§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding the Government have provided for the Beagle 2 spacecraft; and if she will make a statement on the mission. [48931]
§ Ms HewittBeagle 2 is the British-led lander that it is planned to deploy from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiting spacecraft onto the surface of Mars at new year 2004.
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UK statistical inquiries of businesses carried out by the ONS 2001 Statistical inquiry Frequency1 Number of forms in 2001 compliance year Earnings and employment Wages and Salaries M 99,600 New Earnings A 234,700 Labour Disputes C 287 The Quarterly Inquiry into the number of employees in local government (local authority survey) Q 1,800 Vacancy Rate Inquiry M 62,952 Overseas and financial Unit Trusts Quarterly Return of Transactions Q 328 Unit Trusts Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities A 82 Property Unit Trusts Quarterly Return of Transactions Q 48 Property Unit Trusts Annual Assets and Liabilities A 12 The overall cost of Beagle 2, not including the ground segment and instruments, is approximately £40 million, with non UK-Government contributions coming from ESA, private sponsorship and investment by a consortium of UK firms and universities. The contribution of the Government are as follows:
Mars Express: £18 million over the period 1998 to 2005 (Department of Trade and Industry and Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, PPARC).
Beagle 2: The Department of Trade and Industry (including the Office of Science and Technology) has committed up to £18.3 million over the period 2000 to 2003 but this sum may be defrayed by contributions from other partners and investments from the private sector. PPARC has additionally contributed £2.7 million over the period 1998 to 2003 to British universities for the provision of instruments and is currently considering a further contribution of £2.6 million for the ground segment.