized lander came to rest on the comet’s nucleus.
A mission to an asteroid is a long term goal of the American manned program. Today’s Philae landing has surely brought that goal one major step closer to fruition. The scientific results and images gained from this mission will be shared directly to those planning the manned asteroid mission and beyond.
An expansion of capability in deep space amongst smaller space faring communities bodes well for the future of space exploration as future manned missions beyond Low Earth orbit will require multinational collaborations and the emerging space nations will be critical to the success of those missions. Countries such as India, previously considered to be minor players in space are now actively being courted to participate in major collaborative space ventures. Partnerships built on previous success will be the key to any successful manned mission to deep space.
The European Space Agency (ESA) responsible of today’s mission success is a case in point. ESA is an intergovernmental agency with 20 member European nations with all nations sharing research and development and lessening financial impact on any one nation. Since its formation in 1975 out of an amalgamation of ELDO (European Launcher Development Organization) with ESRO (European Space Research Organization), ESA has developed the Ariane family of financially viable satellite launchers, developed and launched the ISS Columbus module, the Spacelab science module for the shuttle and have a cadre of astronauts flying regularly on manned missions since the initial Spacelab flight on STS 9 Columbia in 1983.As America moves toward its new generation Orion spacecraft, ESA is playing a major role. A derivative of their Automated Transfer vehicle (ATV) which currently serves the ISS as a cargo carrier is being modified to serve as the Service Module for Orion.
After the failure of their Beagle Mars lander, ESA have tasted unmanned success with the Giotto probe to Halleys comet in 1986 Cassini Huygens mission to Saturn and now the Rosetta mission.
After half a century, space exploration is changing, no longer the domain of the traditional superpowers, we have seen in the past year seen the landing of the Chinese Yutu lander in the Moon’s Mare Imbrium (Sea of rains), the orbiting of the Indian Mars Orbital Mission (MOM) spacecraft around Mars and now the European Rosetta mission; landing on a comet.
Today’s mission is a milestone, not just for space history but for space policy. Gone forever is the notion of a single country space program. The future successes in space will come through international collaboration. We will see more ESA type agencies emerge and maybe, ultimately a united global space effort, exploring space using our shared knowledge for all mankind as we head to the stars.