Europe's Space Odysseys

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ESA Venus Express

In carrying out its tasks, Rosetta will hopefully help scientists find out if comets may have acted like cosmic Johnny Appleseeds, scattering the building blocks of life on their interstellar travels. Because 67P's gravity is only a minuscule fraction of Earth's, the Rosetta orbiter will be able to observe from just 2 km away. Its state-of-the-art instruments — some of which were funded by NASA — should provide invaluable data on the comet's temperature, gases and charged atmospheric particles. Scientists are especially interested in learning how the comet changes as it moves closer to the warmth of the sun from the vast frozen reaches of the solar system. Success in such a complex mission, where there is no room for error, would surely capture the public imagination a decade hence, and encourage scientists to pursue other daring endeavors.

As if Rosetta weren't enough, ESA craft are scheduled to make a number of other stops throughout the solar system over the next few years. The Cassini/Huygens project will take a joint NASA-ESA craft to Saturn in the summer and to Titan, Saturn's largest moon, next year. "Titan is the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere," Southwood says. "A trip to Titan is like a trip to early Earth, like Earth's atmosphere without the oxygen." Then there's Venus Express, modeled on Mars Express, which will investigate the planet's super-hot surface and thick, heavy atmosphere, which is 96% carbon dioxide. Says Southwood: "We're not expecting to find life, but to try to answer the question, 'Why is Venus such a deadly place?'" Europe is also moving ahead with the Columbus science laboratory, its biggest single contribution to the International Space Station, and further down the road are projects for the advanced study of gravitational waves and cosmic microwave background radiation.

But the granddaddy of all space missions is Aurora. Now in an initial three-year preparatory stage, Aurora is laying the groundwork for the next steps in the human exploration of space. With a European human landing on Mars in 30 years as Aurora's ultimate goal, EADS Space Transportation, a Bremen-headquartered firm that makes space vehicles and components, is in the initial stages of exploring a Mars Sample Return mission, which would land a craft on Mars and return a small capsule with Martian surface samples to Earth.

Because the technology and expense of such adventures are so daunting, esa varies its partners on a mission-by-mission basis. ESA has a longstanding cooperation with NASA and a good working relationship with Russia, which sent Mars Express and Beagle-2 aloft from its Baikonour site in Kazakhstan. The suspension of shuttle flights after the Columbia disaster means that ESA must now rely on Russia's Soyuz vehicles for flights to the International Space Station. And ESA has just agreed to build a Soyuz launchpad at its Kourou facility by 2006. China and Japan are also expected to play larger roles in space in the years ahead. Japan, which in December abandoned its troubled Nozomi mission to Mars — its first interplanetary effort — is said to be interested in launching a revised Beagle mission. China is expected to carry out its second manned mission, Shenzou 6, sometime this year.

Europe, of course, has less money to work with than the U.S. — ESA's budget is about one-sixth of NASA's, amounting to roughly €2.7 billion. And much of ESA's money goes into projects with terrestrial applications, like telecommunications and weather satellites. But, says Southwood, European countries need to commit funds for exploration too. "They have to recognize that to do serious things in space does not break the bank for rich countries," he says. While space exploration costs Americans about $50 a year, per capita, the European average is about $15, scientists commented at a recent Aurora meeting in London. Contrasting the potential additional cost of Aurora with the money spent annually in Europe on personal grooming products — €7.7 billion in 2002 — Richard Wade, director of programs for Britain's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, said: "Europe is itching to go to Mars, so we either buy some ointment or go there."

Southwood has a different metaphor. "A society needs this, like it needs art galleries. Of course, you wouldn't want to spend your whole gross national product on art galleries, but if you didn't do any spending on them, you'd be in a desert." Kind of like Mars, but less nourishing for the spirit of discovery.