Moon by 2010
without the backing of Europe's space agency, according to a funding body
report, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday.
The BBC said the Particle
Physics and Astronomy Research Council had produced outline plans for two solo moon
missions, claiming the falling costs of technology make the proposals viable.
Britain has carried out all
previous space exploration - including the ill-fated attempt
to land the Beagle 2
probe on Mars in December 2003 - in
conjunction with the European
Space Agency or NASA.
Professor Sir Martin
Sweeting, chief executive of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. which conducted
research on behalf of the council, told the British Broadcasting Corp. he
believed the proposals were credible.
"Current small missions to
the moon cost around euro500 million (US$650 million). With advances in small satellites, we could probably cut
the cost by at least a fifth,'' he told the broadcaster.
He said a British space
program would allow businesses to "get a foothold in what could turn out to be
an economically important area for a relatively low cost.''
The research council was
not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
A first proposed mission - named
Moonlight - could be launched by 2010, with four suitcase-sized instruments to
be shot into craters on the moon's surface from an orbiting probe, the BBC
reported.
The instruments would relay
information about the composition of the moon's core and allow work to be
conducted on the possibility of earthquake-style moonquakes.
A later mission - named
Moonraker - would land a spacecraft on the lunar surface and search for
suitable sites for future manned bases, the BBC reported without clarifying if
the second mission would be manned.
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