A mission to Mars
to bring a sample back
would be really
technically challenging,
a really audacious mission.
It would be so difficult to do
but we have to learn to do it
because if you can't
bring a rock back from Mars,
then we certainly
can't bring people back from Mars.
Bringing a sample back from Mars
is going to be really difficult.
The Guardian recently described it
as 'an audacious and
technically difficult challenge'.
That's what it is, because if you
can't bring a sample back from Mars,
you certainly
can't bring people back from Mars
and that's what space exploration's
all about these days,
sending humans to the moon
and to Mars.
Because it's difficult,
it also means it's expensive.
So it's going to be
an international mission
from NASA and the
European Space Agency
and the Japanese Space Agency
and so on.
The UK is part of ESA
but here at the Open University
we are taking a leading role
in the definition of this mission.
I was co-chair of the team
that produced a report
that published the design
requirements of the mission.
So I'm really hoping that, as we
proceed with defining this mission,
the Open University will build on
what we've done with Beagle 2
and with ExoMars
and now with iMars,
to take a leading role
in the future exploration of Mars.
