Last modified on Thu 31 Dec 2020 12.45 EST
In 1969, a British engineer was invited to the White House to meet President Nixon. His name was Francis Thomas Bacon and he had developed the fuel cells used on Apollo 11. Known now as Bacon fuel cells, these power sources consume hydrogen and oxygen to produce water, heat and, in theory, a continuous supply of electricity.
His invention was considered so integral to the success of the Apollo mission that Nixon told him, “Without you Tom, we wouldn’t have gotten to the moon.”
Bacon is one of many heroes in the history of Britain in space. The UK was the world’s third ever space-faring nation, after the USSR and US. And in the years after Apollo, several UK space companies, including Inmarsat and Surrey Satellite Technology, were created, building on the work of these early British space engineers.
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21 UK organisations have been awarded a share of over £7 million of funding to put the UK at the forefront of the latest advances in space innovation
SWINDON, UK (UK Space Agency PR) The cash injection is going to high-risk, high-reward projects that support companies and universities with radical ideas for how we tackle climate change through Earth Observation or address satellite communications challenges, from providing greater connectivity to remote places to increasing the efficiency of our homes.
Projects set for the cash boost include The Open University who will use the money to create the UK’s first Precision Forestry tool, TreeView, which will support efforts to tackle the climate emergency through detailed measurement of tree-planting initiatives aimed at increasing carbon dioxide removal.
UKSA’s National Space Innovation Programme funds 21 UK organisations
The UK government is investing £7 million, via the National Space Innovation Programme, in 21 UK organisations working on innovative space technologies.
The idea is that it represents cash injections for “high-risk, high-reward” projects of both companies and universities. Areas addressed include monitoring climate change through Earth Observation and satellite communications to provide greater connectivity to remote places.
For example, one project involves The Open University, which will use the money to create the UK’s first Precision Forestry tool, TreeView. This aims to support detailed measurement of tree-planting initiatives aimed at increasing carbon dioxide removal.