“We’re about to see a revolution in space. Very few people have even grasped how much of a revolution it’s going to be.”
If that declare got here from the advertising director of a expertise firm, you’d most likely roll your eyes. Yeah, yeah – space goes to be huge, proper? Heard all of it earlier than…
Well, contemplating that quote comes from somebody who’s been there – actually – and achieved it, and actually is aware of what he’s speaking about, possibly we must always pay attention. Because Tim Peake is happy.
As Britain’s first male astronaut – and one in every of solely seven UK-born folks to enter space – you may suppose, what with spending six months on the International Space Station, and being the primary Brit to carry out a spacewalk, what extra is there to be enthusiastic about?
“The UK space sector is in a great place at the moment, and it’s well positioned to take advantage of what’s coming up,” Peake tells Computer Weekly, as he explains the milestone that’s about to be achieved.
“In 2011, when the last space shuttle flew, it would have cost you $57,000 to put a kilogramme on that shuttle to low Earth orbit. Today, with a Falcon Heavy on SpaceX, they’ll do that for about $1,500. When Elon Musk’s Starship flies, it’s probably around $200 to $300. So in the space of just over a decade, we’ve gone from $57,000 to 200 bucks to get a kilogramme into space.”
Hitting that value level goes to open up monumental alternatives to do issues in space that, prior to now, had been conceivable however not bodily doable. “Suddenly, all sorts of stuff that we thought was science fiction and decades away becomes economically viable today,” says Peake.
We’re about to see a revolution in space. Very few folks have even grasped how a lot of a revolution it’s going to be Tim Peake, astronaut
By manner of instance, he cites the European Space Agency (ESA) Solaris mission, which goals to construct a photo voltaic power farm in space – a 10km2 array that can beam electrical energy to Earth through microwave connections. Some forecasts predict Solaris may present 10% of Europe’s electrical energy wants by 2050.
“[The ESA’s] price point was $1,000 per kilogramme. As soon as you drop below that, it becomes economically viable – as simple as that. It’s just a price point. And we’re very, very close to achieving that price point,” says Peake.
Factories in space
What else? How about constructing factories in space? “Mass-producing stuff in space that you can’t build here on Earth – at $200 per kilogramme, and with a rocket that can take 150 tonnes to low-Earth orbit on every single launch, this isn’t sci-fi anymore, this is very near reality,” he says.
The UK, Peake says, is effectively positioned to reap the benefits of these upcoming developments. The UK space sector is value about £17.5bn to the financial system with greater than 50,000 folks straight employed, he says, citing funding in the OneWeb satellite tv for pc constellation. Clyde Space – a Glasgow-based small satellite tv for pc firm, the Harwell space cluster in Oxfordshire, the National Space Academy in Leicester, the Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall, and the federal government’s UK space ports initiative.
“We have been very fortunate to have a very good UK space sector for a number of years now,” he says. “For a long time, it was kind of like a little hidden jewel that nobody really knew about. I think we’ve been very clever about the way we’ve invested in our technology.”
The US space programme is famously credited with bringing all types of superior applied sciences into our on a regular basis lives – or at the very least, with improvements comparable to Teflon, Velcro and reminiscence foam, discovering makes use of for them that helped result in profitable client merchandise.
Today’s space tech sector already underpins many elements of enterprise IT that digital chiefs take as a right, such because the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) sign transmitted from GPS satellites.
“A study [in 2022] by London Economics said the UK economy would take a hit of £5bn per day if we lost PNT, because that signal is so valuable to everything. Not just from your GPS signals, but from banking transactions to digital systems that all rely on that precise timing. A lot of stuff that people won’t even realise they’re using today, in terms of satellite technology, phone technology, weather forecasting systems and climate modelling,” says Peake.
“With the onset of new technologies like quantum and artificial intelligence, more connectivity, computing power, these kinds of things, they become more and more relevant, more important, and space becomes an area that can help with that connectivity.”
Peake says that when he went into space in 2015, there have been 4,000 satellites across the Earth. Today, Elon Musk’s SpaceX alone has 6,000.
Mission management
Increasingly too, the move of innovation is working each methods, as applied sciences developed for the enterprise supply advantages in space – not least by way of the potential of synthetic intelligence (AI).
“A future where humans are working with AI is going to be a better future than without AI,” says Peake. “We need to make sure we take advantage of that without the flip side of the risks.”
He envisages a future AI-based Mission Control Centre, required on a journey to Mars the place the 20-minute communication delay means a traditional mission management isn’t any use in an emergency – by the point the comms have reached Earth, it may already be too late.
“A future where humans are working with AI is going to be a better future than without AI. We need to make sure we take advantage of that without the flip side of the risks”
Tim Peake, astronaut
“You can have a remote Mission Control Centre that’s got AI that can help with decision-making processes, that understands intricately the spacecraft and the environment you’re operating in, and can inform the crew to make timely, life-changing or life-saving decisions,” he says, whereas declaring that, for anybody who’s watched the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, no one goes to permit AI to have unfettered management of the spaceship’s airlock.
Other potential purposes embrace robotic expertise with haptic suggestions that might be used for medical emergencies in space, in addition to enabling people in a secure setting to utilize robots in an unsafe setting.
“These kinds of areas are where technology is really going to help to advance what we’re doing in space,” he says.
Peake can be showcasing a few of these applied sciences as a part of Future Lab, an exhibition staged on the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the place startups will show progressive merchandise in areas comparable to drones, robotics, holograms and environmental applied sciences. The exhibition goals to interact 11-to-16-year-olds, a cohort for which he has a specific curiosity.
STEM schooling
Peake was additionally the UK’s first honorary science, expertise, engineering and maths (STEM) ambassador, serving to to assist 35,000 volunteers who encourage younger folks’s curiosity in STEM careers.
Attracting younger folks – and folks from various backgrounds – into tech schooling and careers has lengthy been a supply of frustration for a lot of in the IT and digital sector, not least contemplating the numerous expertise shortages that proceed to carry again the UK’s progress. Peake understands the difficulty, however sees indicators that issues are getting higher.
“While it’s a problem, actually, we have a greater STEM uptake at the moment than we’ve ever had before,” he says.
Industry must be progressive, adaptable and fast-paced … however you possibly can’t count on the schooling sector to be bouncing round on the identical tempo in phrases of the curriculum. It is as much as the larger corporations to run apprenticeships and programmes that can upskill youthful graduates popping out of [education] Tim Peake, astronaut
“But it’s clear, although they’re on the way up, they are still not meeting industry’s demand. And I think that shows how much tech, engineering, science, computing studies and so on are accelerating, at such a rate that even though we have more young people getting involved it still can’t keep up with the demand. What we need to do is do more of the same because it’s obviously working. But we need to close the gap between what young people are learning at school and what the industry actually needs.”
Peake cites initiatives comparable to T-levels, apprenticeships, larger alternatives for work expertise and University Technical Colleges as constructive examples of the connections between schooling and business delivering higher outcomes from working collectively.
“There’s always room to do better. It is a case of looking at what is working and doing more of it,” he says.
“Industry must be progressive, adaptable and fast-paced, and we don’t need to sluggish it down. But you possibly can’t count on the schooling sector to be bouncing round on the identical tempo in phrases of the curriculum. It is as much as the larger corporations to run apprenticeships and programmes that can upskill youthful graduates popping out of [education].
“There will never be a perfect, seamless route from education into industry – that’s a utopia we will not achieve. But what we can do is close the gap and make it less of a rocky road.”
Back into space
Peake hopes his days as an astronaut will not be but over. He’s in contact with the crews coaching to be the primary to return to the moon – Nasa hopes to make the primary crewed touchdown since Apollo 17 in late 2026. While he thinks a moon shot is out of his attain, Peake is hoping to return to space: “I’d like to think I’ve got the opportunity to go back to the ISS within the next couple of years, which is looking really positive at the moment.”
For anybody who marvels at space journey, or who has watched clips of humanity’s first forays to the moon, and even simply seen the outstanding pictures of space-suited astronauts floating above Earth, there’s one query it’s nearly unimaginable to not ask whenever you meet a real-life astronaut.
Tim Peake can be showcasing applied sciences with space potential on the Future Lab exhibition, the place startups will show progressive merchandise in areas comparable to drones, robotics, holograms and environmental applied sciences
It is unquestionably the query Peake is requested greater than every other, however he’s gracious sufficient to reply – and to exhibit extra of that lingering pleasure – when Computer Weekly asks: So, what’s it like to enter space?
“Two things are pretty special,” he says. “The first is the sensation of weightlessness. You’re very, very conscious you’re in a distinct setting since you’re floating. And every thing feels very, very unusual and distinctive.
“But actually it’s all concerning the view. It’s all about searching the hatch, wanting down on planet Earth, and seeing the universe from a totally completely different perspective. Seeing the planet towards the backdrop of the blackness of space is totally life-changing. It’s one thing I want extra folks may expertise.
“It does make you realise how small the Earth looks from space. We all share the same atmosphere, we all share the same planet, we need to get on and collaborate and work together.”
Tim Peake is an ambassador for Future Lab, and can be showing on the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 11-14 July 2024.
