Chancellor puts money where mouth is for mission to Mars

In his autumn statement, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has made clear Government’s intention that the UK will play a lead role in Europe's ExoMars mission to Mars. The Government's new commitment to the ExoMars programme amounts to £47.7m, alongside a similar amount for the International Space Station (ISS). This more than triples the sum offered as a "one-off" payment to the ISS two years ago.  Also among the UK's increased commitments to the European Space Agency (ESA) was £130m to be spent on satellite telecommunications projects. President of the Royal Astronomical Society, Professor Martin Barstow said: “The Autumn statement is a welcome demonstration of the Government's commitment to science investment. The decision to contribute an additional £47.7m to the ESA ExoMars programme is particularly important for the role of this University and wider UK involvement in the exploration of the Red Planet.” ExoMars is a robotic mission developed by ESA, with two mission components - an orbiter and landing demonstrator which are due for launch in 2016, and a scientific rover that will be launched in 2018. The rover will explore the planet, paying particular attention to its geochemistry and possible evidence of biology. The funding is good news for many in the UK space science community. Professor Mark Sims, Professor of Astrobiology and Space Instrumentation at the University of Leicester who have a strong involvement with the mission, said: “The ExoMars programme has struggled to raise funding for the two missions from the ESA member states and the UK’s additional commitment reinforces other additional contributions to secure the mission, allowing the instrument and programme development to proceed towards the 2018 launch.” Several teams at The University of Leicester have a strong involvement with the rover mission through the development of one of the key instruments, a Raman spectrometer, which is being built by a number of European partners. The ExoMars rover, which houses the Raman spectrometer, will explore the surface of the planet, drilling up to 2m below the surface. The Raman instrument will investigate the resulting drill samples, determining the mineralogy and searching for organics including those that might be associated with life.