Ian Pearson - Jodrell Bank Observatory

Introduction and Jodrell Bank History:

Your Excellency, distinguished guests, professors, Honourable Members, ladies and Gentlemen. I'm truly delighted to be here as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of this 'dawn of the space age' in these the most appropriate of surroundings and I don't mean this tent!

It is really wonderful to see so many people here from the space community, both from home and abroad; and I would particularly offer a most warm welcome to His Excellency the Ambassador of the Russian Federation. I am also delighted to be here with Professor Lovell. Sir Bernard was the driving force behind the Lovell Telescope and is synonymous with Jodrell Bank. I'm told He actually started work here in 1945 and has played a huge part in astronomy and subsequent space history. I think we all owe him a great gratitude of debt

I really must speak of my admiration for Jodrell Bank and all those associated with it. When we look at how society now depends on space and the scientific discoveries made with space technology, it is sometimes difficult to believe that it's only 50 years ago since man first launched a satellite - and how at that time everyone was so excited with that simple 'ping' broadcast from space. Detecting Sputnik was Jodrell Bank's first great task. It was the only Radio Telescope facility in the World with the capability of doing so, giving both itself and the UK a place in history.

In addition, Jodrell Bank has a strong history of outreach and continues to be strongly engaged with the wider community, and as you know as well It has also helped to add words to the dictionary such as 'gravitational lenses' as part of confirming the work of Einstein and 'quasars'.

Of course the Lovell telescope is also 50 years old and was a major engineering and technical marvel of its age.

Simply building it was a challenge in those days, for example a new crane was designed and built to lift the girders - an engineering feat in itself.

Benefits of Space for Society:

Thinking back then, who could have predicted the benefits space now brings to the way we live and how it has been used in scientific discovery?

Satellites are now revolutionising how we understand our climate and the way that it is changing. It's wide ranging - from monitoring changes in polar ice cover to the understanding of the chemistry of our atmosphere. This has fed into the work of the inter-Governmental panel on Climate Change and the authoritative assessment reports that were produced this year. Satellite technology will continue to help improve our scientific base and understanding and it will be science and technologists who come up with some of the solutions that will be necessary if we are going to avoid dangerous climate change in this century.

In a world where some 75 per cent of all disasters are weather related, that ability to forecast is vitally important. Our capability has been transformed by satellite observations and the long-term data sets they generate, and it is important that this work continues.

I am pleased that the British National Space Centre and DMCii Ltd (Disaster Monitoring Constellation International Imaging) will lead the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' from October this year until April next year. The Charter is an international group which provides satellite data to support disaster relief across the globe and the UK is proud to lead this important group. We often think of space as being somewhere to explore, but we should never forget that it can also bring enormous benefits to us here on Earth. And by working together, the Charter's international partners are helping to save lives around the world today. And just to take another example, we now use satellites for navigation. Although the technology has not yet replaced maps entirely, it at least takes away some of the angst from map reading and can help us to select more direct and less congested routes. This can contribute to safer driving, it can help reduce carbon emissions and be of financial benefit and not to mention more harmonious family journeys!

The communications we take for granted these days are light years ahead of 1957 - with satellites again playing an important role. We all hold up our mobile phones, but, sports events, the media, offshore service industries and financial transactions all benefit from space systems. Even our national lottery couldn't function without the satellite link from every sales point.

Space Exploration:

And of course there is space and exploration which energises the minds of particularly the young people in our communities, but so many more people as well, and humans are clearly wired for exploration, it's built into our DNA. Over the last 50 years our knowledge of the Universe has continued to grow - presenting us with more questions to answer, and to help answer some of these questions the UK is part of the Global Exploration Strategy along with 13 other nations. Building on this, the UK Space Exploration Working Group report just published last month, examined UK's role in future space exploration. As I think a number of you will be aware it made a number of recommendations, including early investment in a demonstration programme to build on current areas of strength and engage to in preparatory human spaceflight activities. This will help judge the value of stronger involvement. As a Government we want to consider carefully all the recommendations. And as the next step, I have asked the British National Space Centre to assess the benefits of participating in future manned activity in the mid-term. Internationally, exploration will continue through both robotic and manned capability and the UK will retain a strong focus on robotic missions. But without doubt there will be a time when the world returns to the Moon, and indeed the planets beyond, and the UK will need to determine its role in this global effort.

As well as the direct benefits of space technology, there are innovative spin-offs constantly emerging. Recent examples include passive X-ray machine for airport security and as I was hearing this morning, the potential for portable spectrometers for TB testing in the developing world with technology coming out of the Beagle 2 programme. And of course those are just a couple of examples of the benefits space technology can bring, there are many, many more.

Increasing UK World Class Skills:

The Government also has a role to play in maintaining and developing the UK strengths in space for both science and business.

Absolutely fundamental to our future space aspirations are the availability of new generations of scientists and engineers and technicians. We are working to ensure this by supporting science and innovation, and developing the skills of our young people at all levels. That's one of the reasons why we have created a new department, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills to make sure the UK remains at the forefront of science, innovation and research. I believe that it is vital for both our future economic prosperity and for our role in the world today, and absolutely right that BNSC is positioned within this Department. We are working to create a workforce with the skills, knowledge and ambition to be up there with the best in a more competitive, dynamic global economy and especially with the emergence of new space powers like India and China.

Government Investment:

The growing importance of science is reflected by increased Government funding. In the last 10 years funding for the ring-fenced science budget has increased from £1.3 billion to £3.4 billion today, and is going up to £4billion by 2010/2011. A virtual tripling of the budget within 15 years and there is continued funding for space activities.

Key areas of focus are on improving our understanding of science; enabling better and more informed policy implementation; and areas that lead to wealth creation in the UK. In space science the UK is second only to the USA in terms of publications and citations; in the use of satellite information for predicting weather and understanding the climate, our scientists and engineers speak with authority and are recognised as world experts. This contributes to our leading international policy discussions on tackling climate change.

The revenues of the space sector around £5billion a year in the UK, primarily in the downstream telecommunications, broadcasting and navigation markets, and as a Government we are committed to supporting the development of critical technologies of the future. The innovation budget supports space technology development, and more broadly the Technology Strategy Board is currently funding over 600 projects currently worth £900m. And looking forward, I want us build the UK's strengths, to maintain the excellence we have established, and to facilitate even greater success in the future.

Closing Remarks:

And can I just say finally, when I learnt that space was to form part of my portfolio as a Minister, I was enormously pleased. In the few months that I have been involved, I have been impressed and enthused by not just the importance of space and the broad range of activities where research is being conducted here in the UK but also the excellent people I've met. Space I see as an important and integral part of our way forward for humankind.

Let's look ahead 50 years, what will we be saying at the 100 years celebration? I am not sure what we'll be saying - no-one can be - but we will have moved on more than we can comprehend today.

Perhaps we will have tamed the climate, space mining could be the new major industry, the Moon the latest tourist attraction and perhaps even with a British Embassy! Whatever it is, I am quite certain that in 10, 20 or 50 years times space science, communications and exploration will be even more important than they are today. We need to recognise that in Government policy as we all move forward to ensure that the UK is going to be at the forefront of these important developments.

My thanks to you all.