UK techies want in on Nasa moon plans

The UK wants to play a role in what could be the world's biggest science and technology programme - NASA's plans to send astronauts back to the moon.

This week DTI science and innovation minister Malcolm Wicks met with NASA chief Dr Michael Griffin to discuss the possibilities for UK involvement in lunar exploration, as well as other potential areas for future collaboration.

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A global space exploration strategy is being developed by the world's space agencies. It will co-ordinate worldwide efforts to return to the Moon and to explore the solar system with robots, preparing for the historic first human mission to Mars.

The recently launched NASA Stereo mission which carried instrumentation built by UK scientists.

Wicks said the UK is a "world leader" in the market of small affordable satellites and said that future collaborations could potentially have a strong commercial return for UK companies in this area.

He said that this could be the world's largest science and technology programme, and that the government is keen for UK businesses and scientists to benefit from this programme.

The UK is already heavily involved in Galileo, Europe's own global navigation satellite system, made up of a constellation of 30 satellites which will deliver real-time positioning with accuracy of around a metre. Click here to see our Galileo satellite photo story.