In the early hours of Sunday morning, the European Space Agency will attempt to launch its first space freighter, the automated transfer vehicle (ATV), from its forest-bordered spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana. More than 100 officials and journalists from Europe and beyond have been flown in to watch, but Britain, as ever, will be more of a spectator than most.
Named after the 19th century French writer, Jules Verne, the first of these robotic spacecraft is set to blast off at 4.03GMT, and after three weeks performing test manoeuvres, it will find its way automatically to the International Space Station (ISS), delivering much-needed supplies and re-boosting it to a higher orbit. When you're the size of the space station, there is still aerodynamic drag 200 miles above the Earth that does its best to bring you down.
The ATV is designed to stay docked with the space station for up to six months, after which it is filled up with more than six tonnes of waste. Then, using what fuel it has left, it pulls away from the space station, pitches towards the Earth and hurtles towards the atmosphere, destroying itself and its contents in a final blaze of glory.
Since February, when the space shuttle Atlantis delivered ESA's science lab Columbus to the space station, the agency has been responsible for 8.3% of the upkeep of the orbiting outpost. Instead of stumping up the cash, ESA built the ATV, aguably Europe's largest, most complex spacecraft yet.
The technology aboard the ATV, which allows it to find its own way to the space station and dock automatically, is likely to play a crucial role in the post-ISS era of space exploration, particularly on future missions to bring samples back from Mars. The ATVs are also "man-rated", meaning they have life-support systems and fail-safes not found on standard satellites. It's not too much of a stretch to think the ATV could one day form the basis of a European crewed launch vehicle, or even be linked end-to-end in orbit, to form a small, temporary space station once the ISS is de-orbited and heads for the bottom of the Pacific Ocean some time around 2020.
The British role in the ATV, as with any mission related to human spaceflight, is precisely zero. We played no part in its conception, design or construction, and will gain none of the expertise accrued by engineers in Germany, France, Italy and elsewhere who developed the technology. When I was hunting for anyone in Britain with any meaningful involvement in the ATV, the best I came across were two engineers from Stevenage who helped pump it full of fuel.
Coming to watch the ATV launch feels like crashing someone else's party. While Britain huffs about human spaceflight being unprofitable and cobbles together plans for its own ESA facility, there's an overwhelming feeling here that everyone else is cracking on with the job and learning an enormous amount in the process. Britain could still arrive fashionably late, but we're in danger of turning up to find that all is left are crumbs on the tables. Even if we do turn up before the lights go out, will anyone want to talk to such a chronically uninspiring guest?
Of course Britain still puts money into the European Space Agency. This year, its contribution will be 265m Euros towards the 2.4bn Euros the agency will receive in contributions from members and other states. It's a considerable sum, but it is less than half that given by France and Germany, and about two thirds of the contribution from Italy. The expertise those nations have gained from the ATV, Columbus and other missions will surely boost their chances of securing the plum contracts of the future.
Perhaps the biggest question is how Britain will fare in the post-ISS era. We've left it too late to join what, for the next 10 years or so, will be the most exciting and inspiring space reseach facility ever conceived. Meanwhile, schoolkids, scientists and test pilots who ache to be astronauts must first dream of becoming American citizens. Britain has promised to play a major role in ESA's upcoming Aurora programme, which will eventually usher in a new era of space exploration, to the Moon, Mars and beyond, but will enough people be bothered to wait that long?
