Avi Blizovsky

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Europe is considering sending humans to the moon, Mars and maybe even further in the coming decades. According to a proposal currently on the table of the leaders of the member states of the European Space Agency, a robotic outpost will be built on the Red Planet to prepare the ground (literally) for a manned landing.
The European Space Agency, ESA, believes that by the year 2025 the technology will be mature that will allow sending humans to Mars.
Now the European Space Agency is considering launching two spacecraft to find possible sites for manned landings and return to Earth the first samples of Martian soil. The decision whether to send a man to Mars should be made in 2015 at the earliest.
These programs are part of ESA's Aurora program for manned launches. The plan will define a European strategy for the study of the solar system in the next thirty years, which may also include manned flights to the moon, Mars, asteroids and even further.
David Hull, the scientific director of the British National Space Center in London (BNSC) said: "After these experiments and other preparations, the agency believes that in 2025 it will have the necessary knowledge to send a man to Mars and return him to Earth."
The cost of sending astronauts to Mars and back is enormous and the global commitment will be the only way to achieve this. Europe is now planning an independent plan but it will try to reach cooperation with the USA, Russia, Japan, and maybe even China.
The International Space Station paved the way for this type of venture but its progress depends on political decisions. Politics has proven to be an obstacle for many countries, including Britain. Under current policy, the UK is opposed to allocating funds to manned space missions. Thus its interest in Aurora focuses on the robotic phase of the mission, in which the UK has experience. The politicians will have to decide in the next year or two whether to stay with the full program.
"Britain's reason for going into space is to promote technology, innovation and research of pure science," Hull said. At the moment Britain is not convinced of that."
British astronaut Piers Sellers recently visited his homeland. Britain refuses to fund astronaut training within the European Space Agency and Sellers is forced to move to the US to fulfill his dream. According to David Hull, the idea of a real British astronaut would be a cultural change.
The BNSC will publish its draft plan in the spring of 2003, followed by a period of debate. This will allow the public to have their say on whether the UK should cooperate with European plans to send humans to missions in the solar system.
For news at the BBC
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