A study conducted for the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council outlines bold proposals for Government and industry funding for two all-British un-manned moon missions - the first time such ventures will ever have been undertaken.

The first mission, named Moonlight, could be launched by 2010 and would see four suitcase-sized darts fired on to the moon's surface from an orbiting probe, the report says. The darts, shot into craters and penetrating to a depth of two metres, would send back information about possible "moonquakes" and the composition of the moon's core.

If successful, the mission would be followed by another called Moonraker. This would land a spacecraft on the lunar surface and search for suitable sites for future manned bases.

The study was prepared by Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, founder and chief executive of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, a company affiliated to the University of Surrey with headquarters in Guildford.

He concluded that the cost of space exploration had fallen sufficiently to allow Britain to mount a "go-it-alone" moon mission paid for jointly by the Government and industry, and believes it would be a major boost to British industry.

Until now all Britain's space ventures have been carried out in cooperation with the American space agency Nasa and the European Space Agency (Esa).

"Current small missions to the moon cost around 500 million euro," Sir Martin said. "With advances in small satellites we could probably cut the cost by at least a fifth."

He added: "In the UK we have tremendous expertise in this area. A UK moon programme would enable us to get a foothold in what could turn out to be an economically important area for a relatively low cost."

A British moonshot would allow UK space companies to develop the technology to compete in the 21st century space race, said Sir Martin. The US hopes to start building lunar colonies by 2020 and the European, Indian Chinese space agencies are all planning future missions to the moon.

Malcolm Wicks, the Science Minister, was initially upbeat about the idea, forecasting that outer space would have an increasingly important economic role for Britain.

"The benefits are enormous, not only to science but actually to the economy and what we are going to see in this century is space and British space excellence increasingly becoming part of the British economy and things we are good at," he said, while making no firm funding promises for this specific scheme.

The study's plans were carefully designed to appeal to the Government because both missions will be un-manned. The Government has historically taken the decision not to fund manned missions to the moon but, instead, to pay for moon technology.

The national space programme had a budget of £207 million in 2005-2006, but this was spent exclusively on robotic probes such as Mars Express and Huygens, the craft that landed in 2005 on Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

Britain's long-standing refusal to fund human spaceflight is unique among the leading industrialised nations. The US, Russia and China have their own manned space programmes, while France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, Israel and Brazil have all paid for astronauts to join flights arranged by other countries.

Three British-born astronauts - Michael Foale, Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patrick - have flown recently on the space shuttle and the International Space Station, but all had to become American citizens to qualify. Only Helen Sharman, who flew to the Mir space station in 1991, has travelled into space under the Union flag.

Britain's space dreams suffered a blow in 2003 with the failure of the Beagle 2 mission to seek out life on Mars.

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