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Orbit travel must be cheaper, says leading scientist

Physicist Dr Jaclyn Bell
Physicist Dr Jaclyn Bell

Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary will be commemorated in Orkney in September with a programme of talks on space and astronomy during the islands’ annual science festival.

Speakers will include Scotland’s Astronomer Royal and the chief executive of a Scottish satellite company – and there will be a call for a radical new approach to speed up space exploration.

The new way ahead will be outlined by Matjaž Vidmar of the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh, who is also chairman of the Gateway Earth Development Group.

The group see the key to space exploration as the development of a space station as a staging-post, where interplanetary spacecraft can be built and serviced.

Such an approach will add further to the significance of efforts to build a spaceport in Scotland for rockets to take small satellites into orbit.

Developing cheaper systems to carry equipment and material into low-earth orbit could open the way to building a full-scale spacecraft docking station.

Matjaž Vidmar highlights the importance of the Apollo 11 anniversary, he said: “The landing on the Moon was a transformational achievement which changed the perspective we have on our own planet forever: a fragile blue marble on the vast dark lunar sky.”

This year’s Orkney International Science Festival will also feature one of the competitors from the BBC Two series Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?

Physicist Dr Jaclyn Bell spoke in the festival last year about her experiences as a trainee astronaut in the TV series.

She said: “I am delighted to be returning this year to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo.”

“Not only to talk about my current training and ambition to be the UK’s next astronaut, but to speak about my other passion in life – particle physics.”

Steve Lee, founder and chief executive of the Edinburgh company Stevenson Astrosat, will describe new uses of satellite images from space – to track illegal logging, tackle fuel poverty and map storm progress to improve disaster responses.

Opportunities for night sky photography will be highlighted by Highlands amateur astronomer Eric Walker who will show images taken from his home in Conon Bridge and tell the story of the various Moon landings.