[NeoTrident]

Following from Three's news of the upcoming NASA Rover there has been some great news today from the European Space Agency; Less than an hour ago the Rosetta Space Probe after 10 years of chasing has successfully caught up with Comet 67P and is maintaining close proximity. Over the next couple of months it will perform a series of experiments and observations on the comet but the truly exciting part will come in November when Rosetta will launch a lander onto the comet for direct experiments and drilling samples, a feat never before accomplished. There are more details here.

Its truly astounding the level of achievement possible but a small part of me does wish I was born in the early years of space exploration where staggering achievements such as this occurred several times a year. I am glad that these endeavours continue but I really wish we would pick up the pace a bit, we went to the moon in less than ten years but we don't plan to be on Mars for several more decades

[Curzon Peers]

Always good to hear about space exploration. The one I have been anticipating the most is the flyby of Pluto, but this one is interesting, nevertheless. I look forward to seeing what it finds out.

In the early years, space exploration was fueled by nationalism and fear; it's a shame that we haven't replaced that drive with something else. I don;t know what sort of funding the ESA has, but NASA gets less than half a cent of every tax dollar which is pitifully small.

[NeoTrident]

ESA funding is based on a percentage of each signatories GDP, 2014s budget is 4,102 Million Euros which is 5,476.5 Million Dollars. By comparison NASA is 16,600 Million, I think, googlefoo may have failed me.

Eitherway no matter what the agency Space Exploration is given very little to work with.

[Flicky]

This is exciting news, comets surely have lots of cool and useful materials within them. Maybe we'll discover something new, or just something interesting. Hell, everything about this mission is interesting!

And about the achievements part, that was the easy stuff back in the mid-1900's. I believe Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Cosmos called it something akin to "stepping onto our cosmic front lawn." Our achievements now are significantly more impressive, albeit happening less often. Landing a probe on a comet. Sending a van-sized semi-automated laboratory on wheels to Mars. We're on the verge of finalizing a reusable rocket (not a shuttle). At all times, there are 3-6 people flying over Earth in an American Football field-sized metal tube with solar panels. Something we made has finally left the solar system. I get that it must have been exciting living and focusing on space news around then, but now we're doing so much more complex stuff.

[NeoTrident]

Oh these are still significant achievements to be sure, by far the most complex in comparison; my point really is the frequency if you were living in the 60's you had NASA and USSR doing incredible things (for those times) only weeks apart and while ISS is surely the greatest achievement so far nothing will compare to raw feeling and excitement of landing on the Moon.

[Morris]

Just an observation...I think that we can draw a corollary between how Star Trek progressed from the 1960's/TOS era, to now/TNG,DS9,Voyager and how our world's space programs have evolved. In the early days, there seemed to be a more adventuresome spirit to the space program...more of a fly by the seat of your pants, greater the risk, greater the reward type of ambitious attitude...kind of like how TOS was. By the time that Star Trek got to TNG, things were much more, for the lack of a better word, bureaucratic...and safe. That is the way that just about everything in our modern society has become...over-regulated to such a point as to slow projects to a snail's pace, and raise the cost, all too often, to a point that it prevents projects from happening, or drags them out over decades (man going to Mars). We've lost our sense of adventure, our stomach for taking risks! We need Q to show up and throw the Borg at us! That will give the space program a good kick in the pants...whether by us living up to our potential, or by assimilation! Editorial over. Cheers!

[Flicky]

The ESA made a cute series of animations describing Rosetta's mission. Great for explaining the mission to kids.

[NeoTrident]

Those are brilliant and a great idea to get children interested, no doubt there will be another soon to describe today.

[Three of Seven]

In related news, a scientist had the probe tattooed on his leg: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28684157

[NeoTrident]

That's a little crazy...

[Daedalus]

In related news, a scientist had the probe tattooed on his leg: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28684157

Wait until the probe dumps him for some hot new nebula... good luck getting that off buddy. :mrgreen:

[NeoTrident]

Wait until the probe dumps him for some hot new nebula... good luck getting that off buddy. :mrgreen:

LOL!