The Race for Space

The race for space is back on and the UK doesn’t want to be left behind. This month saw the release of the UK’s Civilian Space Strategy 2008-2012 which aims to keep the UK “at the forefront of the evolving space scene.” The headline grabbing announcement was that there would be a fresh look at the merits of participating in human space missions. The UK has not participated in such missions since a decision by Margaret Thatcher in 1986 to pull out of the European Space Agency’s human space missions.

Despite the lack of human space missions, the UK does have a fairly strong track record in space. There is an impressive private sector space industry focused on satellite technologies and robotic missions. The UK has also been at the forefront of space science in many areas. There have even been four British astronauts: one was part of a privately financed space flight and the other three gained US citizenship in order to take part in NASA missions. However, if the UK is going to participate in the next wave of human space missions it needs to substantially increase its investment and commitment to space exploration.

The British National Space Centre has been tasked with making a recommendation on the costs and benefits of the UK government participating in space. On scientific grounds, there are valid reasons for human missions to explore the Moon or Mars. Drilling down into the depths of the Moon or Mars to take core samples could answer many fundamental questions about the history of our solar system and the possibility of life on Mars. On technical grounds, such missions could lead to significant technological spin-offs which could be applied to earthly pursuits. Public interest in space, science and technology would also be raised by British participation in human space flights.

What the Space Strategy does not contain is information about the sort of missions future British astronauts could find themselves participating in. More than likely, the UK would participate in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) manned programmes which are mainly run in collaboration with NASA. The UK could not afford to go it alone and would need instead to collaborate with other countries.

Current spending on UK space programmes comes from a range of government departments, agencies and research councils. The Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) is the largest funder of the British National Space Centre. If the UK is going to increase its commitment to space exploration it will need to invest a significant amount of new money into the system. Crucially, it cannot come from the general science budget.

Sadly, though, the current funding situation for basic research in physics and astronomy is in disarray following an estimated £80 million shortfall in the STFC budget. The STFC has announced 25 per cent cuts to the basic research grants required to improve our understanding of space and train the types of highly skilled individuals needed to contribute to a growing space industry. The STFC funding crisis has also meant that the UK has been forced to pull out of or renegotiate various international collaborations, to the extent that the UK is not seen as a "partner of choice" by the international scientific community. The Government needs to sort out the funding problem in basic research before it can hope to get the support of the scientific community for human space missions.

If the UK is to play a bigger role in space exploration, the British National Space Centre (BNSC) needs to be radically reformed. It would almost certainly need to become a government agency with its own funding stream. This would help to ensure that the science budget does not get raided to fund space exploration. Unfortunately, the Space Strategy does not have any firm plans for strengthening the BSNC, so there is already considerable concern within the scientific community that ambitious plans for space exploration could come at the expense of space science, which is already in trouble.

To justify the increased expenditure required to make the programme a success, the government would need to factor in the wider economic, social and political benefits of an expanded UK space programme, including human missions. Human space exploration is an exciting area of endeavour, one that other countries have pursued and will continue to pursue without us. The UK has already carved out an extremely important niche in the space sector without sending people into space. Now it's time to have a thorough public debate about the UK’s future up there.