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I think that meetings such as this are important in
reminding us that we are in the middle of a very exciting period of
space exploration.
Over the last year we have seen many successes
in space science and I would like congratulate all of you that have been
involved in these missions of outstanding scientific discovery, and who
have demonstrated the world-class quality of British space science.
These successes are even more remarkable if you
consider that the UK spends a modest amount of money on space. I am not
proud of the fact that we only spend 295 million euros a year compared
to 1.9 billion euros for France and 850 million euros for Germany. But I
am enormously proud of the incredible value we get for our investment.
We have world-class space scientists and engineers and many areas of
strength in the space sector - satellite communication and navigation,
Earth observation and of course space science.
We need, however, to work hard to get across the
message that space is important not only because of space exploration,
but because there is now a huge commercial space industry which is worth
over $100 billion globally and is estimated to be growing at a rate of
9% a year. It is important that people understand that the UK industry,
which employs over 15,000 staff, has a turnover of around £3.9 billion -
87 % of which is devoted to downstream applications.
Earth observation from space must also be a key
part of our environmental policies – particularly in view of our
expertise and capability in this field. A number of current European
initiatives allow our industry to show its strength in the key areas.
This is typified by our commercial leadership in the humanitarian aid
project RESPOND providing practical maps for relief teams on the ground,
following disasters such as the Darfur famine and the aftermath of the
Asian tsunami.
As the Chancellor of the Exchequer said in his
last Spending Review speech – “the future of the British economy depends
on the future of British science”, which is a fundamental key part our
national innovation system. The UK faces a future of intense competition
- not least from the rapidly growing economies of Asia and China - and
we must be prepared and equipped to meet these challenges.
As Colin Paynter has also so ably demonstrated
this evening space research uses innovative new technologies that have
produced many spin-offs that have boosted the wider economy, - ensuring
the UK remains competitive and a world leader. It is of vital importance
as a contributing factor in achieving our goal to be Europe’s leading
knowledge-based economy.
Now let me turn to the future of UK planetary
science and ESA’s Aurora programme. Back in October last year I
announced a £5 million investment in the preparatory phase of the Aurora
programme. At that time I asked UK scientists and industrialists to work
closely with ESA to make the long-term plan for Mars exploration both
convincing and affordable. I know that PPARC have worked hard on this
and I am particularly pleased to learn that apart from delivering
outstanding science, knowledge transfer and public outreach is integral
to PPARC’s wider exploitation of Aurora. I look forward to considering
their final proposal.
You will appreciate that I can’t at this stage
make any formal announcement in advance of the ESA Ministerial meeting
in Berlin this December. But let me say that I am determined that the UK
should continue to play a major role in space exploration, which today
is as exciting as it has ever been.
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