Ian Paul Editor, Politics Show South

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On Christmas Day 2003 the plucky little British Beagle 2 surged into the Martian atmosphere and was never heard from again.

Lost on landing?

In January 2004 both American built Mars Spirit and Mars Opportunity triumphantly landed on the red planet and started to send back spectacular pictures.

Somehow it seemed to encapsulate the two countries' approaches to space.

Where NASA thinks big and expensive, British scientists think small and cheap.

But should British scientists even be thinking about space at all?

Space - a distraction?

Is the �180m we spend a year on space research just money wasted? Yes, according to Mike Woodin of the Green Party.

They believe that spending on space science is just a distraction and we should be talking about the problems we have here on earth.

Countering that, Professor Keith Mason of PPARC (the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council) argues;

The fraction of national wealth we actually spend is tiny compared to the NHS or education.

Our research benefits the whole of society.

Advances in technology are driven by big challenges, in the past this would have been war, now it is space exploration.

To put it in context, where we spend �180m on space research a year, the French spend �1.6 billion, the Germans �477m, and the Italians �411m.

Aerospace companies in the south, dependant on government funding, would argue we spend far too little.

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting heads up a private-public partnership at Surrey University which builds satellites to monitor disasters on earth. Professor Sweeting said;

The amount we spend on space is the equivalent to the transfer fees of a handful of Premier League football players.

Layered rock on the surface of Mars

Meanwhile, Dr Andrew Buckley at the Space Science Centre at the University of Sussex is struggling to build an instrument for the International Space Station.

His concern is that with the limited funding available, when the money runs out, highly talented space researchers in this country find themselves out of work.

Even so, British scientists and engineers are in the forefront of space research.

Frontier of space research?

The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory outside Didcot is the control centre for several European space missions, including Mars Express, Beagle 2's mother ship.

It was also where Beagle was assembled and tested.

Professor Richard Holdaway, director of the laboratory's Space Science and Technology Department, points to the spin-offs from working in space.

Professor Holdaway said;

We have major programmes in GPS, direct broadcast TV, and weather forecasting, all of which rely on space technology.

Every major first-world government invests strategically and heavily on space programmes, and we play our rightful part in this.

It has been estimated that for every �1 the government invests in space research, �5 gets returned to the economy.

So, is the final frontier an exciting and vital adventure or just money disappearing down a black hole?

Let us know what you think. That is the Politics Show Sunday 01 February at Midday.

You can have your say by contacting us using the form below.

And don't forget to watch the Politics Show, with presenter Peter Henley, on BBC One on Sundays at Noon.

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