War warning sparks UK space push

Photo: Mark Williamson

George Freeman MP says the UK must build a wartime space economy to stop Russia, stand up to Trump and keep billion-pound space firms from being seized by foreign powers.

by Clive Simpson

LONDON, 12 December – A week after former UK space minister George Freeman warned that Europe is “already at war”, his stark message has gained added resonance amid fresh NATO concern that Russia may widen its confrontation with the West.

Speaking at Space-Comm Expo in Glasgow on 4 December, Freeman told industry leaders that the UK must move faster, think bigger and “speak with one voice” if it is to secure a leading role in the next era of global space technology and national defence.

His comments now sit against a broader geopolitical warning from NATO’s incoming secretary-general, Mark Rutte, who said this week that Europe must prepare for the possibility of conflict with Russia within five years – a scenario that underscores Freeman’s call for a “wartime space economy”.

‘We are already at war in Europe’

Freeman, a former Minister of State for Science and Space and now chair of the Space 4 Earth Fund, praised Scotland’s rise as “Europe’s premier space cluster”, but used his keynote to deliver an unusually direct assessment of the threats facing the continent.

“We are at war in Europe,” he said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take for journalists in London to recognise this. Putin is in Turkey, we’re fighting in Ukraine today, and if Ukraine lose, we will see Russia start to move all the way to the eastern border.”

He compared the current geopolitical climate to Britain's slow mobilisation in the late 1930s.

“It took us from 1938 to 1941 to properly scale up and build a wartime economy. We’re miles away from doing it. We’ve got to move much more quickly, and we’ve got to stop shooting down $200 drones with £10 million missiles.”

Space as frontline capability

Freeman argued that space technologies – from Earth observation to quantum encryption and smart telecommunications – are already central to modern defence and supply-chain resilience.

“We have got to embrace the full technology suite and space has a huge part to play in that. The dual-use piece is enormous,” he said, recalling early COBRA meetings on Ukraine where officials relied on commercial satellite imagery from SpaceX.

He welcomed the EU’s recent €1.5 billion defence initiative and noted UK spending of around £400 million on defence innovation, but said the government still lacks a clear picture of how its R&D investment translates into private-sector growth.

“The best metric is how much public R&D turns into private sector R&D. Government doesn’t have the number yet,” he warned. “Unless we’re able to say how much is going into space, how do we track it?”

Freeman criticised the pace and structure of UK government support, arguing that small, slow grants “aren’t going to build a global space sector”, and called instead for regulatory leadership, especially around sustainable space standards tied to finance and insurance.

UK strengths risk being overlooked

Despite the severity of his warnings, Freeman said the UK remains far more competitive than many realise.

“Do you know which country is second behind the US in the amount of money raised to fund space companies? It’s the UK. Who knew?”

While the UK holds roughly five percent of the global commercial space market –  including broadcasting – it attracted 17 percent of global space venture capital last year.

“It’s testimony to the quality of the companies here… we are the second biggest space investment economy in the world.”

He highlighted clusters in Cornwall, South Wales, Surrey and across Scotland, and name-checked several UK space companies he believes could become billion-pound scale-ups if backed properly.

Trump, tariffs and shifting trade winds

Freeman also pointed to a global economic reordering accelerated by political instability and a more protectionist United States.

“It’s not often American presidents decide they can run on an isolationist, anti-free-trade ticket and tariffs. That is a huge opportunity for us,” he said.

He argued that Southeast Asian nations now view the UK as a reliable free-trading partner in a “rules-based system”, while Gulf states are investing “very heavily” in space technologies ranging from agri-tech to transport and future digital economies.

Critical moment for UK space

Freeman closed with a warning that without decisive action, the UK could lose its emerging space champions to foreign acquisition or overseas listings.

“We’re not going to beat China or America big,” he said, “but we could meet them here in Scotland… If we get this right, we can be a player helping to lead the standards for the emerging global commercial space economy.”

“This sector looks to me like the biotech sector in the 1990s. If we speak with one voice and tell government we are essential, we can grow this into the lifeline sector in the next 20 years.”

His speech, part celebration and part alarm call, drew strong applause from delegates.

“I’m going to continue to be controversial and insurgent,” Freeman concluded, “because this sector is one of the most exciting in the UK – and we need to move much more quickly.”

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This report by Clive Simpson from Space-Comm Expo, Glasgow, 3-4 December 2025.

Why the global space sector needs urgent regulation - by George Freeman, ROOM Space Journal #37, Autumn 2025

Top of the space pops

The Autumn 2025 issue of ROOM Space Journal of Asgardia has just been published, delivering another wide-ranging exploration of the ideas, technologies and policies shaping humanity’s future in space.

On the cover, ‘Cyber safety in Earth orbit’ signals one of the issue’s central themes: how artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming space operations while simultaneously creating unprecedented vulnerabilities.

In his special report, Sylvester Kaczmarek dissects the complex web of risks associated with AI-driven spacecraft and ground systems, from adversarial attacks and data poisoning to the possibility of hostile control. His analysis underscores the urgent need for resilience and governance in this new era of spaceflight.

Editor-in-Chief Clive Simpson sets the scene in his Foreword, describing the sector as entering a “season of reckoning.” With the European Space Act newly tabled and the fifth European Space Forum in Brussels framing debates, Simpson warns of the dangers of “sleepwalking into orbital anarchy” without clear international rules. His report from Brussels details Europe’s bid to unify fragmented governance and enhance competitiveness while ensuring sustainability in orbit.

Policy and law are major threads throughout this edition. UK Member of Parliament George Freeman argues for a “Geneva Convention for Space” in a wide-ranging opinion piece, stressing that regulation is not the enemy of innovation but a necessary foundation for the commercial space age.

Legal specialists Molly Doyle and Lauren Napier examine what happens when space debris falls back to Earth, using a recent real-life case in Florida to test the adequacy of international liability frameworks.

Meanwhile, Stephen Carr-Baugh explores the challenges of regulating high-altitude platforms that operate in the poorly defined zone between aviation and outer space.

Other features look outward across the solar system. Former NASA Chief Scientist James Green introduces readers to the concept of cosmic weather – vast, long-term cycles of galactic forces that may influence Earth and life itself. 

Dr Ingrid Daubar, Project Scientist for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, explains why Jupiter’s icy moon remains one of the most tantalising targets in the search for extraterrestrial life. In another conversation piece, ROOM’s Steve Kelly speaks with MIT astrophysicist Sara Seager about the prospects for discovering signs of life beyond our solar system.

Closer to home, ROOM continues its tradition of in-depth reporting on Europe’s space ambitions. Simpson also covers Vigil, ESA’s planned space weather mission at the strategically important L5 Lagrange point, which is expected to gain the approval of European ministers later this year.

The issue also includes Nick Spall’s assessment of the UK’s shifting role in human spaceflight, James Woodburn’s survey of the transformation of satellite technology, and Rico Behlke’s look at the revolution promised by software-defined satellites.

International perspectives are provided by veteran space writer Brian Harvey, who charts Iran’s steady progress as a space power despite decades of sanctions, and by contributions from Russian researchers Yuri Bubeev, Alexander Smoleevsky and Olga Manko on the biomedical mystery of how long-duration spaceflight affects astronaut vision.

As always, ROOM’s Space Science and Space Lounge sections bring conceptual and speculative thinking into the mix. Kelvin F Long suggests turning orbital debris into a vast artificial ring system, while Luigi Vacca revisits the “galactic zoo” hypothesis to ask why humanity is still waiting to meet aliens.

With its blend of hard science, policy insight, industry developments and visionary ideas, Issue 37 reinforces ROOM’s international reputation as the forum where space professionals, policymakers and enthusiasts meet.

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For further information: ROOM Space Journal

UK Space Agency to be deorbited

 

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is to become part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

The change is scheduled to take place by April 2026, aimed at streamlining government support for the UK’s space industry.

It follows the agency’s recent announcement that it will provide over £2.5 million for five projects aimed at using satellite data to support public services, and its launch of Europe’s first satellite dedicated to carbon dioxide monitoring.

Space Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “Bringing things in house means we can bring much greater integration and focus to everything we are doing while maintaining the scientific expertise and the immense ambition of the sector."

UKSA was founded in 2010 and currently operates as an executive agency of DSIT. It catalysed investment and revenue of at least £2.2 billion for the UK space sector in 2024-25.

Despite the BBC's attention-grabbing and not strictly true headline "UK independent space agency scrapped to cut costs" this seems like a sensible decision.

UKSA has mostly punched below expectations and has essentially been a quango (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation) with little real clout.

Today's announcement follows a commitment from Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reduce costs and cut the number of arms length government bodies.

The agency, its budget and activities will now be absorbed into DSIT which will also coordinate/oversee other space-related activities for the country.

Overall, the UKSA "brand" will continue - just without the extra layer of bureaucracy.

Former CEO of the UKSA, Katherine Courtney said she could understand why the government had taken this decision but didn't believe the change will achieve the stated aims.

"My time in Whitehall taught me that restructuring doesn’t drive efficiency and effectiveness in pubic sector organisations," she added.

"In my experience, ever administration hopes they can reduce costs through restructuring - but what really would make public sector organisations leaner and more effective are clear strategic priorities and greater continuity of ministerial leadership.

"UKSA hasn’t had either of those for over a decade and until the current government recognises the vital strategic role space plays for UK economic growth and national security, that’s unlikely to change."

The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), a long-time advocate of a UK space agency, welcomed the commitment to retain the UKSA’s identity and scientific expertise. 

In a statement issued on social media it said: "We believe efficient and accountable public structures are essential to ensure that British excellence in space continues to flourish. 

"A unified approach is vital to making rapid progress on national space goals - from innovation in small satellites and in-orbit servicing to leadership in space sustainability.

"The BIS is confident that this transition, when implemented consultatively, can preserve the dynamic, pioneering spirit that has characterised the UK’s space endeavours since the 1930s. 

"We urge government and industry to work together in ensuring that the UK’s visionary projects - supporting an £18.6 billion sector and 55,000 highly skilled jobs - continue to receive the focus and clarity they deserve."

Watch this space!

Post-Brexit UK faces up to EU Space Act

 

The European Commission’s long-awaited unveiling of the EU Space Act on 25 June 2025 marked a pivotal step towards harmonised space governance across the bloc.

Framed around safety, resilience and sustainability, the proposed regulation aims to streamline market access, strengthen cybersecurity and mitigate orbital debris – all while boosting the EU’s strategic autonomy in space.

Yet for those operating outside the EU’s regulatory orbit – notably post-Brexit UK – the Act presents new uncertainties.

These tensions surfaced during this week’s European Space Forum, held in Brussels on 3-4 July, where 450 delegates gathered to discuss the future of Europe’s space ambitions.

During a panel discussion on ‘Delivering Autonomy’, I asked UK government representative William Smith, how the Act might affect UK space operators, now classed as part of a “third country” under EU law.

“I think it's very early days to comment,” he replied. “The UK Government don't have a formal position yet. We acknowledge what [the Act] is trying to do and support any endeavour that is looking to make the orbital environment and space in general more secure, more resilient and safer. That is a collective good, undoubtedly.”

He went on to emphasise the UK’s own regulatory framework: “The UK's regulatory regime is an outcomes-based, agile regime, which works. It's not perfect but we get good feedback from international stakeholders.”

The EU Space Act, still in draft form, outlines the possibility of recognising third-country regulatory regimes as equivalent – but offers no detail yet on how such equivalence would be determined or negotiated.

This leaves UK-based companies potentially facing a dual compliance burden or limitations on market access unless formal agreements are reached.

Without clarity on equivalence, UK firms hoping to provide services within the EU may face fresh licensing or oversight hurdles. The EU’s detailed rules on debris mitigation, cybersecurity and environmental impact may also diverge from UK approaches.

Still, with the proposed implementation date set for 1 January 2030, a transitional window provides space – and time – for dialogue and potential alignment.

While the UK government assesses the fine print, industry voices are likely to press for early engagement to avoid regulatory friction. If managed well, the situation could still evolve into a constructive regulatory partnership that enables innovation and access on both sides.

But Smith’s response, while diplomatic, underscored a recurring theme of constructive ambiguity that characterised much of the European Space Forum.

With no formal UK stance yet, industry remains in a holding pattern, awaiting clarity on whether the country’s agile, outcomes-based regime will be deemed sufficiently compatible.

In the meantime, the EU’s move should be seen as a positive step. It signals a firm commitment to space sustainability, safety and long-term governance – and a timely reminder that access to orbit increasingly comes with strings attached.

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Links: European Space Forum & EU Space Act

Milestone in space reproduction

 

In a pioneering move toward enabling independent life beyond Earth, Dutch biotech-aerospace company SpaceBorn United has confirmed the successful launch and data return from the world’s first IVF minilab prototype designed specifically for human reproduction research in space.

The mission – launched 21 April 2025 on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-3 – marks the first time a system engineered to support early stages of human reproduction has been deployed in orbit.

Spaceborn says this marks an important step toward realising ARTIS (Assisted Reproductive Technology In Space), a fully automated IVF minilab designed to safely enable conception and early embryonic development in space. It also lays critical groundwork for independent future human settlements beyond Earth, and advancements in fertility treatments on Earth.

Telemetry confirmed that ARTIS’ core systems – including its custom-designed microfluidic device and life-support systems – survived the stresses of launch and orbital deployment intact.

Onboard yeast cultures (in subsequent missions, mouse embryos will be used) survived successfully, validating key life support mechanisms with onboard sensors and images confirming all internal components remained secured and operational despite partial visual degradation.

“This is a milestone for SpaceBorn United and has opened a new chapter in reproductive space science,” said Dr Egbert Edelbroek, CEO of SpaceBorn United. “For the first time, hardware built specifically to enable stages of human reproduction in space has been tested in space."

Although no human biological material was included in this inaugural flight, the ARTIS minilab has been designed to provide the pressure, temperature and microfluidic processes essential for IVF and early embryo development.

The minilab was developed in collaboration with UK-based Frontier Space Technologies, using subsystems from its autonomous ‘lab-in-a-box’ technology.

Dr Angelo Vermeulen, CTO at SpaceBorn, stated: “This first systems test in space is the start of our aim to reshape the future of human reproduction, both in space and on Earth. It shows that our approach is technically feasible and ready to take the next steps.”

The next mission, expected in early 2026, is now in full development and will focus on sending mouse embryos to space to validate a further matured ARTIS prototype.

Eventually the ARTIS minilab will enable conception in space – once in orbit around Earth, micro pumps will reallocate sperm cells to oocytes to cause fertilisation.

The goal, according to Spaceborn, is to enable early embryo development up to the blastocyst stage and identify beneficial processes that improve IVF on Earth.

In these upcoming missions – currently in preparation with new commercial space launchers, including Sidereus in Italy and Skyroot in India – critical data on both the embryos and the technical system will be collected in real-time and analysed again after their return to Earth.

About SpaceBorn United SpaceBorn United is the first organisation dedicated to enabling human conception and subsequent stages of reproduction in space.

Founded in the Netherlands, the company merges biotech, reproductive medicine, aerospace engineering and ethical oversight to develop the world’s first Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) designed for off-Earth environments.

Its work also accelerates innovation in IVF practices for use on Earth, offering hope and new options for families everywhere.

SpaceBorn United closely collaborates with various research and industry partners in Europe, the US and Asia. The company is supported by an international team of leading experts.

Feminism at the final frontier

There’s been no shortage of opinion – and vitriol – surrounding Blue Origin’s recent suborbital spaceflight, which carried an all-female civilian crew: Kerianne Flynn, Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Gayle King, and Amanda Nguyễn.

Much of the media and social commentary has focused on the optics of the mission, questioning its framing as a feminist milestone or as a meaningful step forward for gender equity in space.

One article that particularly caught my attention – as I imagine it did for many others working in or adjacent to the space sector – appeared in the Guardian newspaper, provocatively titled ‘Blue Origin’s space flight is a giant leap – for Jeff Bezos’s ego, not feminism’.

As a journalist covering the international space scene for several decades, I am committed to a broad, international discourse on space and I believe this kind of cultural commentary deserves engagement, not dismissal.

One of the questions it raises – about symbolism, access and power – matters, especially at this juncture in the evolution of human spaceflight.

At its core, the Guardian article critiques the framing of the latest Blue Origin suborbital mission as a feminist milestone, particularly through the participation of Lauren Sánchez, journalist, private space executive and partner of Jeff Bezos. 

The writer challenges the idea that this spectacle – a high-profile flight on a privately-owned rocket – should be viewed as a triumph of gender progress. And she is right to point out the risk of conflating elite participation with systemic change.

But space, like society, is complicated. The symbols and milestones we project onto it carry weight, even when imperfect. Maybe we should ask: what does it mean to celebrate progress in space – and for whom is it progress?

Yes, there is a performative element to space tourism, especially when conducted by billionaires. But there’s also a very real and rapid shift in who has access to space – not just physically, but through influence, investment and imagination.

The presence of women on a mission like this is worth noting, even as we remain sharply aware of the broader inequities and exclusions in both space exploration and society.

It is no longer just about astronauts from elite military or science backgrounds. The emergence of private crewed spaceflight, for all its awkward growing pains and PR gloss, is undeniably reshaping public perceptions.

The fact that people are now debating whether or not a flight was feminist enough is in itself a sign that space has entered the cultural mainstream in ways we couldn’t have imagined a generation ago.

We can – and should – celebrate the long-overdue recognition of trailblazers like Wally Funk (on a previous Blue Origin flight), without pretending these moments represent full equality in spaceflight. We can acknowledge Lauren Sánchez’s visibility as a woman in the private space sector, without anointing her a feminist icon.

These stories sit on a spectrum, not of “success” or “failure” but of progress and evolution. Representation alone is not the end of the journey but it is a signpost on the road.

It is important to explore issues around gender, identity, power and access in space. True inclusion goes beyond seat assignments – it’s about who builds, who decides, who funds and who dreams.

It’s also about the stories we tell and who gets to tell them. If anything, the Blue Origin flight should remind us to keep pushing for deeper, more structural inclusion in space – for women, for underrepresented communities, for voices outside the billionaires’ club.

In this broader context, current US leadership under the Trump administration is playing a significant role – and may potentially end up with much to answer for. His return to power coincided with a critical juncture in space governance, where commercial ambition is surging ahead of public policy and global cooperation is giving way to renewed nationalism.

If space is to remain a shared domain – one that reflects collective human progress rather than elite ambition or geopolitical dominance – then leadership matters. Decisions made now about regulation, funding, international partnerships and orbital stewardship will shape who has access to space for decades to come – and under what terms.

As we look ahead to a decade that will likely include permanent lunar infrastructure, space-based manufacturing, and the rise of private space stations, we must keep asking hard questions.

Not just about who’s on board, but who’s left behind – and how we build a spacefaring future that reflects the full diversity of humanity.

Space is not neutral. It reflects the values of those who shape it. Let’s make sure those values are expansive, thoughtful and rooted in something bigger than marketing gloss or curated photo ops.

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Article: Blue Origin’s space flight is a giant leap – for JeffBezos’s ego, not feminism

Caption: NS-31 astronauts celebrate after a successful flight to space (from left): Kerianne Flynn, Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Gayle King and Amanda Nguyễn. (14 April 2025). 

Photo: Blue Origin

Shaping space for the future

THE world has changed – or perhaps it is more accurate to say it is constantly changing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of space exploration. As we venture further into 2025, the global landscape continues to shift, reshaping the ambitions and dynamics of the space industry in unexpected ways.

Geopolitics has always played a role in space, but recent developments have heightened its influence. Alliances are being rewritten, national priorities realigned and commercial players are navigating a complex and often turbulent environment.

The repercussions of these tectonic shifts are still unfolding, and the impact on the future of space exploration remains an open question. Will we see a new era of international cooperation, or will space become the next great theatre of geopolitical rivalry? Perhaps, as history suggests, both will coexist in an uneasy balance.

Against this backdrop, ROOM Space Journal remains committed to exploring the ideas and innovations shaping our shared future beyond Earth. In this issue, we take a provocative look ahead, challenging assumptions and pushing the boundaries of imagination.

Our cover image – a pregnant woman in space – is deliberately symbolic, designed to spark discussion rather than declare an imminent reality. Yet, as our lead articles demonstrate, the concept of human reproduction in space, whilst facing many challenges, is not a mere flight of fancy.

It is a serious topic, actively being researched and debated by visionaries, including Asgardia the space nation, whose mission statement includes facilitating the birth of the first human beyond Earth’s gravity. While such an event may still be years – if not decades – away, the implications are profound and demand our attention today.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, we are reminded that space is not just about human aspirations but also about the very real challenges that come with our increasing dependence on satellites and space-related infrastructure.

As we look to the future, agility and specialisation may well define success more than sheer size. One of the more underappreciated yet potentially devastating threats to modern civilisation is the impact of severe space weather, a subject I explore in ‘Life in the Sun’s atmosphere’. Solar storms have the potential to cripple global communication networks, disrupt power grids, and send shock waves through financial markets. How prepared are we? The answers may be unsettling.

On the commercial front, the space industry continues to expand, but not necessarily in ways we might have predicted. The business of space is no longer the exclusive domain of traditional aerospace giants and new players are emerging, seizing opportunities once thought beyond their reach.

Whilst attending the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan last October, I was interested to learn how South Korea’s INNOSPACE is carving out a niche in the small rocket market, and discuss with Bruno Carvalho how Portugal is positioning the Azores as a hub for orbital launches.

At the same time, industries far removed from space exploration are finding unexpected synergies. Sabelt, for example, a company best known for its expertise in high-performance racing harnesses, now applies its technology to astronaut safety systems. These cross-sector collaborations highlight how space is no longer a standalone industry but an integral part of a much larger technological ecosystem.

Yet, for all this expansion, a sense of saturation is creeping in. With space conferences and networking events proliferating at an almost unsustainable rate, one has to wonder whether the industry is spreading itself too thin. Increasingly, the most impactful gatherings are the smaller, more focused forums where real conversations happen, deals are struck and innovation thrives. It is a reminder that in an industry often obsessed with scale, sometimes less is more.

There is an old adage about the advantages of being a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a vast ocean. Progressively, the space sector is proving this point. As we look to the future, agility and specialisation may well define success more than sheer size. Those who can adapt, pivot and carve out their own corner of the cosmos will be the ones who endure and thrive.

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Editor's note: this post is an edited version of my Foreword ‘Shaping space through innovation, geopolitics and the future’ for the Spring 2025 issue of ROOM Space Journal.

Politicians dither as climate crisis builds

 

GLOBAL heating appears to have entered a new and fast-moving trajectory. Amid record-breaking temperatures, melting ice and a sharp increase in North Atlantic sea surface temperatures during the month of July, veteran climate scientists are now becoming increasingly alarmed about the pace of change.

“A few decades ago some people might have thought climate change was a relatively slow-moving phenomenon but we are now witnessing things happening at a terrifying rate,” said Prof Peter Stott, leader of the UK Met Office’s climate monitoring and attribution team.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has also warned of record temperatures and extreme heat in the near future after confirming the latest climate-heating El Niño event had “arrived”.

The last major El Niño was in 2016 – which to date remains the hottest year on record. But for 2023, it comes on top of increasing global heat driven by human-caused carbon emissions, an effect described by the WMO as a “double whammy”. Its officials say urgent preparations for extreme weather events are now vital to save lives and livelihoods.

“As El Niño builds through the rest of this year, adding an extra oomph to the damaging effects of human-induced global heating, many millions of people across the planet and many diverse ecosystems are going to face extraordinary challenges – and unfortunately suffer great damage,” added Stott.

The WMO estimates there is now a 90 percent probability of the latest El Niño continuing to the end of 2023 at a moderate strength or higher, with the added risk of it supercharging extreme weather.

New records for high temperature have been broken almost daily on every continent in recent months whilst in the UK, the average temperature for June was beaten by nearly a full degree with an unprecedented heatwave also affecting the country’s coastal waters.

Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, admits that he doesn’t fully understand what’s going on with this summer’s crazy climate data.

“It feels to me like the climate may have shifted into some sort of new regime of global heating that scientists don’t yet understand. And yet the media and everyone keep acting like things are basically fine and leaders keep expanding fossil fuels,” he says.

Cambridge University’s Prof Emily Shuckburgh, a leading climate scientist and director of Cambridge Zero, says that after the UK’s record-breaking month of high temperatures, it looks likely the rest of the summer will be warmer than normal too as global temperatures continue to rise.

“We’ve been warning of these changes for 30 years and warning that the planet is overheating,” she told listeners on BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme (3 July 2023).

“We’ve got record melting in Greenland occurring right at this moment, we’ve got record low levels of sea ice in Antarctica. From pole to pole we are seeing dramatic changes and it is nature as well as humans that is witnessing the impact.

“Those extreme temperatures of 40 degrees that we saw in the UK last summer had a dramatic impact on our wildlife and a dramatic impact on us. Across Europe thousands of people died prematurely in that heatwave.

“Sadly the UK used to be a global leader in terms of climate change and it was only two years ago that we hosted the big international climate conference COP-26. We’ve now relinquished that leadership.”

Prof Shuckburgh says the recent progress report from the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) on how the UK is doing against its own decarbonisation plans was “covered with red” because goals and targets were not being met.

“We should be responding to the cost of living and energy crisis by investing in insulation, in solar, in wind, offshore and onshore,” she suggested.

Prof Shuckburgh urged people to accept the global scale of what is at risk. “We know that if we don’t respond to climate change as a country and as a world then the risks are enormous,” she said.

“They are potentially catastrophic in terms of our food supplies, the global spread of disease, the risk from migration by communities that have been impacted by climate change, the risk of conflicts and, most importantly of all, the risk of passing catastrophic tipping points.

“This is what’s at stake. The really frustrating thing from my perspective is that we know what the solutions are. We have them at our fingertips and what we need are stable policies in support of them.”

Such stark warnings are echoed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who also described addressing climate change as a “human rights” issue.

Evoking a “dystopian future” if urgent action isn’t taken, he said: “Our environment is burning. It’s melting. It’s flooding. It’s depleting. It’s drying. It’s dying. We, the generation with the most powerful technological tools in history, have the capacity to change it.”

He accused world leaders of performing “the choreography of promising to act” before getting stuck in a rut dominated by short-term political expediency. Turk called for an immediate end to “senseless subsidies” of the fossil fuel industry and said the Dubai COP28 (2023 UN Climate Change Conference) climate summit in November and December needs to be a “decisive game-changer”.

At the end of June, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was accused by a resigning government minister and environment campaigner, Zac Goldsmith, of being “simply uninterested” in the environment and climate emergency.

Lame political leadership – mirrored by many of those in power and supported by the fossil fuel industry and elements of the right-wing media – along with a cost-of-living crisis and war in Ukraine, have all contributed to a prevailing laissez faire attitude.

At the start of 2023, when Sunak introduced his five key policy pledges, the climate and environment were noticeable by their absence, a clear indication that the country’s third prime minister in as many years does not view them as a priority.

Nothing has changed and, despite mounting climate relasted emergencies around the world this summer, Sunak, who favours flying about the country on short-haul private jets and helicopters, also shunned a recent Paris summit on the climate, debt and poverty hosted by the French President Emmanuel Macron.

If there can be a final thought and persepctive (for now) on this challenging issue then perhaps, somewhat surprisingly, it might go to the actor William Shatner.

As Captain James T Kirk of Star Trek’s Enterprise spaceship he explored the universe, espousing a vision of the future where humanity had not only survived but overcome many of the Earthly problems we face today.

Last year, 90-year-old Shatner had what he described as a “life-changing experience” when he physically travelled into space for the first time, expecting to experience “a deep connection with the immensity around us” and “a deep call” for endless exploration.

“The strongest feeling I had, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief I have ever experienced. I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death,” he said.

“I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.

“This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realised that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside.

“I did my share in popularising the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. It is the final and only frontier, and we have been ravaging it relentlessly, destroying it at an unprecedented rate and making it uninhabitable.” 

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This article by Clive Simpson was first published by Central Bylines under the title, 'Politicians drag their heels as the climate crisis intensifies'.

Spotting leaky pipes from orbit

PRIVATE utility Anglian Water, which supplies water services to around seven million people across eastern England and is under pressure to cut back on excessive wastage from leaky pipes, is turning to out-of-this-world technology for help.

The Huntingdon-based company is using space age technology, originally developed to detect water lying below the surface of Mars, the red planet, to locate hard to find underground leaks. Information gathered by the latest Earth-orbiting satellites is crunched by specialist computer algorithms and then turned into images as a way of helping engineers solve the costly environmental problem.

The system was first created to detect water on Mars and pioneering space firm Asterra is now redeploying its space know-how to help utility companies like Anglian Water solve a long-standing problem.

“It’s not just water that is wasted by leaking pipes – every drop also represents a substantial emission of carbon,” says founder and chief technology officer of the London and Tel Aviv-based company, Lauren Guy.

Anglian Water admits it loses 182 million litres of water per day across its network, an equivalent leakage of approximately 16-18 percent when compared to the amount of water running through the network each day.

“We recently used the Asterra technology to pinpoint some significant leaks that would never have been identified due to the relatively low percentage loss”, a company spokesperson said.

“These non-visible, underground leaks were in remote areas and would never have been reported by a customer, or indeed found using traditional detection sweeps.

“They often run through agricultural and rural farmland where traditional detection, or even smart distribution leakage technology, is difficult to use due to the lack of fittings and the sheer geographical size of an area.”

The water firm says the Asterra expertise allows it to use satellite data to detect leaks from otherwise difficult-to-inspect transfer pipes and trunk mains right across its system.

Before space technology stepped in, staff from water utility companies had to ‘walk the line’ in search of leaks, often manually inspecting mile upon mile of pipes each day in the hope of catching the sound of trickling water.

More modern techniques, such as installing acoustic sensors to listen automatically for leaking pipes are effective but can only cover limited areas before becoming cost prohibitive. Planetary scientists searching for the holy grail of Martian water then realised that orbiting spacecraft with special radar sensors could be used to spy out water lying below the red planet’s surface.

Asterra’s adaptation of this space-based solution for terrestrial use came after Guy realised that if satellite technology could locate water under the surface of Mars it could also be used to help track down water leakages closer to home. His discovery was made possible by sensors known in the space business as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which are used on many of the latest low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and can peer through cloud and below Earth’s surface.

L-band SAR uses the motion of a radio antenna to build up images which typically cover areas of around 3,500 square km at a time. It works by transmitting radio frequency waves and recording what is reflected to the receiver, revealing details on the nature of the reflective material, including the moisture content of soil.

Asterra’s breakthrough relies on sophisticated data processing using proprietary geophysical modelling and analysis. “It allows us to pick up the signature of leaking water in densely populated urban areas packed with interferences to SAR imaging”, explains Guy. “The observations are much more than high-quality images and, since perfecting the art of extracting a signal from the noise, we can provide game-changing insights to the water industry.”

All this means city and county-wide systems for transporting drinking water and wastewater can be more easily analysed to identify subsurface leaks that otherwise go undetected. (See satellite image from JAXA at top of article with blue lines showing water pipes and yellow dots “points of interest” where satellite data indicates a leak).

“It goes without saying that if leaks can be plugged, then the volume of water saved can amount to an entirely new water source and the requirement to drill new wells, raise dams or invest in expensive desalination plants is significantly reduced,” says Guy.

“Cleaning, treating, pumping and distributing water is an energy-intensive process, and any water going to waste represents unnecessary greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere. Our mission is to help water infrastructure companies improve the distribution of clean water and cut back on waste.”

 Editor's note: an original version of this article was published on Central Bylines.