Looking at the stars from Brexit gutter
LIKE the proverbial curate’s egg, it’s been a week of good and bad. This year’s Cheltenham was a far from vintage experience for my wallet, and that was the bright side of the coin.
Dominating everything over the past seven days was that relentless grey cloud called Brexit – a dogged and persistent downer it seems we’ll never be rid of. It has even captured the minds of young people – an age group whose springtime thoughts should really be on those more pleasant matters of the heart. One such 20-something, taking time out from playing a decent rendition of Jacques Brel’s ‘The Port of Amsterdam’ for the Paddy’s Day tourists, said Brexit was “like a porter fart in church, it lingers forever”. Another gent, with a west Cork boho air about him, said he was halfway through a book of poetry dedicated to the UK’s exit because “it will be seen as one of our generation’s defining events”.
Add to those sentiments the gales of Storm Gareth and you can picture why it wasn’t a week that impelled one to engage in cartwheels of joy. That was until I discovered the potential of space, and the role Ireland could play in the impending colonising of that interstellar final frontier. We may be contemplating the unhappy prospect of rancid butter mountains and massive mushroom meltdowns due to the toxic tariffs of our nearest neighbour, but turning our eyes heavenward could be just the economic boost our battered island needs right now.
“The technology needed to effectively exploit the resources space offers is becoming more advanced, more accessible and more compact, and in so doing is approaching a sweet spot whereby investment is fast becoming a realistic and affordable opportunity for countries such as Ireland,” explained Dr Niall Smith, head of research at Cork Institute of Technology and Blackrock Castle Observatory.
The fact the space industry is in the midst of a revolution is good news for our prospects in a market worth €1.2tn by 2040. Even breadcrumbs from that table are surely worth a whole heap of mushrooms and butter.
Our lack of experience in the sector is actually to our advantage, it seems. “Space is increasingly reliant on players who have no heritage in this industry, because these are the players with the greatest potential to disrupt the market with new products and services that can be scaled.” Dr Smith believes our world-leading workforce is perfectly placed to compete in this new market with a minimal of up-skilling.
Pressing challenges in the emerging areas of data security and satellite communications are already well within our grasp, as is the dilemma of rural wifi: “The delivery of rural broadband is a prime example of how satellites can overcome current infra-structural inefficiencies and improve existing services into regions where the technology will serve a humanitarian function,” he said.
Ireland’s emerging generation of interstellar entrepreneurs may be small fry in a global club where billionaire pioneers like Elon Musk’s SpaceX hold sway, but our proven abilities in the fields of big data, artificial intelligence and agri-tech ensure we’ve got plenty of smarts to compete in a market whose future is nothing less than sky high.
As a small nation perched on the edge of a continent packed with major economic players, Ireland is no stranger to contests where the odds are stacked against us. So, in a month when Brexit has forced us into a downcast and despairing demeanour, perhaps the time is right to contemplate the endless possibilities available in that vast universe over our heads. And if we need a suitable slogan for this new frontier, why not borrow that beauty of Oscar Wilde’s: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”