It is a little-known fact that the planet Mars can be found just off the A1, in Stevenage. Behind some retail outlets next to the railway station stands a dilapidated former supermarket warehouse with a wonky door. On the other side, the familiar red, rocky surface and crawling over it Bruno, a €250 million Mars rover.

It is all stunningly incongruous. A development site for an ultra-high-tech space vehicle hidden in the first of the post-Second World War new towns, a vision of the future carefully dressed in concrete, pedestrian walkways and shopping precincts. Its most recent claim to fame is that it was the home of Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One motor racing world champion, but he moved to Switzerland when he found fame and fortune and “childhood home of someone who left, sharpish” hasn't got quite the same ring to it.

Bruno may change all that when he or one of his heirs is blasted into space in 2011. The rover is the most important part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) ExoMars project, for a two-year voyage, which will sample Martian rock for signs of past and present life. Britain's contribution will be to build the rover and design the software that will control the robot on the planet surface.

That work is being done by EADS Astrium, a satellite and space equipment manufacturer that employs 1,500 people in the heart of Stevenage. Astrium's Stevenage site constructs about half a dozen satellites a year, each costing up to $500 million (£337 million).

The location of both Astrium and MBDA, the missile maker, within Stevenage has turned it into Britain's space city, a sort of Houston with roundabouts. The abundance of rocket scientists in a town with a population of only

80,000 has helped it to attract other companies that want to supply the space industry, a strategy aided by the East of England Development Agency's decision to set up a business centre to nurture small firms that want to develop space technologies.

Robert Graham, head of engineering at Astrium, said: “We are always looking for quality engineers to support us and act as suppliers to us, so obviously it is an advantage if they are setting up near by.”

The space industry has been one of Britain's unheralded success stories in recent years, generating more than £7billion a year for the economy and supporting more than 70,000 jobs.

Bill Collins, a business development executive at the Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre, said: “The space industry is growing across the country and particularly here, in Stevenage. You hear a lot of doom and gloom but space is booming and there are a lot of very clever ideas that we are helping to turn into businesses.”

According to Mr Graham: “By about 2026 we want to be sending a rover to Mars and then bringing it back. That is the challenge to the next generation of scientists and engineers and, if they want to be part of it, they should come here and work with us.”

Stevenage's role in the space industry stems back to the early 1950s, when the Astrium site was owned by De Havilland, the aircraft manufacturer. It built parts for the Comet, the world's first commercial jet airliner, and was then bought by Hawker Siddeley, which in turn became part of British Aerospace. In the late 1950s the site was used to develop Blue Streak, a rocket that was to be used as Britain's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The programme was eventually cancelled by the Government, but the Blue Streak technology went on to form the basis of Europe's first satellite launch vehicle, Europa.

Astrium still makes parts for rocket launchers, including the bracing that connects satellite payloads to the rocket, but satellites (and Martian rovers) are now its primary focus. The company has also moved into providing satellite services through a subsidiary called Paradigm.

Paradigm provides secure military communications to the Ministry of Defence as part of a £3.6billion private finance initiative. The company also handles all satellite calls made by the UK's Armed Forces to their friends and family and these phone connections are relayed through three large satellite dishes in Astrium's car park.

Yet jobs for rocket scientists are not the only high-tech vacancies on offer in Stevenage. GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceuticals giant, employs 2,300 people in drug research and is the town's largest private sector employer. Stevenage also benefits from its geographical location only 20 minutes by fast train from London and it has become a services centre for the thousands of commuters who travel to and from the capital every working day.

The fast rail link and close access to the A1 have made the town both a dormitory of London and also an important manufacturing centre in its own right. As a result, Stevenage has become the ultimate “satellite” town.

Tracker system finds itself in exactly the right location

How do you find a sailor who falls overboard at night? By the time his ship has slowed, turned and returned to where he went overboard, the casualty could have drifted a long way from the original position.

The puzzle prompted amateur sailors Peter Hall and Christine Edwards, below, to set up Sci-Tech Systems. Sci-Tech is one of a number of small businesses that have established themselves in Stevenage to take advantage of the town's space industry.

Mr Hall and Ms Edwards run an IT consultancy, but have also set up Sci-Tech to develop their man-overboard technology. The product works by using the Global Positioning System (GPS). A small device is attached to life vests and, once in the water, it sends a signal back to the ship via satellite. The technology is also being developed for sports and industrial divers who may become separated from their surface vessels and for fishing fleets and their crews.

Mr Hall, 65, said: “We were sailing one day and when we returned we went to the pub. We were talking about the limitations of safety equipment and that is when I had the idea. There are systems available to tell you if someone has gone overboard, but nothing to tell you where they actually are.”

The Sci-Tech team was introduced to the Hertfordshire Business Incubation Centre (HBIC), which specialises in developing space-related companies in Stevenage, and is now based there. The innovation won a European competition for space-related ventures. “Winning the prize announced us to the world and now we don't have to bang on doors as hard as we did before,” Mr Hall said. “It is good for us to be here in Stevenage because there is a good technical base and people who can help us.”

Big pharma at The Palace

Employees at GlaxoSmithKline's enormous laboratory in Stevenage have dubbed the building The Palace. The 98-acre site is home to 2,300 scientists and support staff, making GSK the largest private sector employer in Stevenage.

The Medicines Research Centre, as The Palace is formally known, is one of GSK's most important drug research facilities and specialises in respiratory and immuno-inflammatory diseases and biopharmaceuticals. It was opened by The Queen in 1995.

GSK awards bursaries to local school and college students, allowing them to work for the company for six weeks on specific research projects. The aim is for the students to participate in ongoing research and contribute directly to drug development.

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