FOR THE STARS
FANS were over the moon when Buzz Aldrin appeared at the 16th Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards in California.
The Apollo 11 veteran, the second man to set foot on the moon, turns 89 today and showed off his agedefying looks as he posed in Beverly Hills on Friday.
Buzz and mission commander Neil
Armstrong, who died in 2012, walked on the moon in July 1969.
Yesterday Buzz said: “A big salute to the Living Legends of Aviation. You put on one helluva gala.”
suggested this path. “We spent a lot of time and money developing Galileo,” said Craig Clark, founder of Glasgow-based Clyde Space. “The UK has a fantastic capability in space. Payloads were built in the UK and we at Clyde Space have been building them for years.”
Started in 2005, the firm also specialises in satellites and believes cheaper LEOs can have a key role. Mr Clark said: “We see a mixed system which would include GEO satellites and LEOs.
“LEOs are much cheaper and as they’re closer to Earth it makes upgrading them every five years possible, so they would carry the latest tech.”
THOUGH the UK would require hundreds because of the speed at which they orbit, the lower cost would allow this. Another advantage would be that more firms could get involved. “LEOs are the fastest growing sector in the market,” said Mr Clark. “Whenever you look at satellite imagery on your phone, it’s LEO. They track ships and planes... we supply the US with LEOs to monitor the ocean.
“Exporting them would mean they pay for themselves.”
To date, more than 50 firms have tendered for a share of a £92million research grant. But so far only five have been given any money – and all were “Tier 1” security vetted with Galileo connections.
Mr Clark said it is time to think beyond a like-for-like replacement for Galileo.
He said: “There is a real opportunity for post-Brexit Britain to design a mixed orbit, world-class system. We just need to seize it.”
An MoD spokesman said: “The UK system would provide both open and encrypted signals, and be compatible with the US GPS system, providing resilient satellite navigation information.
“We are committed to working closely with our UK Space Agency colleagues on this capability.”