good afternoon,
everyone.
And thank you for joining today.
This is day four of our British Science Week,
and today has been all about space.
So hopefully you've had a chance to watch some of the videos and maybe have a go at the activity making your own,
um,
your own satellite model.
I'm sure it's raised lots of questions,
and the great news is that I've got three brilliant people here today who are going to answer them for you.
We've got Steve,
Mao and Pablo.
So if you've got a question that you'd like them to answer if you use the Q and a button at the bottom of your
screen,
if you click on that,
you'll be able to type your question in,
and we'll try and get around to as many as we possibly can during the webinar.
So while you're thinking about the questions you'd like to ask,
I'd just like to ask each of the panellists to introduce themselves.
So,
Steve,
would you like to go first?
Yes.
Um,
hi,
everyone.
Thanks.
Carol.
Um,
my name is Steve.
I am a wireless research specialist in the Applied Research
and Network Strategy Department.
I My work focuses on,
um,
non-real network research,
which includes high aloo platforms and satellites And how BT can
exploit this in its,
um,
services and products.
Thank you.
Lovely.
Thank you,
Steve.
Pablo,
would you like to go next?
Sure.
Thanks,
Carol.
Um,
so my name is Pablo.
Um,
I'm a mission analysis technical manager here at one Web.
And,
uh,
I've been having this role for the past,
uh,
five years,
actually.
I joined 11 when we didn't have any satellite.
And now we are the second largest,
uh,
constellation,
uh,
in the world,
which is pretty exciting.
Um,
my day to day work is mostly about,
um,
flying satellites,
Uh,
and designing the their orbits and trajectories.
Thank you.
Super.
Thanks,
Pablo.
And finally,
Mara,
would you like to introduce yourself?
Thanks,
Carol.
Yeah.
My name is Mara Morta.
I work for BT like Steve and I created BT space strategy,
which really explains what the company wants to do in the space market in
future.
Brilliant.
Thank you.
So my first question that I've got and I'm gonna ask this one to all of you and I'm hoping for
some pretty cool answers to this is What's the coolest thing about your job?
So,
Pablo,
could I start with you,
please?
Sure.
Definitely.
The coolest thing is that I get to fly a lot of hundreds of satellites every day and
make a decision on where they go and what they do.
Um,
brilliant.
Thank you.
And,
Steve,
the same question.
Well,
um,
for me,
the the one of the coolest things is that I get to model the whole
system.
So I model the the higher two platforms flying.
I model it.
So I'm delivering service over an area.
And then I do get an opportunity to actually materialise this to do proof of
concept to see that the the model actually works.
So that's that's one of the coolest things.
Thank you.
Brilliant.
Thank you,
Steve.
And finally,
Mara,
what's the coolest thing about your job?
Well,
because I I work in a strategy team.
I get to really kind of help shape where BT goes in the future.
Really?
Um,
and I particularly particularly really enjoyed working on the whole space area because it was a
new area to me when I started it a couple of years ago,
and it's just so interesting and so many cool things happening in it,
So Yeah.
Fantastic.
Thank you.
So my first question here.
Well,
not my first question.
My second question.
I can't count today coming in from year six.
Serious class.
And it is,
I think,
one for you.
And it is what do Leo Mio and Leo stand for?
So they are different levels of orbit above the
Earth for different types of satellites.
So the stock are stuck closer to the earth and the opposite of the video.
So Leo is a low earth orbit satellite.
Meo is mid earth orbit satellite and Geo is geo stationary
Earth orbit satellites.
And the reason that it's geostationary is because if you were to look at the satellite from the
Earth because it orbits at the same velocity as the Earth,
it looks like it's stationary to people on the ground.
Unlike Geo Meo,
which orbit quicker than the earth.
Brilliant.
Thank you very much.
Marrow.
And this one,
I think,
is,
um,
based on something that you said in your introduction,
Steve.
So I'm gonna send this one to you,
and it's coming from laser class,
which is a very cool name for a class,
I think.
And that is what are haps and how are they different from drones?
Bye.
Like I,
uh,
I think I mentioned,
uh,
high altitude platform systems or
high altitude pseudo satellites,
depending on whoever is calling it with people who have different names for it.
They are effectively,
very large drones that are flying in the stratosphere.
So we're talking about between 17 to 22 kilometres in
in,
uh,
above the earth.
And if you if you put that into perspective,
that is twice the height of your conventional Marshall aircraft.
So if you've been in a plane,
then you might have had a,
well,
perhaps a possible flying additional 10 kilometres above that and the reason
being that compared with your traditional base stations,
it perhaps will provide much wider coverage because it has
much bigger loot angle.
Um,
replacing potentially hundreds,
um,
of decisions.
Well,
as how they difference with drones,
they are effectively,
uh,
same thing similar to drones.
Just that they are very much,
much more bigger.
Uh,
similar.
So,
for example,
what we're working with,
uh,
has a wing span of 65 metres which is similar
to your Boeing 747 that big And they effectively do the same thing.
They're powered by,
uh um in most case renewable energy,
which could be solar,
which could be hydrogen.
And the difference between that size of drone and the normal drone that people are
familiar with is that it can last longer.
It has enough power to last longer,
and it can carry much more payload,
which is needed to provide that level of coverage.
Brilliant.
Thank you,
Steve.
And this one,
I think here is definitely one for you,
Pablo.
Given your introduction,
and it's from Oberon class.
And it is how are satellites controlled and managed from Earth?
Sure.
Um so the way that you have to think about a satellite is not very
different than than than a than a computer just in space.
And so it's a computer with antennas.
Um,
and so essentially,
the way that we communicate with that computer that is flying thousands of kilometres away from us is just
We have some ground stations here on earth,
on the surface,
at different points.
And so when those satellites,
um,
fly over those ground stations,
we can point antennas to those satellites,
which are just listening to us.
And then there is a link established between both and then some.
Some commands go back and forth between the things that you want the satellite to do,
the information that the satellite is sending back to you.
And that's pretty much how how it works.
Brilliant.
Thank you,
Pablo.
Now,
this is a brilliant question that's coming here from Clifford Road Primary School.
Hello,
guys.
And thank you for sending this one in.
I'm gonna ask it to all of you,
and you can choose who would like to answer it.
And the question is,
how long until humans will be able to exit the Milky Way?
Would anyone like to take that one?
It it's a tricky question,
and and I don't think anyone has an answer.
That's why we none of us is really uh uh,
answering.
I I we don't know.
I I think,
um,
so,
in terms of one of the things that will enable us to do that,
um is better proportion systems right on on our vehicles?
Um,
and so there is definitely some improvements in the efficiency,
um,
of of these proportion systems and also in the in their in their in the force
that they're able to to give our spacecraft right,
and and so the the there are improvements there is there
is,
uh,
advances in that direction.
But but it's a very tricky topic and very complicated,
because eventually,
humans,
well,
we we don't live forever.
And so,
like our way out of the Milky Way is is kind of long one,
um,
so,
yeah,
difficult to say.
But there is the there is advancements that that that will eventually make us able to do that,
I guess.
Thank you,
Pablo.
Maybe some of you guys at Clifford Road will be the people who make the advancements to to get us to be able to
exit the Milky Way.
Who knows?
Um,
I've got two questions here that have both come in from orange class.
I'm gonna ask them together because they're quite quite related.
And the first one is why is Earth's orbit elliptical And the other one,
which I think is quite related to that is how do all of the planets and stars keep their orbits?
Steve,
is that one that you could answer for us?
Right.
Um,
so uh,
this This,
um there are There are elliptical orbits,
and there are circular orbits.
So it it it just depends on,
um,
the the model,
which the satellite company,
um,
has designed the aircraft for.
And this is,
uh,
again,
depending on the,
uh,
on geometry.
We got 22.
And how you you want to,
uh,
find it for mus,
which mostly use elliptical orbits?
The idea is that,
as as the the satellite system revolves around around
the earth,
you have,
I think is a O.
G or four G.
You have your satellites swelling more on the on on the,
um,
the top of the ellipse.
So you provide much coverage longer before the satellites,
uh,
go down.
There are also circular orbits,
which most of the Leo systems,
um,
operate in.
And I believe one web as well is a circular orbit.
So I I It's not that,
um,
the the orbits are elliptical.
Well,
you could argue that circular orbits are a special case of elliptical orbit as well.
I don't know if that's not the question.
I think that's a great answer.
Steve,
That was quite a tricky question there,
so thank you.
for answering that one.
Now,
I've got a question here that has come in.
I hope I'm going to pronounce this correctly from power Power or pavan dot Co.
And it is one for all of you on a scale of 1 to 10.
How satisfied are you all with your jobs?
Sorry.
I forgot to ask that to anyone.
Mara,
would you like to go first?
Um,
how satisfied that that is a great question.
I would say that,
Um I'm I mean it.
It sort of varies from where you are at different points in your life.
So right now,
I would say I'm about a nine out of 10.
Um,
I changed roles about a year ago.
Um,
so everything still feels relatively new.
And I've been just really lucky enough to work on on the space kind of
project for the last kind of 12 months or so.
So yeah,
and I I get to do all the things I really enjoy,
such as meeting customers such as kind of presenting events such as working on really
interesting and innovative stuff.
So,
um,
yeah,
I would say pretty good.
Really.
Excellent.
Pablo,
can you beat a nine out of 10.
So I'm gonna be not very original.
I'm actually I think I think I am also an nine.
Um,
I I was working before working at one web,
um,
at a the European space agency with,
uh,
more inter missions,
Uh,
which is definitely a AAA different.
You know,
they have the the the the sex appeal of
Of of being like something really cutting edge in technology and and in terms of,
of,
of human exploration.
But then,
in one way,
what I really enjoy about it is that we really are creating a system that is gonna change
people's life.
That is gonna bring Internet to places and to people that have never had that opportunity
to be connected.
And we all know nowadays how powerful it is.
Sometimes we forget because we need to give it for granted.
But it is a life changing experience to have access to to to that type of service and and
and it it really is,
uh is something that that makes me wake up in the mornings and come to work with,
uh,
with a happy face.
So that's it's it's it's it's it's a great experience?
Yeah,
super.
Thank you,
Pablo.
And finally,
Steve,
right?
I I I don't want to make any clean suit of nine,
so I'm going to go for 9.1%.
Um uh,
9.1 of,
uh,
out of 10.
Um,
so that's,
uh,
91%.
So basically,
I would say I'm really,
really excited every day I go to work because the backing
off Pablo's work,
my work also centres around delivering coverage and capacity in places where
it's ordinarily difficult to to provide coverage to and thereby using
higher platforms and using as well.
And beyond that,
I joined BT from,
uh,
from an academic background.
Most of the research I did was,
uh,
academic.
So doing simulations,
doing modelling and and seeing how that performs.
But now I actually have the opportunity to practicalize this and see how this actually
performs in real life and compare that with the,
uh,
theoretical models I've been doing.
So that's really exciting.
And I'm quite happy about that.
Wonderful.
Thank you,
Steve.
It's nice.
It's nice to hear three very happy people out their work.
So the next question is going to be for you.
Marrow and I've got two that are sort of related,
so I'll ask them together.
So the first one is from Orion class,
and it is.
Do satellites provide five G?
And then I've got another one very similar from Oberon class,
which is,
um,
sorry,
I beg your pardon.
It's not from class.
It's from Year six silo class,
and that is,
does my mobile phone connect to a satellite in space for anything?
OK,
so I mean,
satellites use radio waves to communicate with people.
So today you can't yet connect to five G
over satellite.
But that is coming.
So there are companies that are coming to market now who are looking to
actually provide what's called direct to device connectivity.
So normally,
if you think if you've got sky at home,
for example,
you might see that you've got an antenna dish outside your house.
Obviously,
that's quite big.
You couldn't carry that around if it was a kind of if you were looking to sort of have communications on the moon on
the moon,
so to speak.
So there's a lot of companies now coming to market who are developing satellite systems that will connect
directly to a mobile device,
so five G in space is definitely coming.
And then the point about whether there are mobile phones today that connect with
with satellites And yes,
if you happen to be lucky enough to have an iPhone 14 for the iPhone 14
is the only device the apple.
Certainly the only apple device right available today that will connect to a satellite
for an emergency service.
So if you are going on a walk,
for example,
high up in the Scottish Highlands.
And I know you had an accident and you needed to sort of call someone to come and rescue you,
even if there was no network coverage with the Apple iPhone 14,
you can actually send an emergency s MS to the rescue services,
and they'll come and get you.
So all that is definitely coming.
And we'll see more and more mobile phones with that same capability.
The the Apple iPhone has already
fantastic.
Thank you,
Maro.
Um,
Pablo,
I think this next one for you and it's from Oberon class.
And it is what material are satellites made from?
All right,
Um,
so the answer is they can be.
They are made of pretty much everything.
Um,
you find in the metals like aluminium,
uh,
sometimes steel.
Um,
you can also find some more plastic materials,
um,
and honestly,
like glass,
even right.
If you have some telescopes with lenses and all that,
so you can really find pretty much any kind of material in them.
There are some materials that are not very frequent in satellites,
although they are used sometimes because there is no alternative.
And those are materials that tend to degrade a bit faster in the space because of the radiation and
because of the lack of pressure.
So,
for instance,
a acids.
So the typical superglue use,
uh,
very freely.
Uh,
those type of of things are not very common in the space just because they they tend to
keep some gass in the in the fluids when even when they solidify and in space and the pressure
changes that tends to degrade very quickly.
Uh,
those materials and and then eventually they lose their properties.
And so if if you have a super glue that is not doing things together,
it's not.
It's not good for for your spacecraft.
Fantastic.
Thank you,
Pablo.
Um,
and the next question.
Um,
I'm gonna ask,
is a bit about skills and subjects to you all.
So are there any particular skills or subjects that that you would recommend that people study
at school?
Or maybe ideas for work experience or gap years or anything like that that you'd recommend to
somebody who'd like to do a job like yours?
Um,
Steve,
can I start with you on that one,
please?
Oh,
all right.
Thank you.
Carol.
I think,
uh,
the the major,
um,
driver for me doing engineering was physics.
I I loved physics very much.
Uh,
while I was in,
uh,
in secondary school and mathematics,
and I enjoyed that.
So And that was the reason why when I realised I wasn't going to do physics or maths,
Uh,
in law school,
I said,
OK,
well,
I'm not interested in being a lawyer anymore.
Um,
so yes,
physics and and and maths.
And of course,
that that helped me in in,
um,
focusing on working as an engineer in terms of,
uh,
work experience.
I guess what I did when I was
studying in first degree and after the first degree was,
uh,
find places around where I could just stick around.
So in most cases,
it didn't need to be formal.
So just stick around and have a look at and figure out what's going on.
Ask questions and try to,
uh,
increase my interest and eventually look for opportunities where I can apply them
to have some formal participation in that I think,
fundamentally is developing the interest and then letting the interest drive you,
um,
and being very,
very particular about how you want to action these interests.
Thank you.
Great.
Thank you,
Steve Marrow.
Is there anything you'd like to add?
Yeah.
I mean,
I unlike a lot of people at BC,
I'm not an engineer.
I'm I come more from,
I guess,
the business side of things rather than kind of picking particular sort of topics
or school subjects that people might really think about.
I think the three most important things that you know you need to really
work on,
which are invaluable in the workplace,
is how you're able to kind of collaborate with other people,
how you communicate with other people and how you kind of solve problems.
Um,
and and and that because at the end of the day when you come when you come into the workplace,
it is all about how you interact with other people,
basically,
So they're really,
really important skills in how you do that.
And one thing I always say to to kind of,
you know,
particularly sort of teenagers who are quite into gaming problem solving is,
as I say,
it is a really,
really key skill to have,
and a lot of games out there actually really require you to be quite innovative in terms
of how you solve problems.
So you know there is.
There's always stuff that you can take from from you kind of your life if you like,
and bring it into the workplace.
But as Steve said,
I think the other thing is,
you know,
you spent a long,
massive of your life at work.
So really try and find something that interests you whether it's,
you know,
a kind of particular topic or a sector or even,
you know,
a way of kind of working.
Really,
because that is so important.
Thanks,
Mara.
Pablo.
Anything you'd like to add?
Both answers were great,
and I I fully agree with both.
Um I think what I'd like to say is that,
um I think originally and I'm a I'm an engineer as well.
So my background is very heavy on maths,
physics and and all these things.
But I think nowadays space is becoming is growing as a sector.
Uh,
it's becoming more common,
more trendy,
more multi.
Um,
it's developing different facets that you didn't have before.
What I'm trying to say is,
before to work in the space,
you mostly have to be an engineer,
So you have to be very heavy in maths physics nowadays.
That's not the case anymore.
I have a lot of friends who are space lawyers who
are,
um,
space economists and businessmen.
They understand the the business space.
So what?
I I guess what I'm trying to say is,
if you love space and you don't love love,
maths and physics,
that's fine.
You just need to do whatever you love.
And I'm sure you're gonna find the spacey application of your passion.
So just just don't you know don't be sad.
Don't be sad.
You're gonna be fine.
Um,
just just just make sure that you you you know where,
uh,
how to navigate and get to your the spacey flavour of of of what you're passionate
about.
Thanks.
All.
So it sounds like there are lots of different types of roles you could have working in space and lots of
different types of subjects you might study.
But maybe a few skills in common there,
like communication and collaboration that are that are important right across the piece.
Um,
Pablo,
I think this is a question for you as well.
This is from the year six Sirius class again.
How are satellites launched into space and how do they stay there?
Ok,
so how they are launched,
they're launching rockets for the most part.
Uh,
well,
actually not for the most part,
they are always launching rockets.
Now where the rockets are getting launched from,
That's a different question.
There has been some attempts in the UK.
Actually,
recently you might have seen in the news where there was a rocket being launched off a plane.
It's not very common,
but if that's happened,
most of the satellites do get launched from roller rockets,
which,
um,
are launched from spaceports,
which are essentially just platforms where the rocket stands vertically and it just lifts off vertically and it goes
up.
Um,
now why the satellites are kept where they are is actually because of what the
rocket achieves,
which is as the rocket goes up,
it's using these massive engines and and rocket rocket engines to to gain a lot of
velocity in the direction of flight.
So as it goes up,
it builds horizontally,
horizontally.
Uh,
if this was where you are standing as a person,
right,
like the surface of the earth,
the the the the the the rocket would end up being horizontal there.
And so this velocity that the rocket has is what makes,
uh,
those satellites actually stay where they are deployed,
because those satellites have that very,
very high velocity in the horizontal component.
And then they are getting pulled from the earth downwards.
And essentially,
what you can see of it is if you grab your your school bag and you start spinning around
yourself,
you're gonna have to see how that screw bag is kind of kept at a constant distance with respect to yourself.
So you can think of your arm as the earth pool,
and you can think of the of the of the rag or or the or the screw bag as the
velocity that it has as as as the velocity that the rocket gives that satellite.
And it's a very similar concept to what happens with satellites.
Wonderful.
Thank you.
I can see a lot of people experimenting on their way home now,
with bags whizzing around their heads to to to to to look like a bit like a satellite.
You can,
of course,
if you download our activity pack today,
you can make a model of of different types of satellites,
so that that might be a safer way of doing it.
I think,
um,
I've got a quick question here for you that's coming from or Fox.
And it is What services do Leo satellites provide and do Geo and M o
provide different things?
Um,
so they provide,
I mean,
that they will provide the same kind of base connectivity,
right?
So they're a way of connecting to something else or someone else on the
planet.
Essentially.
So you know,
if you imagine you you want to make a,
uh whether it's a phone call,
whether it's even download a film,
you're connecting with the satellite.
The satellite,
then bounces that signal down to an earth station,
and then that then traverses the planet to wherever the the the the where it is you're trying to connect
to.
It's more the characteristics of the different types of communication
services that are different between the levels of orbit.
So lower orbit satellite because it's just so much closer to the earth.
The distance the actual signal has to travel is far shorter,
so you tend to get faster speeds.
And more importantly,
you tend to have what's called lower latency.
So latency is basically the delay between when you,
you you send something and it gets received at the other end.
So if you've ever watched,
for example,
on the news,
when they're doing an outdoor broadcast from and there's a presenter and you know in some
somewhere where they outdoors,
there's often that kind of one or,
you know,
slightly,
you know,
little bit of a delay when the the new news presenter this year says,
you know what do you think?
And you wait and then the person kind of answers so that that's that's an example of kind of,
you know,
latency.
So for certain types of services that require lower latency.
Then Leo is really good.
Leo is a bit further out.
You typically sort of see mid Earth orbit satellites used for things like what's called
like GPS.
So satellite navigation.
So an example I like to use is if you're on snap maps or if you're on Google
maps and it's triangulating your location,
it's connecting to a Meo satellite and then geostationary satellites again.
Similarly,
they are the furthest away,
so the signal has got the furthest to travel.
But that's perfectly good for broadcasting things that you know don't necessarily
have to be in kind of super real time.
So if you are going to,
you know,
kind of watch something,
it's kind of delivered over broadcast.
You know,
it doesn't have to be,
you know,
really come to the have the same level of latency as say,
if you're doing something like a some sort of cloud based,
um,
kind of application,
which you might use for Leo for
wonderful.
Thank you,
Mara.
And finally,
I'm gonna ask one last question of you all because I'm afraid we're coming towards the end of the webinar.
All of the questions we haven't been able to answer yet.
We will put some answers on those to those on our website.
So if you keep checking back in the next couple of days,
you should see some of those answers appear on there.
But the question I'd like to ask you all is what advice would you give to your
younger self?
So,
Steve,
would you like to go first?
Um,
yeah.
So I I think I already mentioned,
uh,
find something you are interested in.
Make sure you're really interested in that.
And keep that interest going.
And don't let anything get in the way.
Like it's a good example is I knew I loved maths.
I knew I loved engineering.
I knew.
I love fixing things.
Um,
but I got suggestions of study law,
uh,
study architecture,
but none of this would basically use these,
um,
uh,
these aspects of skills.
But I I resisted and continued,
and I ended up in engineering,
and I love it.
Brilliant.
Thank you,
Steve Mara,
what advice would you give your younger self?
Um so if I was talking to the sort of 22 23 year old
me who's just come out of university,
I would probably say Take,
take a few more risks actually with the early part of your career.
And don't be afraid to sort of try things out.
It's a lot easier to move around and see what you actually really enjoy
when you're at the beginning part of your career than when you're sort of a bit.
I mean,
you still can do those things later on in your career,
of course,
but it's just a bit easier,
so just just be a little bit braver,
really.
I think I'd say to myself,
super,
Thank you,
Mao and Pablo.
Finally,
you What advice would you give your younger self?
I think I would tell myself to not overestimate
the complexity of the problems around yourself or myself.
In that case,
um,
everything around you.
Most of the times have solutions,
and I'm talking about everything.
But in a career point of view,
even more so,
Um,
just try to find a solution,
step by step,
and I can guarantee you that you will get to a very good solution to that problem.
Even if it's not perfect,
you will solve that problem.
Um,
that's the engineering approach that we use.
Uh uh,
And it's kind of the engineering approach that new space companies use.
And,
uh,
and,
you know,
fail quick iterate quick,
and you get it done.
So just do that.
Brilliant.
Thank you,
Pablo.
Well,
we've come to the end of our Webinar today.
It's gone very quickly.
I just want to say a massive thank you to all of you who have joined us and who have sent in some
amazing questions.
Those we haven't answered.
We will answer on the website.
Um,
we would love to see what you've been up to this week for British Week.
So if you if you have been doing anything and taking any pictures,
maybe you've been trying out some of the activities.
You can tweet us at a park,
or you can email them to us computer science at BT dot com and use the hashtag BS w
23.
We would love to see everything that you've been up to this week.
Um,
so tomorrow we're back and tomorrow it's all about accessibility,
So we hope to see lots of you then.
But before we go,
I'd just like to say an enormous thank you to our panel who I think have definitely been out of this world today for
Space Day and thank you to Steve and to Pablo.
And we hope to see you all again tomorrow.
Take care,
everyone.
Bye.