SpaceNews has a post about a very interesting interview in The Engineer of Sir Martin Sweeting, founder of Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL). Aside from the discussion about Sir Sweeting’s fascinating career of starting a satellite company with fellow Ph.D. graduate students, the interview is interesting for his insights into the future of space flight.
Sir Sweeting believes that the announcement of very large quantities of water on the Moon changes the game in human space flight. Sir Sweeting predicts that, after the discovery of significant amounts of water on the Moon, within the next 10 years the glamour of human space exploration will return. He believes nations will shift their priorities back to human travel. “Now they’ve discovered large amounts of water there, we can take that water to generate fuel so that we can then start to travel further and have sustainable food resources.This could make those plans of returning to the Moon a possibility.” For SSTL, Sir Sweeting’s plan is to surround the Moon with small satellites to give astronauts internet and communication capabilities.
The interview of Sir Sweeting by The Engineer is both interesting and informative.