( CNN ) -- Patience , it is said , is a virtue . If that 's the case , then the scientists involved in the European Space Agency 's Rosetta mission have been very virtuous indeed . After all , the men and women involved in the project have waited most of their scientific careers -- through years of planning and construction , not to mention the 10-year journey of the Rosetta spacecraft -- to see the Philae lander land on Comet 67P Churyumov Gerasimenko . And now they can enjoy the fruits of this amazing adventure , which has landed ( albeit a little bumpily ) and has been returning data . Rosetta was an enormously ambitious and technically risky project . However , overall , it has been a great success so far , with a number of `` firsts '' for ESA that have not been achieved by any other space agency -- it has chased a comet across the solar system , rendezvoused and then achieved orbit . Landing a probe on the surface like this has been a huge challenge : working in a low gravity environment with poor knowledge of the nature of the comet surface . It was unclear even if it would it be a solid body or a loose collection of material . And there are plenty more challenges ahead . For a start , although data has been collected from the orbiter since August , and the first images are now being received from the lander , it will take many more months and possibly years for Rosetta to realize its full scientific legacy . However , even as the initial excitement over the technical success fades , we will gradually begin to understand the building blocks of the solar system . It is this reality that really speaks to the value of such a project . Comets are pristine material largely unchanged since the planetary system was formed . It is thought that they may be the origin of most of the water found on Earth , and could even have brought complex organic molecules -- the potential raw material for the emergence of life -- to its surface . Just as the Rosetta Stone was the key to unlocking the secrets of Egyptian writing , so the Rosetta space mission will answer some of the fundamental questions about our origins . This potential is being unlocked not by a single-nation space agency , but one that is a collaboration of 20 countries , including European Union , non-EU and several former Soviet Union countries . Yet while it has just celebrated its 50th birthday , the ESA has often operated in the shadow of NASA . For example , the media frequently talk about NASA 's Hubble Space Telescope , with little or no acknowledgment of the partnership with ESA . ( From a European perspective , it has therefore been particularly welcome to hear the generous acknowledgment of the Rosetta achievements by NASA leaders ) . All this means that while ESA has had significant successes in the past , the extent of the Rosetta 's success represents a timely `` coming of age . '' And , in a world that often seems to be mired in conflict , Rosetta is not just a technical and scientific success , but also a political one . Space research is one of the best examples of peaceful international cooperation and of the ability of humans to do marvelous things when they work together towards a common goal . I am not the only one to have worked on several successful space projects during my career , and to have made many friends around the world as a consequence , often in countries that would have once been regarded as political rivals ( or even some that still are ) . China , a major space power in its own right , is a great example of this -- the ESA and China are currently planning a first joint space science mission as the basis for future collaborations . And this might be the biggest lesson that we can learn from Rosetta -- that as future plans for space research and exploration missions inevitably become more ambitious ( and more expensive ) , the need for agencies to work closely together will increase . If they are smart and forward thinking , then politicians and governments will do what they can to enable this , because if they are successful , we might finally realize the goal of so many of us in the field of achieving truly global cooperation in space , cooperation that will benefit all of humanity .
Rosetta space mission a huge success : Martin Barstow . Project was enormously ambitious and technically risky : Barstow . The spacecraft is still in orbit, but the lander has been successfully landed on Mars ( see http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/20130724.html ) Comment: It's