| Space? No Thanks,We're British |
| Wednesday, 26 April 2006 | |
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When asked as child what I wanted to be when I grew up, my reply would always be, “An astronaut, of course!” I thought that in time I would grow out of my asthma and short-sightedness. But there was one obstacle I would never grow out of: I was British. The UK has never been involved in manned space flight. I had great hopes in 1991 when Helen Sharman became the first Briton in space, but this proved to be a one-off commercial venture.The only other ‘Briton’ in space has been Michael Foale, who flies with NASA and has dual US/UK citizenship. Barring any disappointment felt by Britain’s budding astronauts, many regard this as a shrewd move, The International Space Station (ISS) has cost nearly $100 billion and has returned little by way of interesting science.The ISS has come to represent to UK policymakers all that is wrong with manned space flight.They dismiss manned missions as expensive, prestigious projects with little scientific reward. Enter the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). In October 2005, the RAS commissioned astronomer Ken Pounds, environmental scientist John Dudeney and particle physicist Frank Close to investigate why the UK should send humans, as opposed to robots, into space. Dudeney concluded “that the capabilities of robots have been vastly overestimated” and that “we need the imagination and adaptability of human beings.” The RAS investigation highlights that human exploration of the moon or Mars could help answer fundamental questions. The moon’s thin atmosphere allows interstellar objects to collide with its surface, which means that the moon’s surface can be regarded as a four-billion-year-old record of the evolution of the solar system. The possible unveiling of the mystery of life on Mars may also hold clues as to the origins of life on Earth. The investigators concede that the scientific case alone does not justify spending 5% of the budget of all UK research councils: £150 million per annum. Dudeney claims that “the payback to industry would be huge, as would the inspirational effect on children.” At a time of crisis in UK science education, this argument is compelling. It is not clear,however, that manned missions specifically have the ability to inspire. Indeed, the robotic Beagle 2 mission to find life on Mars fired the public imagination far beyond many of the earlier manned moon missions. In December 2005, Lord Sainsbury announced the UK’s commitment to the first, robotic, stage of Aurora, Europe’s Mars mission. Aurora’s final stage is a manned mission in 2030.The decision to be involved with this mission must be made by 2010.How the debate in the UK plays out over the next few years will be pivotal in determining whether the next generation of Britons will have a shot at becoming astronauts, or whether they, like me, will have their ambitions thwarted by the mere fact of nationality. Lucy Heady is a postdoc in the Cavendish Laboratory |
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