Space Sunset?

In fact, sunset on Mars! The beautiful photo in the previous posting was taken by one of the Mars Rovers. Sunset colours on Mars appear the opposite of those typically seen on Earth. The central blue glow appears when the Martian atmosphere scatters the sunlight, the same phenomenon that makes the Earth’s sky blue. Powdery dust suspended in the atmosphere gives the rest of the sky a copper colour. The Sun appears only about two-thirds the size that it does on the Earth. The New York Times has more great photos in a recent feature.

Alas, the sunset could signify the space programme itself, principally the United States but more widely around the world too. The US programme is in decline notwithstanding the successful launch of the highly complex Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Over the years NASA has done a truly great job - as have all the planetary astronomers and scientists and engineers associated with it. Not always the cheapest way but always the very highest quality which has given inspiration to millions across the world.

We recently saw the last of the space shuttle, leaving the US without the ability to put a man into earth orbit let alone on the Moon or Mars. The astronauts of the Apollo era would never have believed that this position could have been reached - they were talking about a manned mission to Mars by the 1980s! Let us hope that the projected heavy lift launcher actually does make it off the ground at some point and is not also cancelled like its predecessor. Incidentally, contrary to press impressions, in its original incarnation it will not be as powerful as the Saturn 5 (the plans for which, incredibly, were destroyed).

The Mars programme has been dropped (as was the plan for a return to the Moon) and there is now no coherent or consistent vision for manned spaceflight. The suggested visit to an 'asteroid' does not mean a trip to the asteroid belt but trying to get on to a near-earth object passing by. While manned spaceflight is expensive it is a mere fraction of the colossal sums spent on weaponry year in and year out - much of which is useless.

It is very disappointing that the most intelligent US President we've ever seen has not managed to re-ignite the vision - although he does have the dire, cuts-obsessed Tea Party fundamentalists to contend with. It does not have to be this way but I see little hope of re-inspiration and a consistent programme that is adhered to.

In terms of robotic exploration there will also be at least a long and significant gap. There's nothing big on the blocks for launching after MSL although we await the images from the New Horizons probe (NASA's mission to Pluto and beyond with closest Pluto approach in July 2015) and the Dawn mission's approach to Ceres in February 2015. These really will be something special. Thank you NASA.

There's a danger of the engineering and scientific skills and can-do capacity being lost and along with it the chance of much closer study and possible landing on the Jovian satellite Europa - the best prospect for life in the Solar System in my view including Mars. The SETI (search for extra terrestrial intelligence) programme was only recently saved from cutbacks by a vigorous voluntary campaign of fundraising (which included actress Jodie Foster the star of 'Contact').

The European Space Agency's Programme offers some mild encouragement including the Mars sample return mission pencilled in for 2020/2022 although missions here too must be vulnerable to the chronic financial crisis faced by many European economies. But I would say it's an ideal time to invest and stimulate not 'carry on cutting'. It's a bit worrying because if you check the ESA website you'll find that much of the 'news' is out of date.

Russia has retained a good, reliable capacity to put humans into earth orbit but the recent loss of its Mars / Phobos probe in Earth orbit suggests that their testing is still not rigorous enough - a problem dating back to the long lamented Saturn-class N1 rocket. The website of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, has a lot of official prose but is low on inspiring projects.

In the long run the best hope for a revitalised manned space programme is China. They see the significance of this and they think long. having been allowed to acquire our industry and technology they have the industrial and growing scientific base. They will definitely go to the Moon in the 2020s (as long as their country remains stable) and they will not stop there. In terms of space and, as with industry, of our own doing, the sun sets in the West - but it rises again in the East.