The latest and perhaps most inspiring example of private space adventurism is a crowd-funded project to resurrect a decades-old NASA spacecraft purely for the engineering challenge and science potential.

The spacecraft is Rosetta, and its target is 67P/Churuymov-Gerasimenko, named after its Ukrainian discoverers. The spacecraft will study 67P’s nucleus at close quarters as it falls towards the sun, when it will come to life with a tail created by sun’s warmth.