From time to time there are stories that capture the public imagination. One such story was the recent landing of the Philae lander on a distant comet as part of the Rosetta mission. It was a truly remarkable feat, slingshot-ing Rosetta several times around the solar system to miraculously catch up with a comet speeding at unimaginable speeds, and then to send a lander to touch down and start analysing the structure of the comet. Truly incredible.
This is a European mission and a significant part of it was designed in Britain. I met last week the Englishman who designed the propulsion system for Rosetta, some 25 years ago! Indeed, Britain is a significant player in the space industry. We have high profile players in this arena and just recently sadly saw the major setback of Richard Branson's attempts to get tourists into space. But what is less well known is the fact that a quarter of the world's communications satellites are built in Britain. Indeed, we are the single biggest manufacturer in the world of non-military satellites, building space craft in Stevenage, of all places. Some of these can be the size of three double decker busses and they orbit at a height of 36,000 kilometres above the equator. From their fixed position above the earth's surface, they undertake a range of functions, from telling us where we are, through linking global communications to transmitting television channels. Amazingly, these satellites, from 36,000 kilometres, use the transmission power equivalent to that of a 100 watt light bulb - a bright light bulb that we would all be familiar with in our homes.
At the other end of the spectrum are small scientific satellites. These orbit much closer to the earth and move across the globe checking weather, or other scientific data and again, many are many in England. Some of these can be as small as a football and are multiple launched.
My involvement is as a vice chair of the Parliamentary Space Committee where I look specifically at the dull world of space regulation - yes, we even regulate outer space!
Our space industry is a part of our incredible advanced manufacturing industry, which builds most of the world's racing cars and the most advanced warships on the planet. The legacy of pioneers like Brunel is that in the 21st century, Britain is still the world's leading engineering country.