The definitive proof - we are not alone. In November 2014 David Hitchins was Chief of Operations for the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission which landed a scientific module on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Twenty-five years in the making, they had great hopes for Rosetta, but it was lost after just two days - power failure after an awkward landing being cited as the reason.

Eighteen years on and Hitchins is now the Chief Scientific Officer at the ESA, and stands ready to oversee the attempted touch-down of the widely-criticized return mission. As the lander draws nearer to the Agilka plateau, Hitchins has to face the gathering of scientists he has invited to come and witness this momentous event and reveal to them the true nature of this latest mission, along with what really happened to Rosetta nearly two decades ago.

Is this the most important scientific mission of all time, as Hitchins contends, or is the Shackleton Mission just another white elephant?

What secrets does the Agilka plateau hold? A novella.