“With the Very Large Telescope, it would be impossible because of the atmosphere. So we have to go into space.”The ESA also plans to launch the Smart-2 mission in 2006, two free-flying spacecraft that will demonstrate the formation flying essential to Darwin. Meanwhile, Nasa is busy with its own version of Darwin, the Terrestrial Planet-Finder. Speculation is mounting that the Americans and Europeans will ultimately collaborate on one joint nullifying interferometer space-telescope, which they will launch and operate together.But before then, several precursor missions are scheduled.
The French-led Corot, a 30cm-diameter space-telescope, will be the first to search specifically for rocky Earth-like planets around other stars. It will peer unblinkingly through the universe for tiny changes in the brightness of nearby stars as any orbiting planets pass in front of them. The launch is scheduled in 2005.Eddington, planned for launch in 2007, will be larger than Corot. It will search more than 500,000 stars and will be able to detect habitable planets half the size of Earth.All these will be stepping-stones to Darwin “Perhaps we are alone; perhaps we’re not,” says Alan Penny.
Darwin, he believes, could open a window on to a whole new world – or an infinity of loneliness.. Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet series has become a multimillion-pound marketing phenomenon for the BBC thanks to an aggressive campaign to boost revenues through commercial spin-offs and foreign sales. The idea of a concert was tested at the Royal Festival Hall in London last October, when 2,500 people paid £25 a head for a similar mix of choir, orchestra and narration.Blue Planet proved to be the fourth most popular BBC programme of the year, with an audience peaking at 16 million.So far it has been sold to more than 50 countries, becoming the number one show on American cable and winning more than half the total television audience in South Africa.Last week the BBC secured for the first time a £350m borrowing limit from the Treasury specially to develop its commercial arm. The Blue Planet has provided an example of how future commercial projects may look.To maximise returns, the series was marketed at both adult and child audiences, with books ranging from sticker books to specialist volumes on extraordinary fish and killer whales.
