Potential ‘space entrepreneur’ wins £5,000 prize

A CARDIFF University student who invented a way to identify disused buildings with satellites has won a £5,000 prize.

Chloe Hewitt, 19, won the UK Space Agency-run prize for her idea, which could help local authorities use more brownfield sites for developments and create maps of at-risk areas.

The SatelLife Challenge aims to find ideas from people aged 11 to 22 on how satellite and space data can be applied to everyday problems.

Chloe, who is studying physics, said: “It was a really interesting competition. I just did it because I thought it would be fun to learn about satellites – I never thought I would win.

“It was really interesting because you know satellites exist but you don’t realise how much they do.

“I’m planning to use the money to pay for an internship abroad, so I’m really excited.”

Chloe will now pitch her idea to a panel of industry experts from the space sector who could offer her more prizes or offer to turn the idea into a reality.

Emily Gravestock, head of applications strategy at the UK Space Agency, said: “We were really impressed by the number of innovative ideas submitted to the SateLife Challenge and Chloe is certainly a worthy winner.

“The judges thought her idea was a new way of using existing technologies, which could be very useful.”

She added: “We think Chloe has real potential as a space entrepreneur of the future.”