What does the future hold for human space exploration? As costs come down, rockets are going up. But to what end?

What does the future hold for human space exploration? With more countries getting involved and costs falling, increasingly ambitious projects are being proposed. Is a permanent base on the Moon feasible? Are there vast mineral resources to be harvested in space? Will our descendants be forced to abandon planet Earth to live elsewhere? Join Owen Bennett Jones and his panel of extra-terrestrial experts – including science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson – as they discuss humanity’s future in space.

This week's contributors: Lord Martin Rees, British Astronomer Royal; Dr Jill Stuart, specialist in space politics at the London School of Economics; Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University; Dr David Parker, chief executive of the UK Space Agency.

(Picture credit: NASA)