HC Deb 19 January 1994 vol 235 cc695-6W
Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what support his Department is giving to back basic scientific development of the along-track scanning radiometer, which was announced by the Department of the Environment on 21 December 1993.

Mr. Waldegrave

The Government make funds available under the science budget to the research councils, which determine their priorities in accordance with the terms of their royal charters.

The Natural Environment Research Council—NERC —will contribute £1.8 million towards the cost of building the advanced along-track scanning radiometer—AATSR. The remainder of the total cost will be provided by the Department of the Environment and the Australian space office.

The AATSR has been developed from two previous instruments: the ATSR1 and ATSR2, towards which the Science and Engineering Research Council—SERC—provided funds of £7.3 million and £12.3 million respectively.