An Intriguing Coincidence - World War One and the Rosetta Mission

In an almost perfect synchronization of events, the 96th Armistice Day marking the end of World War One which is always commemorated at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month was last year - the 100th anniversary of the start of the war in 1914 - followed on the next day by an extraordinary European collaboration. European scientists from those previously warring countries came together 10 years ago to send a spacecraft to explore a comet - Churyumov-Gerasimenko - 310 million miles from us and on the 12th November 1914, the small lander separated from the orbiting Rosetta, came in to land, bounced twice and was finally stable, sitting on very rocky terrain on 67P (the shortened name of the comet). Scientists waited with bated breath in an auditorium for a blip on a screen signalling the Philae landing and the place erupted in cheers and hugs.

It was heartening to see that the spirit of human comradeship which was present within the respective armies could almost a century later which included yet another World War, cross national boundaries for such an historic occasion. Maybe even the Middle East could succumb to peace and collaborative endeavors in 100 years time?

Now, a couple of months later, not many reprises of the year 2014 include the Philae landing - a testament to the fickleness and national chauvinism of the global media.
Its solar batteries lost charge after a couple of days and it seems it is sitting in a dark crevice of the comet. Nevertheless, there is much information still to be gleaned from the whole experiment. One such is that the water on comet 67P contains about three times more deuterium - a heavy form of hydrogen - than water on Earth - putting paid to some pet theories that our planet's water originated from comets.

Prior to these events, Britain commemorated the 100th anniversary of the end of that last summer of Empire, when the Royals of Europe were cousins and the ruling class still ran their estates, by publishing many books on the First World War, producing some TV drama and coming up with the most extraordinarily moving installation at the Tower of London. Here it is:

888,246 ceramic poppies by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper, called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red - each poppy representing a British or colonial soldier killed in the First World War - progressively filled the Tower's moat. The last was planted on Armistice Day on the 11th of November. Five million people visited the Tower during this period.  According to The Independent, the designer Tom Piper confessed
he was 'not comfortable' with the outpouring of emotion it triggered, saying he was 'perturbed' by the reaction. I hope someone emotionally literate explained to him that trauma is transmitted intergenerationally and that he was expressing something that the losses of that War produced in the British - The Stiff Upper Lip. He should be utterly thrilled that he created something that allowed five million people to tremble their upper lips and their eyes to fill with tears. Bravo!