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Welcome to the Guernsey Finance podcast page.
Our podcasts bring you all the latest news and insight from Guernsey, the global finance specialist, as well as audio from some of our online events.
brandon 0:04
Hello and welcome to the We Are Guernsey podcast where we bring you interviews with leaders from the global finance industry as well as news and developments from guernseys financial services sector. My name is Brandon Ashplant and I am Senior Strategy and Technical Executive here at Guernsey Finance. Guernsey is a leading global finance centre. The success of the industry here is underpinned by economic substance political stability and asset security and we are committed to the cause of sustainable finance. To find out more about Guernsey's success in sustainable finance tune in to our sister podcast, the Guernsey Green Finance Podcast. Today we have something special in store. I am delighted to be joined by Tim Peake, Tim is the first British ESA astronaut, his mission to the International Space Station lasted from 2015 to 2016. Prior to this, Tim was an Army officer based in Northern Ireland, gaining his army flying wings in 1994 flying operations to enforce peace and provide humanitarian support in the aftermath of the Bosnian war and breakup of the Balkans. He was later posted to Afghanistan. Tim was selected as an ESA astronaut in 2013 and launched from Kazakhstan in the Soyuz spacecraft in December 2015. During his time on the ISS, Tim ran a marathon in space. He also completed a spacewalk to repair the station's power supply and conducted more than 250 scientific experiments. Tim recently spoke at the Guernsey Private Wealth Forum sharing his unique insight into leadership motivation, and his approach to overcoming fear. I am delighted to be talking to Tim today. So without further ado, welcome, Tim.
Tim 1:47
Hello, Brandon, great to join you.
brandon 1:50
Thank you very much for being with us. So firstly, just tell me Tim, if I told 15 year old Tim that one day he was going to be going to space, would he have believed it? You know, was this always on the cards for you or you know, was going to space always a life goal?
Tim 2:04
A 15 year old Tim would not have believed you, I think for a number of reasons really. And it wasn't a lack of ambition. It was simply that it didn't seem like it was an opportunity that was even available. Growing up in the UK in the 1980s. We didn't do human spaceflight. We didn't have a space agency. We watched the Russians, we watched the Americans. I was really, you know, an avid space fan. I love watching the shuttle launches. But I was passionate about aviation. So I saw my career, I saw that what I thought would might be attainable was to go and have a career in aviation. I was in the cadet force, I was passionate about flying. And I was very fortunate to be able to follow that route into a military aviation career. But now if you'd said to 15 year old Tim, you're gonna go to space one day, that would have been a big shot.
brandon 2:51
And, you know, no doubt, it isn't an intense and a grueling process to become a successful astronaut. You know, it goes without saying, but I think it is something that perhaps in the minds of the public is often overlooked. And you know, it's often a glorified experience going to space but um, there are certain some certainly no doubt, physical, physiological and psychological hurdles to overcome. Can you talk me through some of those, some of those challenges?
Tim 3:16
Yes. And you mentioned there being a process. And I think that's the most important thing to appreciate early on, it's a very long process, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. And the way to get through it, is to take it step by step, right from the selection process. But then talking about it with your family, you know, what it's going to mean in terms of travel, where you're going to live. And the physical aspects of the training involved, the separation, that the dedication, it's not dissimilar to many jobs, which also require that level of intensity. And I think under those situations, it's important to not try and approach it as an individual to talk to the other people going through the process with you. So that's why we formed such a really close knit community, with our colleagues who are astronauts, but also the people that were training us and supporting us and helping us and the families to, you know, we have a really good family support structure that help us go through that process. And it's important to ask for help as well. That's something I struggled with early on. I was coming from a military test pilot background. And as a test pilot, you work alone quite a lot. And kind of you solve problems a lot and you take everything on your own shoulders. And as an astronaut, you know, you have to ask for help. You know, there are things you will struggle with and it's very much a team effort. And once you embrace that, it makes that entire process much, much easier to handle. So I think really, in terms of the physical, physical and psychological challenges, it was breaking it down into bite sized chunks and helping for us or asking for support along the way, making all of that manageable.
brandon 4:55
and what sort of specific hurdles were there in terms of the you know, the get getting physically fit and of course, mentally in the right sort of mental or mental zone or the right mindset? What are the specific processes that you actually have to go through?
Tim 5:10
Yeah, I guess for me, the physical challenges were easier to address. From a military background again, I loved the physical challenges. I like keeping fit anyway, doing sport and understanding the space station as a technical piece of equipment, thermal control systems, electrical systems, how to fly a spacecraft, how to rendezvous and dock, how to do a spacewalk. These are very simple if you approach them with that kind of military test pilot mentality. For me, Russian language was by far the hardest technical challenge, if you like, in terms of having to learn something, you know, I did GCSE at a French GCSE at grade C. So I was at the age of 37, having to get to a very high standard of Russian language. So that was an enormous challenge for me. And also, you mentioned there about the specific psychological challenges. This is where we really put a huge amount of emphasis in the space agency as to how you train and develop the soft skills that we need to work as a team in isolation to build resilience. We train in caves, we go and live in a cave for at least seven days, we train underwater on a 12 day underwater mission and living in an Aquarius habitat. These are very demanding tough environments were really put through our paces were put under stress, put under pressure. And the whole point of that is really so you understand yourself very, very well you understand how you perform under those circumstances, how your colleagues perform, and how you can really work as a team and help other people, you know, when you're seeing that they might be struggling with something. So the agencies give us an enormous amount of training and preparation to deal with the kind of psychological aspects of a space mission.
brandon 6:57
Amazing. And then, eventually, the 15th of December 2015 comes around, the date is set, and you're all set to launch from a spaceport I believe from from Southern Kazakhstan, I think I'm right in saying. What are you feeling when you wake up that morning? You know what's going through your mind?
Tim 7:14
Yes, launch day you're right is Baikonur is the Cosmodrome, Southern Kazakhstan, and launch day is incredible. Because on the one hand, it's full of excitement and a genuine. On the other hand, it's very emotional, you're saying goodbye to your friends and family. And it's a very public farewell, the presser their management there. So you know your most you have your private farewell with your family really the night before. But even then you're in isolation, you're in quarantine, you're not allowed to give them a hug. And so it's a very cold, cold goodbye. And so that makes it very challenging and difficult, especially if you have two young boys such as I did. But launch day, it's run extremely smoothly. And everything goes according to a very strict schedule, which has plenty of contingency time built in there so that it's a relaxed day. Nobody wants to be under stress, no one wants to feel like they're rushing or under pressure. And that makes the entire day, much more enjoyable actually. And it sounds strange that you can actually enjoy it. But I did enjoy it. I remember at the time soaking up every moment you were you wake up, you have your shower with even the soap that you have to wash yourself with this special with antibacterial qualities. And you get scrubbed down and put into these pristine white undergarments that then go on to the which you put your spaces on top of, of course everything is so that we go to the space station with minimal threat of of carrying any virus or bacteria up with us. So you know, the whole launch day focuses around the flight surgeon to begin with. And then we have PR press meetings, we say goodbye to our family and go to the rocket. What was interesting is there was a real switch when you go to the rocket, that's the point at which you leave the crowds behind. And just three of you go up on the elevator with somebody else to help strap in. And then you focus, you switch all of that kind of preparation mode behind you and you focus on being a very operational mode. And that's I've always felt that when I've strapped into the cockpit of an aircraft, you might have had hours and hours of meetings of planning of preparation, getting yourself ready, what you're going to do risk management risk assessments. But the moment I strapped into the aircraft, it was always just right. This is just me doing what I know I can do. And let's get on and focus and do it. And that was exactly the mindset I had as I strapped into the rocket.
brandon 9:40
Well, yeah, so we you mentioned sort of saying goodbye to your boys and at a private ceremony and, and obviously it's quite a cold process because you'd like to say you're in isolation, for health reasons and so forth. What were you able to take with you? Are you allowed to take any mementos or sort of, you know, personal belongings if you'd like?
Tim 9:40
You are actually yes, we're allowed to pack it's kind of the size of, say two shoe boxes worth of personal belongings. And that goes up in advance in a cargo vehicle. And then we're also allowed to take a small bag of personal belongings that goes up with us in the Soyuz spacecraft under our seat. So, for example, I had a few T shirts of charities, I was involved in Prince's Trust operation rally, things I knew that I wanted to do on the space station running the marathon. So you know, these things get packed into your personal kit, I always had a small piece of blanket form my boys favorite blankets. So there's a bit of a something to remind me of them, as well. And you can take a few off the shelf food items, you know, some goodies for you, the space food is pretty dull, pretty dire. So it had to have a good shelf life, and it had to be able to sustain the forces of launching, and reentry. But you can take a bit of food with you too.
brandon 11:00
And when you're launching into space, did you have any sort of, you know, techniques to put your mind at ease and sort of get on, you know, get on with the mission, as it were?
Tim 11:08
Well, before launch, we've got about 40 minutes to wait, if everything goes according to plan without checks and drills. So the technique that the space agency uses is a piece of music into the capsule. So you know, there's nothing really else you can do. So we each get to choose about three tracks, and then they get played in. So I had a bit of the Queen -Don't stop me an hour, bif of Coldplay, bit of U2, just to get you in the mood.
brandon 11:32
That was cool.
Tim 11:32
It was it was very cool. And actually Tim and and Uri and myself at that point, were just chatting to each other, you know, just keeping everything really light, you know, we know everything's ready to go, all the checks are done. And it's just, you know, a moment where you can kind of, you know, just enjoy, really, but then at the moment that the launch sequence starts, you kind of go into that professional mode. Part of you is huge, childish excitement of hearing the engines fire up. And, you know, it's a 9 million horsepower that's lifting up the launch pads, it's pretty exciting. When that happens, lots of noise and vibration. But, you know, we've all got our own jobs to do. And I was focusing on the life support systems, making sure the spacecraft was in good shape, pressure, integrity was fine, no leaks, everything going according to plan and, and you've got this mixture of that kind of professional element versus the, you know.
brandon 12:29
Wow. Yeah, well, I was just gonna, that's, that's yeah, leads straight into my next question, which is, you know, eventually you've, you've gone through these processes, you've, you know, mission is, you know, you're well on your way to the, to the ISS. And, and eventually, when you dock there, and you kind of get on board, no doubt, you sort of look out and you think, wow, I mean, suppose I'm looking, you know, looking down on the planet, what does it feel like?
Tim 12:53
Yeah, you know, that moment, I think happens even before getting on the space station. For me, that moment happened when, when the main engines cut out, we were launching, it takes about eight minutes and 48 seconds to launch to spaces. So long time, actually, when you're doing four G's of acceleration, that's an awful long time. And halfway through that process, you actually can't really believe how fast you're going. It defies anything that you've done before, you're 25 times the speed the sound 17 and a half 1000 miles per hour. And, and so you're going through this process, and when the engines cut out, there's complete silence. And everything just floats up in weightlessness. And, and that's the moment that you look out the window and you realize you're in this completely unique new environment is taking a huge amount of energy, a very violent process to get you there. But now it's just peace and tranquility, and you're floating and looking down on Earth. And that's amazing. It's I mean, I guess the when I when I go diving, I enjoy diving, you go underwater, and you settle down and you feel like you're in this new home, this new environment, and it's very special. It was like that magnified by about 10,000.
brandon 14:05
So, once you're up there, you conducted I think, I think I'm right in saying 250 scientific experiments whilst you're on board, the space station. Can you tell us a bit about these and some that perhaps sort of stood out to you?
Tim 14:18
Yes, space stations are a microgravity laboratory. And we found over the years that when you go into microgravity, especially for an extended period of time, you can do some really incredible research because you can grow things that aren't affected by gravity, so they don't have sedimentation or fracturing, and predominantly crystals. So if you take disease causing protein crystals, for example, like motor neurone disease or Huntington's or Parkinson's, you can grow very large, very pure protein crystals and you bring them back down to earth and that means the pharmaceutical companies can make very, very pure drugs that can kind of wrap around this crystal and counter the effects, so it's low dosages for patients very low side effects, and these kinds of things. And similarly, when we grow metal crystals of metal alloys, we can make engine turbine blades in space, for example, that are stronger, lighter, more flexible, more elastic than anything we can produce on Earth. And we can bring that down. And then engineering, aerospace companies can look at it and think about how can we get as close as we can to that process here on Earth with the problems that we have with gravity. So these kinds of areas are good for research, also life science, I mean, we age about 20 years in space in a few months. So you can study the aging process on relatively young fit individuals in a very short space of time. And the good news is, when we get back to Earth, those processes reverse themselves, so you get the benefit of the science on the way up and the science on the way down, as well. So that's an important part. And I think some of the most exciting research at the moment is into things like renewables, solar panel efficiencies, and battery technology that's clearly fundamental to our, you know, being a key part of our energy supply system in the future. And the space industry is really pushing the limits of what we can do with solar and battery technology. Also, in terms of things like food production for here on Earth, water recycling and purification systems, crop production, using space to help our agricultural systems as well. So, I mean, the list is endless of the experiments that we do. It's all absolutely fascinating.
brandon 16:29
It's amazing. If we look back at the sort of the history of the ISS, I think access was sort of solely provided by world governments, first and foremost, but largely by the Russian government by launching the Soyuz rocket from the Kazakh step. From last year, SpaceX has been offering the service from Cape Canaveral, is the future of access to space led by private enterprise, do you think?
Tim 16:52
Yes, I think to a degree it is. And that's really the trajectory it's been on for quite a while. I mean, just go back into the history. I mean, the Apollo era was phenomenal. We went to the moon. But we couldn't sustain that 5% of GDP, you know, for the United States, that's unsustainable for a space program. So you have to look at what's more manageable and low Earth orbit became that location that was more manageable. So building space stations, and in that cooperation and collaboration between Russia and the United States, and the international partners, Japan, Canada, Europe, whilst you're building and operating an International Space Station, and flying a space shuttle to service that space station, it's very hard to do anything else, there's no money left over. So in 2011, when the United States decided to retire the shuttle fleet, that was to free up the resources to be able to build a new rocket that would enable us to go back to the moon and further. So during that period, the Russians were the only people flying anybody to space on their Soyuz rocket. And that was essential for keeping crews rotated on the International Space Station. Now we have SpaceX, and very shortly will have Boeing on their Starliner as well to, you know, commercial companies offering flights to anybody who can afford a seat into orbit. So I'm not talking about the Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic here, which is a suborbital sort of tourists like this is orbital flights. And I think that's what's going to drive the future, we are going to have commercial companies with commercial space stations leading the way in low Earth orbit, but in a way, that's a good thing for the National Space agencies. That's what's going to free up the resources to do the moon and the Mars program. So we can't do Moon and Mars without commercial companies taking the lead on access to space.
brandon 18:48
Interesting. And then I suppose from a from a Guernsey point of view as as sort of a global finance center. Do you think there's a role for global finance centers such as Guernsey to play in possibly sort of financing these these efforts and structuring commercial ventures that eventually take us, you know, out of atmosphere as it were?
Tim 19:07
I absolutely. I mean, space is a huge growth sector. It's always done phenomenally well, even despite financial difficulties. It's returned to sort of double digits, in terms of its growth in many, many European countries and many other countries around the world. And when you look at where we're going in the future with new, interesting commercial opportunities, it's very exciting. And what you mentioned about SpaceX there, what SpaceX is really doing is bringing down the cost of access to space by using sustainable, reusable parts of a spacecraft. Something that costs $53,000 to fly a kilogram to space on the space shuttle now cost less than $1,000 to fly kilogram to space on SpaceX. So that means that we things that previously were felt to be prohibitively expensive And now actually a true commercial viability things like on orbit manufacturing, rather than, you know, cut bringing one engine turbine blade down from the space station and studying it as manufacture of 1000s of them in space, package them up and bring them down, and then they are fit into aircraft, they're ready to go. This is the future of using spaces an environment where we can actually manufacture things. Now in order to do that, we also need to protect space, we need to treat it as an environment that needs to be protected and sustained. So space debris problem, that's another area, we're looking at clearing up cleaning up, and also protecting our assets in space, as space becomes more important. Much of our critical national infrastructure is actually based in space as well. We depend so much on position navigation and timing devices from our GPS satellites. Over 50% of our climate data comes from space are where the data are all these kinds of things. And so it's very important that we protect them too. So there are so many different aspects where really where growth is phenomenal. And there are many places where financial, the financial sector can look at this as a an area of funding and assistance.
brandon 21:13
I think one of the things that particularly stood out to me was I saw recently I think, was Elon Musk sort of spoke of how, how commercially viable it is to have reusable rocket boosters. You know, this was unimaginable sort of 1015 years ago, when NASA was sort of flying up rockets, and then sort of crushing them each time they use them. Whereas sort of, you know, if you look at, even compare it to sort of civilian airplane flight from one country to another, if you had to sort of crash a plane every time you would do that, that would be of course, that'd be sort of nuts, it'd be sort of wouldn't be commercially viable. So it's always like kind of bridging that gap and making Yeah, like you sort of said there sort of space more commercially viable, sort of frees up the access and therefore propels I guess, human exploration of space in the long term.
Tim 21:57
Absolutely. I think that's where it's hard to understate how important SpaceX has been in making that transition, because they've had an incredibly innovative approach the fail fast approach to their research development programs. And, you know, government space agencies, NASA would not have had that approach, they wouldn't have felt that it was in their remit to be able to launch rockets with a 50% chance of success and watch them blow up time and time again. You know, NASA has to be seen to be successful. And so it took a company like SpaceX to say, well, you know, we know this is an incredibly demanding technical hurdle to overcome, we know we're going to fail, we know, we're going to learn a lot from those failures, and we will succeed and they have and now what they do when they have is cornered the market is completely with a phenomenal method of launching into space and the commercial viability that's rolled on from that.
brandon 22:54
Yeah, you mentioned before there about sort of returning to the moon and that part of the reason NASA sort of retired, it's 2011 program was sort of to put resources into that and sort of hopefully, speed that process up. I'd like to get your thoughts on where I guess space travel is headed. Yeah, as you as you mentioned, NASA is of course working on the Artemis mission to get back to the moon. I think it's an it with an estimation date of 2024 I think comes right in today.
Tim 23:18
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
brandon 23:21
Yeah, no, I was just gonna say why is it important that we return to the moon, I suppose?
Tim 23:25
Yeah, absolutely. So I pick up on a couple of things. So you know, art is, is definitely NASA led, but it's very much an international program. For example, the European Space Agency, we build a service module for the Orion spacecraft, which is on the critical path. I mean, the service module provides life support, propulsion, and power. So it's very much hand in glove with international partners. But you're right in saying it's us less. The return to the moon is going to start this year 2022. With Artemis one at uncrewed launch, followed next year by the first crew, Artemis two going around the moon in orbit to test out all of these new systems. That's a bit like Apollo eight, back in the 60s. And then Artemis three, probably 2025, 2026 timeframe for boots back on the moon again. Why is it important? Well, this time, it's not to go there to prove a technological point. And then say we've done it, it's too expensive. We're not doing it again, this time is to go is to go there and set up a permanent base on the Moon sustainable exploration program. So we're looking at locations such as the Shackleton crater at the south pole of the lunar surface, where you have areas in permanent sunshine, so it's very good for energy production. You've got a lot of water ice that's locked up in the lunar regolith. So where you have water you can not only use that for life support, but you can use it for creating rocket fuel breaking it down into hydrogen and oxygen. So you can simply refuel your aircraft on a lunar base and use that as a launching pad for the future missions and of course estate The moon's gravity is far, far simpler and easier than escaping Earth's gravity. So the idea of using the moon as a staging post is quite attractive from that point of view, there's also resources that can be utilized on the surface of moon, helium three, for example, could become a very valuable potential fuel for nuclear fusion. I say when we get that working, not if, because I do strongly believe it's a win and not an not an if. So there's all sorts of uses that resources as well, but as a stepping stone deeper into Mars, and further human exploration, you've got this mix, I think of as both scientific research and human resource utilization, and that innate drive that human desire to explore as well.
brandon 25:46
The interesting point you that you made, there was that of you sort of setting up sort of a base on the moon to, to sort of have a presence there. I think the last time we went to the moon was December 1972. So that's maybe well, next month, that will be 50 years, which is quite a quite a way to go. Is the moon in a way the next step to reaching other planets? Is this is this possibly a viable sort of stepping stone to get to Mars as and when I say when rather than if similar to you on the on the fusion point there? Is that as sort of a next step, if you'd like to get to the red planet?
Tim 26:20
It is and there was and still is a lot of discussion about do we even need to go to the moon? Can't we just go straight to Mars? Yes, we can go straight to Mars. But it's really important to understand just how more complicated Mars is, we will do Mars, we there is nothing that's going to stop us. From a technology point of view from psychology or a Physiol physiological point of view, the human body can tolerate it. So I'm convinced that the Mars missions will go ahead in the mid to late 2030s. And we're on track for that. The point being is Mars and Earth, they only line up once every two years. So in the year in between Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the sun. So let's put that into perspective. Even if there's a problem on the moon, you can get back in three and a half days, boy, you can get a rescue craft there a supply vehicle there, it's so much closer, it's so much easier to be able to mitigate the risks in long duration space exploration, when you're setting up your habitation bases, your energy production, your food production, your water production, learning all of the mistakes that we need to learn. Let's do that on the moon. Before we do that mission to Mars, because when we send the crew off to Mars, there's a huge amount of commitment there. It's a one way it's not a one way trip, we're going to bring those crews back, but you're committed to at least a two if not three year mission when you send those crews off because of the orbital dynamics involved.
brandon 27:48
And in terms of going back to sort of a previous conversation around sort of the the use of commercial spaceflight and the move to sort of privatization in many respects, who's going to Who do you think's going to get us to Mars? Will it will it be a government agency like NASA or the SA, or something along those lines? Or is it gonna be a NASA? Sorry? Is it gonna be a SpaceX? Or is it gonna be a Blue Origin? Or? Or is you sort of referred to earlier as Boeing? Even?
Tim 28:13
I think that's a great question. I think it's going to be a public private partnership, similar to what we're seeing with the with the Artemis mission right now, interestingly, though, is is a case of how we're going to do it. But also, you know, who's driving the timeline? I think that commercial companies will be driving the timeline, I think, for SpaceX, Elon Musk has made no secret of the fact that he has ambitions and goals to for the human race to become a multi planetary species and getting to Mars is a massive goal of his, the moon, in many ways is a bit of a distraction, perhaps, you know, with his starship development, that that rocket has been built with Mars in mind. And that tells you how far ahead he is thinking by the systems he's developing right now. So I think that what we'll see is, is NASA and the national space agency, the government space agencies will be part of this program, they will have to be they will want to be part of this program. And you'll have elements, which are government led and elements which are led by the commercial sector. I mean, for example, SpaceX are building the human lander system. So we can't go to the surface of the moon on this Artemis program without SpaceX. They're on the critical path for that. And I think there'll be elements of the Mars missions, which will be similar.
brandon 29:34
You know, is it would be sort of a bit of a remiss not to sort of mention what's going on at the world in the moment. And, you know, there's a global crisis in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and so forth. Do you think this breakdown in sort of west east relations or more more specifically sort of us Russia relations is going to sort of impact the I guess the speed at which humanity sort of ventures and carries on further out into space?
Tim 30:00
I don't think he's going to impact the speed, it will have an impact. Already, we are seeing relationships strained on the International Space Station more than they have been in its 20 years of occupied history really. And that's obviously a tragedy, but it reflects the enormity of the situation in Ukraine and, and how that is affecting the scientific community, the space community, I think what we're going to see is, is the Russia and China, you know, doing a separate program to the rest of the world, and already is interesting in terms of the capabilities of technologies, for example, the Artemis program will go ahead without Russia without China. Now collaboration, at least at some level to make sure for example, we have things like common docking systems, so at least that we were operating out in a very hostile environment, far from Earth, then in emergency situations, we can cooperate and collaborate. So it's important that we maintain those kinds of discussions in cooperation, but also in terms of the framework, the regulatory framework in place at the moment, we're operating on an old 1967 Outer Space Treaty that isn't properly fit for service in terms of where we're going beyond low Earth orbit, dealing with problems like resource utilization, and space debris and management of space as an environment. And already, we're seeing the West develop something called the Artemis Accords, which has got about 22 signatories now, which is our interpretation of the 67 outer space treaty that's going to enable use of space use of the moon use of Mars, that's very different than how Russia and China may interpret the 67 Treaty. And so cooperation at all sorts of levels is going to be required. And there is huge scope for friction, where there are differences, you know, space is becoming more congested and more contested. And it's also becoming more of a military environment, whereas prior to this space has been acute, largely the domain of civilian research and science and investigation. So I think that we're going to see, you know, the militarization of space becoming an issue in the future as well.
brandon 32:18
And do you see that kind of in in the scope of the next sort of 10,20,30 years? Or is this sort of way off? Do you think
Tim 32:24
it's not way off at all? Now I see this as in the next five years. It's, well, it's, it's a problem. Already, as we have, as I mentioned earlier about, so much of our critical national infrastructure is space based, and that needs to be protected. And we've already seen very public demonstrations from nations that are shooting down their own satellites, demonstrating their capability to have, you know, an offensive anti satellite capability that causes many, many problems. It's, it's a ridiculous thing to do, because of the amount of debris that it places into low earth orbit, denying that albeit for everybody, but it's a clear indicator, as well as to how important the space environment is becoming on the political stage.
brandon 33:10
Sort of just to quickly create change track. Now I know, we're sort of coming to the end of the interview here. But you, I think, you know, you often tour the UK and sort of promote to children in schools, how they too can become astronauts, when they grew up, what is the most important piece of advice you'd give, you'd give a youngster?
Tim 33:27
I think the most important piece of advice is to is to do some, some soul searching and try and work out what it is that you're passionate about, what are your real dreams, what drives you? What's your inspiration? I mean, some people have long term goals and ambitions. They may dream of being an astronaut at a young age, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But nobody leaves school to join the astronaut corps. It's a case of what you do before you become an astronaut. And I think that's where, you know, passion and desire is so important because, as astronauts, we'll come from a variety of different backgrounds, from school teachers, medical doctors, scientists, engineers, test pilots, but everybody is got a common theme is trying to be as good as they can be in what they've done before. So when I talk to young people, I'm trying to say it's about getting that balance in life. It's about Yes, academics are important, but so are soft skills. And you'll get that from extracurricular activities. It's maybe scouts or brownies or guides, or cadets or the Duke of Edinburgh Award schemes, whatever it is that helps to build. Those soft skills are the leadership, the followership, their communication, the teamwork, in addition to having a decent grounding in academic subjects as well, so trying to make yourself an all round, all round player really.
brandon 34:44
And just to finish up, I think, you know, I think it's worth mentioning the climate because that's, of course, a very topical and as pressing issue, or other day in many respects, and Guernsey takes its role as a leading global finance center very seriously with regard to the climate catastrophe The audit finance sector has been a trailblazer in recent years from launching the world's first Green Fund Kitemark, more than four years ago now, to more recently launching the world's first natural capital fund at guernseys, recent sustainable finance weekend, September this year. I know this is something you are passionate about as well. How have space missions, including, you know, the one you went on back in 2015/2016 helped us to understand just how much of a climate emergency we really are in.
Tim 35:27
The spaces is fundamental to understanding what's happening on the planet I mentioned earlier about so much of our climate data coming from space and having that finger on the pulse of the planet, you know, when we when we monitor the ocean salinity, or the biomass or deforestation, or we just see smog and pollution over cities, we can make political decisions based up by scientific data and actually analyze are they having an impact, if so, reinforce that if not change direction, and find out what's going to work. So that's incredibly important to do. But also in terms of space actually, impacting on the technologies that we're using down here on earth, for example, if we can improve agricultural systems to make them more efficient to reduce their carbon footprint. Same with the aviation industry, I mentioned the turbine blades. So all these things that we're doing in space are tough trying to target areas that can provide solutions to major problems that we have back on Earth. And then we need to look at space as a sector in itself in terms of what carbon footprint it has, it's very easy to look at rocket launchers and think that they're bogged out, you know, masses of carbon, whereas actually, a lot of the fuel that's used in rockets is hydrogen and oxygen with a byproduct of water. So space in itself has a very low carbon imprint impact in terms of when when compared against, say, for agriculture, or, or aviation. But that's not to say that we can't clean it up. We can develop more efficient fuels, more cleaner fuels, and the core become more sustainable ourselves as a as a sector. But I think it's important to think of space as an environment in its own right, which needs to be looked after, which needs to be protected as much as we need to protect the Earth environment as well.
brandon 37:14
Well, thank you very much for joining us on the podcast today. Tim.
Tim 37:18
Thank you very much Brandon it's been a pleasure joining you.
brandon 37:22
It was fascinating to learn about the psychological as well as the physical hurdles that you had to overcome in order to successfully complete your mission to the ISS. It was also interesting to gauge your thoughts on where the future of space exploration is headed. Thanks also to you for listening. If you enjoyed this discussion, we have a backlog of interviews on the We Are Guernsey podcast channel, you can check them out by searching for We Are Guernsey on your preferred podcast platform. To find out more about Guernsey and its specialist financial services sector. Head over to our website weareguernsey.com We look forward to welcoming you back to the podcast. Until then it's goodbye from Guernsey.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai