With so many pressing demands on our purse strings, is it realistic 
to expect the UK government to provide more funding for space 
travel? I suspect Quasar 9 could instantly provide a thousand and one reasons to justify this as it is his specialised subject.
The UK is a member of the European Space Agency, wikipedia lists us as the fourth largest contributor paying 239.3 million euros.
According to this article for Space Travel, the UK has "a vibrant space science and industrial community" and makes a significant contribution in developing innovative space technology to ensure the UK plays a leading role in both European and global space exploration in the future.
The UK is reported to be the second largest European contributor to ESA’s Aurora programme of planetary exploration and is currently involved in developing an ambitious Mars Rover project that will fly onboard Europe’s ExoMars mission to the Red Planet slated for launch in 2013.
Space travel has been very much in the news this week to mark the 50th anniversary of when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth.
Now we learn that a device made specifically for a mission to Mars could help identify the bacterium that causes TB, and The Wellcome Trust has provided a £1.34m grant to see if the technology works.
Maybe we need to launch a few more Brits, like Michael Foale to enthuse our support. I am fascinated to learn more about how space exploration can have an impact on our lives and benefit us, and I do not mean space tourism which will only be for the very rich. I wonder what further discoveries will be made in space over the next 50 years.
Over to you, Q9.…
P.S. Re the pic, James Higham "dressed" me in a spacesuit for one of his previous posts. You never know, it might come in useful one day…
[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWith so many pressing demands on our purse strings, is it realistic image to expect the UK government to provide more funding for space image travel? I suspect Quasar 9 could instantly provide a thousand and one reasons to justify this … […]
I’ve never been one for the argument that we might have spent it on education and so on. Man has to press on and boldly go etc.
Interesting post, Lady Ellee and you look gorgeous in a helmet.
Perhaps this “vibrant space science and industrial community” could stand on its own two feet? Taxing poor people to indulge in speculative headline-grabbing ventures is what the Labour party stands for. I’m surprised to see a Conservative even consider it.
Short answer: Yes.
I’d much rather see the Brits on the Moon than the Chinese — and yet NASA’s administrator — still keeping true to the story that American will return to the Moon by 2020 — acknowledges that he expects the Chinese to get there first.
Bishop Hill is right, of course, in that — ideally, ultimately — we should want private enterprise in space. Of course, that means governments would have to stand aside and let private spacecraft launch without licensing and so forth… and I don’t think that will happen overnight.
In the meantime, consider whether this is valid precedent: Before the land speculators and the railroads in the Old West came the fur trappers and traders. And before the fur trappers and traders came Lewis and Clark — and that was a government-sponsored mission of exploration.
Space tourism is for the rich now.
In 1939, the price of a return transatlantic air ticket was £5,000 in today’s money. Those rich men paid for tickets that created more investment that allows us to travel for a fraction of that today.
Curmudgeon
And before Lewis and Clark were the Pilgrim Fathers which was a private operation.
Tim Almond
Quite right. And space travel will remain the exclusive preserve of the rich unless the private sector is left alone to get on with it.
Hi Elle, Thanks for the mention
Darn you look great, even in a space suit.
Don’t forget to get your free dvd with The Sunday Times – all about the planets and space this Sunday
Many may ask what are the benefits of a Moon Base or Space Travel.
But that is like asking what are the benefits of a £100 billion a year nhs, when ultimately the most we can do is delay the ‘inevitable’
Imagine the big five in Europe (Britain, Germany, Italy, France & Spain) spend over £500 billion a year on health, vast amounts of this on drugs and research & development of new drugs (with promises of miracle cures), and a rapidly growing proportion on the elderly population.
Now imagine if we spent just one tenth of this on Space, that’s right £50 billion a year on Space. Over ten years we would not only have built the Moon Base but have gone forward in leaps and bounds with space exploration and space travel.
Space Tourism is not the short term option except for the few who can pay the million pound fee for a day in low orbit and free fall
Mining the Moon is not the short term option, for the cost of actually mining or producing anything on the Moon per se, would be prohibitive.
But taking mankind to the next level is an option, and one that can be (and has ever been) achieved by government investment in Education & Research & Development.
Ryan Air & Easy Jet offer cheap flights to the public, using second hand aircraft (most pass their sell by date), because governments subsidised the aurcraft industry for decades, and because successive governments built the runways and infrastructure over decades.
Before you can have Ryan Air & Easy Jet trips to the Moon you need vast amounts of government investment in Space & Space Technology over 50 years. After all if there is no Moon Base, where can future cheap operators hope to fly you to.
New propulsion systems for (and in) space will result in new propulsion systems never dreamt of on (for) Earth. New energy sources in Space will result in new energy sources not deemed practical, necessary or economical on Earth.
Why do we want to go to Space, because it is there. Why do we need a Moon Base, because it is literally the stepping stone in space travel and manned space flight. Not so much one small step for Man, and one giant step for mankind, but one giant stepping stone and leap forward in ‘real’ manned space exploration and Space Travel.
And if Britain and the EU do not do it, rest assured Asia will.
We do need to take this far more seriously than we are.
It is our descendants future at stake.
Literally, we cannot invest too much in it.
Thank you Q9, I find this such a fascinating topic. Bearing in mind the original reason why America responded to the Soviet’s launch of Sputnik, for self defence against possible threat of attack from space, this is another possibility we may need to consider seriously for our self protection.
Yes, yes, yes.
I’m surprised Q9 never mentioned the miracle of Sat-Nav.
Come now Ellee, there must be more reasons for humanity to go into outer-space other than for ‘our self protection’? That’s a bit of a space cadet view of the Universe – and of humanity, don’t you think?
I think the reason why you find this such a fascinating topic is precisely because space exploration represents the very spirit of humanity – to ‘boldly go where no man has gone before’ – this is a positive expression of what humanity is all about.
It’s a real shame Ellee, but I think your sentiments about space exploration actually suggests a severe loss of faith in the future – and a loss of faith in humanities ability to conquer the ‘final frontier’.
Hi Courtney, I’m very open minded about this and want to learn more. Q9 is going to write a more in-depth post on this subject when he has time. I wanted to start off a debate on this subject during the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. Who knows what the “final frontier” will reveal?
It is a sickening fact that the mobile telecoms infastructure works better in many 3rd world countries than the water or electricity.
The money would be better spent on sorting out clean drinking water and electricity on Earth than fantasising about mining asteroids.
Microwave power could however help and will be necessary in the future but would have to be tax-payer subsidised.
It is important to have workstations and accomodation for workers in space (otherwise known as astronauts – they don’t just go up there to nose around) who will have to go up there and fix things when they go wrong.
So we should be investing in getting a bigger and better space station in orbit, and looking at a viable small shuttle program to get people up and down.
A space escalator could be constructed to take the large hardware needed to construct the solar power satellites which would zap the juice back to Earth in the form of microwaves.
The thing is, as humans we keep asking ‘why?’ whilst ignoring the suffering around us and using the knowledge within our grasp to allieviate it.
Oh and the USA, Asia and the EU will have to work together on this one I’m afraid.
This webpage is a good staring point for reading about space:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite
Steven, I like the sound of “space escalators”. In the future I’m sure all this will be happening, but governments may consider their first challenge is to tackle and commit to climate change. Thanks for the link.
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[…] In this post last year, I wrote about space exploration and described how a device made specifically for a mission to Mars could help identify the bacterium that causes TB. […]