Space invader

Soon we will live on Mars. There is no doubt about that. Space is the great adventure of this millennium. It’s growing more rapidly as a place of business than China or India. It just needs its Damien Hirst. One peerless and fearless luminary who can make us all realise how much we need a piece of it: someone who can take command of the heavens and sell them to us.

We are already in a golden age of planetary science. Since the Apollo moon landings nearly 40 years ago there have been missions to every planet and most of the interesting moons in the solar system. All of these voyages have been unmanned, and, although a machine landing on Venus doesn’t generate the press coverage that a human presence would, unmanned space travel has so far been the best approach to exploring the rest of the universe. There is very little to be gained scientifically from having a person on board a spacecraft at this stage, as instruments can be operated from mission control back here on the deck and the results are the same whether gathered by a man or a machine.