The recent successes of the Rosetta comet mission have been a source of inspiration to many, and have brought the advances of science and astronomy into the public eye. To one 25-year old British composer, it had a more lasting impact. The young musician is planning to release an entire album of original orchestral music, celebrating the Rosetta comet mission and its successful landing on a comet, via crowd-funding platform Kickstarter.

“The Rosetta success was so inspiring and emotional – especially for a science fan like myself – I felt I could write a whole instrumental album!”

Scientists at the European Space Agency recently landed a probe on the comet after it had travelled for ten years and a grand total of 6.4 billion kilometres. Philae, the lander module of the mission, reportedly landed with precision accuracy despite bouncing, an amazing achievement considering the ten year journey needed to reach the comet.

According to British composer, the album release is in “celebration of this amazing human achievement”, and is seeking the official endorsement of the European Space Agency to celebrate the event. “Inspiration can come from the strangest of places – in my case, science provided it”. The resulting music is one of the rarer examples of science inspiring art.

The Kickstarter campaign offers, in addition to a copy of the music, a 10cm 3D printed miniature of the Philae lander as a reward. The composer is also planning to feature local musicians as soloists on the album, titled ‘The Rosetta Suite’, provided it reaches a certain funding target or ‘stretch-goal’.

Written as a suite of orchestral movements (each named after an historic moment in the Rosetta mission’s journal) the music will follow the journey of the Rosetta mission from its rocket launch to the landing of the Philae probe on the surface of the comet. A sample of the music has already been released and the campaign is intended to raise funds in order to produce it as an album.

The Kickstarter project is active throughout November and December 2014.