BRITISH NATIONAL
SPACE CENTRE News Release (03/07) issued by The Government News
Network on 31 May 2007
In an
unprecedented move, 14 of the world's leading space agencies
today revealed their agreed vision for globally co-ordinated space
exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Following months of intensive discussions, they published their
common ideas for space exploration: The Global Exploration
Strategy: The Framework for Co-ordination.
The document outlines the rationale for society to explore space,
defines the current focus and process of space exploration, the
current interest in returning to the Moon and exploring Mars, and
proposes a framework for the future co-ordination of global space exploration.
Welcoming the publication of the document, Science and Innovation
Minister Malcolm Wicks said:
"This document marks the start of a new era of space
exploration. Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, we have learnt
much about how to explore space and have experienced the benefits
of scientific discoveries in our everyday lives. Innovations such
as exploiting space for global communications, weather forecasting
and helping emergency services have all flowed from the first
half-century of space exploration.
"During this century we are sure to see some fantastic
voyages of discovery as robots and humans venture further into our
Solar System. What they learn will excite and inspire new
generations to get involved in science and create new technology
that could benefit the whole economy.
"The Framework for Co-ordination sets out a common vision
for a new era of international collaboration. I welcome the fact
that the UK can use this to inform our national plans while
joining together in a truly global endeavour. "
British National Space Centre - which co-ordinates UK civil space
activities and represents the UK at the European Space Agency -
was fully involved in shaping this document. Following its
publication, it is expected that a voluntary, non-binding forum
(the International Co-ordination Mechanism) will now be
established so that all 14 nations can share their plans for space
exploration, and collaborate to strengthen both individual
projects and the collective effort.
This is an exciting time for UK space exploration:
* The UK was heavily involved in the recent and highly
successful SMART-1 mission to the Moon;
* The UK is building cutting edge technology to survey the
geochemistry of the Moon aboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 mission
which is due for blast off in 2008;
* It is also the second largest contributor to the European Space
Agency's (ESA) Aurora space exploration programme;
* UK industry has recently started work on the BepiColombo
mission to Mercury, a joint European/Japanese mission to be
launched in 2013.
The UK space sector is worth £4.8 billion per annum, supports
70,000 jobs and makes an overall contribution to UK GDP of almost
£7 billion per annum.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The document The Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework
for Co-ordination was published today at the 3rd ASI/ESA
International Co-operation for Sustainable Space Exploration
Workshop which is meeting in Sarteano, Italy (29 May to 01 June
2007). It can be found on the BNSC website at http://www.bnsc.gov.uk
2. The British National Space Centre was among the 14 space
agencies that developed the document. These were: ASI (Italy);
BNSC (UK); CNES (France); CNSA (China); CSA (Canada); CSIRO
(Australia); DLR (Germany); ESA (European Space Agency); ISRO
(India); JAXA (Japan); KARI (Republic of Korea); NASA (USA); NSAU
(Ukraine); and, Roscosmos (Russia).
3. The British National Space Centre (BNSC) is a partnership of
nine Government Departments and research councils and is at the
heart of UK efforts to explore and exploit space. BNSC
co-ordinates UK civil space activities to benefit science,
enterprise and the environment and represents the UK at the
European Space Agency and at other international fora.
4. The Science and Technology Facilities Council is the BNSC
partner that invests in space science and exploration on behalf of
the UK. For more information, visit http://www.scitech.ac.uk
http://www.bnsc.gov.uk