Lord Sainsbury of Turville

Mars Express/Beagle 2

The Government has made a significant financial commitment of up to £19.5m to the Beagle 2 lander. The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council has contributed to the Mars Express Mission through the European Space Agency’s science programme and has additionally awarded grants totalling £5m in support of Beagle 2’s science instruments and their operation.

I think this is a very good example of where Government can act entrepreneurially when needed. There was a sudden window of opportunity following the failure of a Russian Mars mission, so that spare instruments were available. ESA introduced Mars Express at short notice. As you probably know, ESA missions have a gestation time of four to five years while they go through the sifting and competition for selection. During that time, national governments can also assess the mission priority and the appropriate level of funding. For Beagle 2, that national assessment had to take place in less than a year and when all the UK funding was committed elsewhere. But the Government, seeing the particular excitement and scientific value in Beagle, took an entrepreneurial approach. And, as the project progressed, the Government found additional sources of funding to make it happen.

I think Mars Express, with its Beagle 2 lander, is one of those initiatives, which demonstrate the true value to the UK of this space funding. Our participation in this programme allows us to meet a number of important objectives, to carry out cutting-edge science, to develop technical and industrial expertise and to get young people interested in science and technology.

One of the goals for our space activities is to answer fundamental questions about the universe and our place in it. The Open University provides the science lead on the Beagle 2 project and I’m pleased that Professor Colin Pillinger will be speaking to you. As well as performing experiments designed to tell us more about the geology and atmosphere of Mars, Beagle 2 will test whether conditions for life exist, or have existed, on the surface of the Red Planet. The results of those tests will not only bring an important contribution to a fascinating international debate, but they will also put the UK and Europe at the cutting edge of planetary exploration.

While Beagle 2 is carrying out its experiments on the surface of Mars, Mars Express, the orbiter upon which the lander will have made its journey, will be circling the planet and taking measurements. This spacecraft houses seven instruments designed to tell us more about Mars’s mineral and chemical composition. They will also map the planet’s surface, atmosphere, and even its interior, using a range of methods including a high-resolution camera, a radar sounder, and infrared and ultraviolet light sensors. Many of the instruments will work in harmony with each other, reaffirming and corroborating each other’s results. The UK science community has made an important contribution to three of these seven instruments.

Another of our goals in supporting space activities is to develop the UK’s technical and industrial expertise. The prime industrial contractor for Beagle 2 was Astrium UK, and I’m also pleased that Colin Paynter will be talking to you. The project involves a consortium of more than 100 academic institutions and industrial subcontractors. I think the designers and engineers have achieved an extraordinary feat in designing an array of advanced instruments, capable of performing a series of precise experiments, with their own power supply, protected for their journey to another planet by a unit not much bigger than a motorcycle wheel and weighing less than thirty kilograms.

I would like to emphasise the astonishing engineering specifications necessary to enable this project to happen. Beagle 2 is not powerful enough to be in direct contact with Earth, so it will receive instructions and transmit data back via Mars Express. The energy consumption for the entire lander is only 60W, less than a normal household light bulb and the transmitter itself has an energy budget of only 5W. There is also a 20-minutes time lapse between Earth and Mars. In addition the lander is only rarely in contact with the orbiting relay satellite. So most operations have to be done blind, and all the programming in advance. And to do its analysis, the main instrument on Beagle has to heat up material and pass it through a mass spectrometer. Normally this would occupy a whole laboratory but here it has been fitted into a space the equivalent to a shoebox. And all of this has to be done under extremes of temperature.

This is a testament to the UK’s strengths in engineering and world-class scientific expertise. With the experience gained and skills acquired through working on Beagle 2, UK firms have reinforced their reputation as sought-after partners in international projects.

I think the extraordinary story of Beagle 2 and Mars Express helps us to meet another of our key goals for space activity, which is to get young people interested in science and engineering. I am sure it will be an inspiration to them to think that a planetary lander designed and built here in the UK will touch down on another planet, where no human has ever been, and transmit information back to us about that alien world. It will be the first European - made object to land on another planet.

The vision behind this project is reminiscent of the age-old spirit of exploration that led our ancestors to explore their surroundings and set off around the globe, pushing back the boundaries of the knowledge of the world they lived in. At the same time, Beagle 2 and Mars Express are part of a very modern vision, not only in their cutting-edge equipment, but also in the way they have been built and funded. With such a strong appeal on so many levels, this mission will help make young people aware of the astounding possibilities opened up by science. By encouraging them to take an interest in science and consider studying it, we can enhance the UK’s future science and engineering base, which is essential to our economy and industrial capability.

These are historic times for our involvement in space exploration, and Beagle 2 and the Mars Express Mission are a fitting tribute to the UK’s strengths in engineering and world-class scientific expertise. But the mission also demonstrates the importance to the UK of European cooperation. All of the 15 member states of the European Space Agency are contributing to Mars Express.

The European Space Agency is central to the UK’s space programme, and I am particularly pleased to welcome here today Antonio Rodota, Director General of the Agency, and David Southwood, Director of the Agency’s Science programme. Three-fifths of total UK civil space expenditure of around £180m is invested directly through the European Space Agency. Membership of the Agency provides access for both the scientific and industrial communities to a wide range of scientific and commercial opportunities.

In the past, UK scientists have been able to carry out leading edge research in international space missions, improving our fundamental knowledge of the sun, planets, solar system, and the Earth itself. Knowledge and technology gained by UK companies from their participation has improved their own products and processes, has helped make them more competitive and has led to new technology. I am glad to say that this tradition of successful and productive cooperation is being carried on with the Mars Express mission and I look forward to it continuing in the future.

Back home, the UK Government is currently carrying out a review of its Space Strategy, and has recently completed a round of public consultation, with a view to publishing a new document later this year. The current draft Strategy for 2003–6 builds on the UK’s achievements and past policy objectives in this area, identifying priorities in order to make sure that our activities put space at the service of science, enterprise and the environment.

This means that the Government will continue to support innovative and exciting missions, such as Mars Express, which meet our goal of performing world-class science, as well as a range of other projects that help us learn about our environment, foster commercial opportunities, and develop cutting edge-technology. Our strategic objectives are: to enhance the UK’s standing in astronomy, planetary and environmental sciences; to stimulate increased productivity by promoting the use of space in government, science and commerce and to develop innovative space systems to deliver sustainable improvement in quality of life.

Beagle 2 is a visionary and high-risk project, which has been taken forward with great skill and determination and I, and everyone else in the British Space Community, look forward to its launch and the successful completion of its exciting mission.