A satellite designed by two British schoolchildren has caught the attention of astronaut Tim Peake, who is heading to the site of some of the most iconic space missions in history for rocket launches.
Simon Shemetilo, 16, and Craig Alexander, 14, are heading to Cape Canaveral, Florida – an iconic location with countless landmarks nasa Take off over the years.
Simon told Sky News: “It will be amazing to see the place where many famous launches took place.”
This time, British company Inmarsat is sending its latest satellite technology into orbit.
It will be part of a network called Orchestra, which aims to upgrade communications in challenging environments around the world, including at sea.
Teenagers Simon from Tower Hamlets and Craig from Reading were invited to watch after winning the competition. In the competition, hundreds of competitors had to think about how satellites could improve life on Earth.
“Exactly the innovation we need”
For these two Scout boys, fighting climate change was a big source of inspiration.
Simon came up with a network of satellites that “work together to increase the speed of data processing and storage,” making them all more energy efficient.
Craig’s idea is to use satellites to harvest solar energy from the sun, hoping to beam it to Earth and provide “cheap and environmentally friendly” renewable energy.
Their ingenuity impressed Major Peake, man who retired as an astronaut last month.
“These two really caught our attention,” he said.
“They used their scouting skills to develop their idea to reduce the environmental impact of data storage by building a ‘space cloud network’ and harnessing clean solar energy from satellites.
“That’s exactly the kind of ingenuity and innovation we need in the future of space.”
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‘They can help save lives’
Simon and Craig will spend five days in Florida and will visit NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and watch Inmarsat launch its I-6 F2 spacecraft.
both are fascinated The growing role of satellitesthey are often taken into space by private companies such as Elon Muskof SpaceX.
Britain attempted first orbital rocket launch last month also carry satellites.
Simon said: “They can help with navigation, save lives at sea, in military areas such as Ukraine, and can help communicate with people and get help. “
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Spaceflight will be ‘very cool’
But there’s nothing quite like a crewed space mission, and the Scouts are excited about it NASA’s Artemis mission is returning humans to the moon and Musk wants to colonize Mars with Starship.
if invited to board civil space flight Either way, Craig is playing cool.
“I like the idea,” he said.
“Going to space would be cool.”
Inmarsat is targeting a mid-February launch.