Sir Martin Sweeting :

So President Obama has scrapped the US plans for a manned return to the Moon. As the world claws it way out of recession, many might see this decision as being financially prudent. However, the exploration of the lunar surface is still very much on the agenda. But it won’t be man making one small step next time, it will be a robot!

Several nations are planning robotic lunar missions including India, China, Korea and interestingly, the USA. And when you think about it, this makes perfect sense because robotic lunar missions are much more cost effective than manned missions, although not so emotive. Of course, robotic exploration is nothing new with NASA and ESA both utilising this technology, but it’s still very expensive. The price tag for the European ExoMars programme is around €1Bn which is a lot of money in any currency. But does robotic exploration have to be this expensive?

MoonLITE Orbiter Penetrator, designed by SSTL for the design phase of the UK government's MoonLITE mission for a low-cost orbiter carrying scientific lunar surface penetrators and a communications relay payload to the Moon in 2014.

At SSTL we don’t think so. We think it is possible to knock a “0” off the cost of mounting lunar robotic exploration mission by simply employing the same, well founded, production techniques that SSTL use to reduce the cost of designing and building Earth-orbiting small satellites.

Currently, there is enormous interest in the moon, particularly with the prospect of finding water, the key perhaps to a permanent manned lunar base in the future. The LRO and LCROSS missions are currently surveying the lunar surface to identify future landing sites. Now is the time to mount a low cost robotic mission to Moon in order to prove the technology and its suitability for other more distant planetary missions.

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in In the news at 11:43 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: esa, nasa, obama, satellite, space

America's next President, Barack Obama has got plans for NASA. He hopes not only will inspire the world with manned and robotic space exploration, apply the World's most significant space program to take a help tackle climate change, energy independence, and aeronautics research. In achieving this vision, Obama will cooperate with international partners and engage the private sector to amplify NASA's reach. He believes that a revitalized NASA can help America maintain its innovation edge and contribute to American economic growth.

For those who like to hear it from the man himself, why not tune in m in below.



There is currently no organisation in the US Gvernment that oversees a comprehensive and integrated strategy and policy dealing with all aspects of the government's space- related programs. This wasn't always the case, between 1958 and 1973 the National Aeronautics and Space Council oversaw all space activities for four presidents.

The Council was briefly revived from 1989 to 1992, but Barack Obama will re-establish National Aeronautics and Space Council reporting to the president. It will oversee and coordinate civilian, military, commercial and national security space activities undetaken by NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Commerce Department, the Transportation Department, and other federal agencies. It promises to solicit public participation, engage the international community, and work toward a 21st century vision of space developing new technologies.

Given the enormous importance of Obama's plans to the International space industry Space Blog will continue this discussion later this week with an insight into Barack Obama's plans for manned spaceflight.

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in In the news at 16:11 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: nasa, obama