European Space Agency (ESA) director general Antonio Rodota told SATELLITE TODAY that the delay in the Rosetta mission was necessary despite the costs. “The costs could be in the range of 50 to 100 million euros ($54.2 to $108.4 million), which is almost 10 percent of the overall value of the complete mission. This is not a minor cost, but at the same time, we felt it was worthwhile doing this rather than risk losing the complete mission.”

ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft is to be the first to undertake the long-term exploration of a comet at close quarters. It was scheduled to be launched in January aboard a Ariane 5 rocket, but the failure of a December 2002 Ariane 5 launch prompted ESA to postpone the Rosetta launch indefinitely.

An in-depth interview with ESA director general, Antonio Rodota can be found in the next edition of Interspace.