Professor Robert Wicks is a space scientist at Northumbria University in Newcastle.
Rob leads the Northumbria Space Technology Laboratory, where companies working in the UK space industry collaborate with academics in space science and engineering to develop new technologies for satellites.
Living in the North East of England you get a great perspective on the link between history and the development of new technology. The steam engine and the expansion of coal mining led to great advances in transport of goods, the need for more accurate time keeping, and the ability for an average person to travel around the country more easily. The ship-building industry advanced trade and international travel, using better navigation and opening up new connections across the world. Over the last 30 years it is impossible not to be amazed by the changes that the internet and electronic communications have made to our lives.
There is one big technological advance in the last 30 years that you might not be as aware of. It has happened above our heads, in space. In 1995 there were about 600 active man-made satellites orbiting the Earth, in 2025 there will be more than 10,000. So, what is a satellite and how has this big increase changed our lives?
A satellite is anything that gravity has trapped to orbit around the Earth. If an object is high enough to be up above the atmosphere there is no drag to slow it down. No drag means that a fast-moving object can travel around the Earth without needing fuel. If the speed of the object balances out the force of gravity, then a satellite can have a circular orbit and stay flying around above the Earth basically forever.
A satellite is incredibly useful because it can stay in space for a long time and travel around the whole planet. This makes satellites great for communicating over long distances and learning more about the Earth by taking pictures of the ground. Some of the most useful things we get from satellites right now are: knowing where we are and having very accurate time with GPS, being able to forecast the weather, and connecting people together with telephone and internet signals. If you have a smart phone you might be using all three of these amazing satellite services right now!
Here at Northumbria University we are working on ways to make satellites even more useful. One example of this is our work on laser communications. The huge increase in the number of people using the internet and how much data we all want to send and receive is too much for the radio waves we use to communicate with satellites at the moment. We are aiming to replace radio communications with lasers. In the same way that fibre optic cables carrying laser light provide faster internet to homes, laser light can provide faster data connections to satellites. The problem is that we cannot link satellites together with long cables, so we must shine the lasers through space between the satellites. This takes high-power lasers and needs very accurate pointing to make sure that the laser hits its target. We are working on new kinds of sensors, steerable optics and faster computers to make autonomous laser tracking and data link systems smaller and simpler for satellites.
Creating new technologies like this will lead to more different uses of satellites, there are some amazing ideas out there already. From manufacturing in space where the low gravity allows new kinds of materials to be made that are not possible on Earth, to creating solar power plants in space where the Sun is always visible, and power can be beamed down to Earth.
Northumbria University is working with the UK Space Agency and the UK space industry to be at the cutting edge of these new technologies with our new North East Space Skills and Technology Centre (NESST). NESST is being built in the centre of Newcastle right now and will open in 2026 to allow local and international businesses to work with our world-leading researchers to change the way we live with new technology in space. NESST will also help train the next generation of space engineers by providing facilities for hands-on learning for engineering students at our university.
Who knows what amazing advances can be made in space in the next 30 years? This is where Life and their space engagement programme come in. Life works closely with partners (including Northumbria University) to showcase the amazing potential of the space sector, enthuse and motivate the next generation of space scientists and engineers. I hope that Life, NESST, the businesses and the people of the North East will be part of that industrial revolution just like with Stephenson’s Rocket nearly 200 years ago.