The European Space Agency's (ESA) approval of the UK's Beagle 2 Mars Lander is great news for space exploration, especially for the UK space industry.

The Open University-led Beagle 2 project could be the most high-profile British space mission ever, especially if it finds signs of past or present life on Mars from its analysis of samples of rock, soil and atmosphere there.

Beagle 2's progress to the building phase has not been an easy one and ESA approval is by no means the last hurdle the programme will face.

The Open University has succeeded in convincing ESA of the technical and engineering merits of the mission, but now comes the hardest task - begging for sponsorship.

Beagle 2 weighs less that 100kg and will cost just $28 million - small change by space exploration standards in the USA or continental Europe. A number of investors have already promised funds, including the spacecraft builder Matra Marconi Space, and Martin Baker, who will provide the craft's landing system. Support has even come from UK pop group Blur, who have written a song dedicated to the mission. But the UK Government, asked to give funds for one of the country's most important space projects ever, has come up with a mere $8 million.

The situation is typical of the UK's attitude to space. In the 1970s, poised to become the main partner in a European commercial launcher using the country's Blue Streak ballistic missile first stage, the UK blew it by cancelling Blue Streak and quitting the project. The European launcher development programme became Arianespace - the world's leader in commercial launches - in which the UK plays just a tiny part.

And even when Helen Sharman became the first Briton in space in 1991, the UK Government did not want to be seen soiling its hands with a "commercial" project. A new government in 1997 seemed to bring a change in the UK's space policy. Now it has a chance to replace rhetoric with funding for Beagle. One small step for the politicians, but a big step towards reviving a strategically important industry.

Source: Flight International