Three-year trips to Mars in 2030s, spaceship holidays & budget rocket trips to race around Earth, UK space hero predicts
They're just some of the predictions from British space hero Tim Peake, who sat down with The Sun for a chat about our off-Earth future.
8
8
Tim, 53, spent about 186 days in space, returning from the ISS on June 18, 2016.
But when humans start making the first trips to Mars in the next decade or so, they'll be in space for a lot longer – potentially for three years.
It sounds nightmarish, but Tim says we've done it all before, hundreds of years ago.
'A lot of people today forget about what we used to do in terms of exploration, the hardships, the torture, the kind of risk that was taken,' Tim told The Sun at Goodwood Festival of Speed's Future Lab earlier this month.
'And in the early 1800s, nothing was thought about disappearing off on a three year expedition.
'That was pretty standard if you were in the Royal Navy. You say goodbye to your family and your mum.
'You say goodbye. You don't really know where you're going or what you're going to be doing, but you're just going to be away for a long time.
'So when I talk to people about in the mid 2030s, we're going to be on a three year mission to Mars and they kind of have this shock and horror that, well, that's so long, you'll never get people to go away for that long.
'Well, you will. We've done this before.
'It's only in the last 150 years that it hasn't been normal to have a three year expedition away, finding new lands and discovering new things.
Nasa reveals mesmerising footage of Northern Lights from ISS
'And we're going to kind of go back into that kind of mindset. It's just that it won't be on Earth. It will be out into space.'
Nasa hopes to make manned trips to Mars as soon as the 2030s, although no firm date has been set.
But whenever those first visits happen, the astronauts will likely be a lot more comfortable than explorers of the past.
'The levels of resilience and self-sufficiency they needed was unbelievable. I mean, again, when we do Mars, the crew will have enough food, they'll have enough water, they'll have enough life support,' Tim said.
8
He continued: 'We've mapped the surface, we'll have habitation modules for them.
'So it'll probably be a lot more comfortable than it would be setting off on endurance or HMS Wager back in the day.'
SPACE STAYS
For now, going to space is largely the preserve of professional astronauts, celebs and the ultra-wealthy.
But in the future, Tim thinks that this will soon change – and Elon Musk is partly to thank.
Tim credits Musk's company SpaceX with making space travel a lot cheaper.
'They've brought the cost of getting to space down so much, which is really exciting.
'Because that opens up whole markets of things you didn't think were possible because they were cost-prohibitive five or 10 years ago, that are now economically viable.
'So that's really exciting, but SpaceX is just the Uber that gets you there and back.
'What's even more exciting is: now what can you do when you're up there?'
Tim tells me that space tourism has been around for a long time – but it's becoming more frequent.
And that's a trend that will only grow with time.
'It's part of the democratisation of space,' Tim told The Sun.
'I think fast-forward 100 years and there'll be an awful lot of people going to space for a variety of different reasons.
'Some for science, some for exploration, some for entertainment, and some for a different holiday.'
Unsurprisingly, Tim reckons that we'd all be better off if we'd taken a trip to space.
He says it gives you a different view of the world – and not just literally.
WHO IS TIM PEAKE?
Here's what you need to know...
Major Tim Peake is a British Army officer and astronaut
He is the first British astronaut with the European Space Agency
He's also the sixth Brit to go aboard the International Space Agency
Peake was born in Chichester, West Sussex in 1972
In 1990 he attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
In 1992, he joined the Army Air Corps
Then two years later Peake became a qualified helicopter pilot
Peake left the army in 2009 to follow his dream of becoming an astronaut
He beat more than 9,000 applicants for one of six spots on the ESA's astronaut training programme
He had to endure a rigorous selection process that tested his intellect and fitness
Peake was launched to the ISS on December 15, 2015
In April the next year, he ran the 2016 London Marathon from the ISS treadmill
And in June 2016, he finally returned to Earth, landing in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz descent module
During his time in space, Peake completed roughly 3,000 orbits of Earth
Picture Credit: Getty Images
'I think it is amazing. The more people that can witness Earth from space – Earth would be a better place. Definitely,' Tim said.
'People would have perhaps have a different perspective when they're making decisions.
'Having kind of seen how we all share one planet. And it looks fairly remote and isolated from space.'
So your Moon vacation in 2065 won't just be a relaxing break, but an upgrade for your mind too.
8
8
EARTH, VIA SPACE
Of course, space tourism isn't the only way rockets will help your holidays.
Tim reckons it'll make moving around Earth easier too.
Holidays to the Moon will involve blasting off from Earth and landing on the rocky satellite.
But that's not the only version of going space – you can also take suborbital flights that skim space, and descend back to Earth.
'Some of those missions they're launching, say, from New Mexico. They're going up and landing in New Mexico,' Tim explained.
'Having been into space, well, there's no reason why you couldn't launch in New Mexico and land in Paris on that same kind of mission.
'And that could be a new form of suborbital transportation that becomes very popular in the future.'
It sounds nightmarishly expensive – and it probably would be at the start.
8
But eventually, Tim thinks, we could see the cost come down.
Speaking to the astronaut, I joke that we could see Ryanair-style budget flights that only cost a tenner.
'I mean, if you if you went back to those early 1920s, 1930s transatlantic carriers, you would have found very wealthy people on board traveling in relative luxury,' Tim told me.
'And if you'd have said, you know, in 100 years time, we're going to have the EasyJets and the Ryanairs – a mass global transportation at the same cost of a train ticket – they would never have believed it.
'So you never know what we can do with future changes in technology.'
8
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
40 minutes ago
- BBC News
How noise sensitivity disrupts the mind, brain and body
Though noise sensitivity is often dismissed by doctors, it can have long-term effects on our mental and physical health. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. There it was again: the incessant noise from my new upstairs neighbours, evidently still in the process of hanging up pictures or cobbling together new furniture. In my well-insulated building in central Berlin, the noise was well below decibels that would irritate anyone else. But it sent me into a rage. A tight sensation of stress rushed through my body. Even worse was the anxiety: "When will they ever be finished?" That's not the only noise that is bothering me. I notice the soft thudding across my ceilings as people get ready for bed. Somewhere in the building, I hear the high-pitched hum of a vacuum cleaner and the muffled thumping of a washing machine. The neighbour's dachshund yapping for a treat. And don't get me started on the leaf blowers and pressure washers outside. Noise – however slight – breaks my concentration and peace of mind. It is fair to say that I – along with 20-40% of the general population – am noise-sensitive, meaning that I feel more upset and disturbed by noise than the average person. It would be easy to dismiss noise sensitivity as a personality flaw, a symptom of generally being belligerent, whiny, and irritable. But, in recent years, scientists have learned that it has real biological roots. The brains of noise-sensitive people respond differently to sound and some may actually be born that way. What's more, it affects not only people's immediate mood but also their long-term mental and physical health. While there are few easy solutions, being aware of these effects can help noise-sensitive people take action to make their lives more tolerable. "It's been one of those what we might call a wastepaper basket sort of issues… that just gets pushed away by health professionals," says neuroscientist Daniel Shepherd of Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. Only in recent years "have people actually really started to say, right, this is at an experiential level really impacting patients", he adds. "We really need to actually start getting a handle on this." Noise sensitivity isn't a formal medical diagnosis. People can find out if they're noise sensitive by taking questionnaires like the 21-question Weinstein's noise sensitivity scale (which asks, for instance, if you're bothered by people whispering and crinkling sweet wrappers in a movie theatre, if you get mad at people making noise when you're trying to sleep or work, even if the sound of bothers you if you're trying to concentrate.) Noise sensitivity is different from other sound-related conditions like misophonia. This is a specific decreased tolerance to certain sounds, like chewing, throat-clearing, tapping or ticking, which trigger intense feelings of disgust or rage, explains Jennifer Brout, a clinician and the founder of the US-based International Misophonia Research Network. Noise sensitivity is also different from hyperacusis, where people feel pain or extreme discomfort because they perceive sounds more loudly than they actually are. Noise sensitivity, by contrast, is a general reactiveness to all sounds, regardless of how loud they're perceived or how loud they actually are. At the very least, noise-sensitive people find sound disruptive and become annoyed, angry, or even fearful or anxious. "I remember a person describing it like having a mosquito flying around you," Shepherd says. "You just can't not attend to it." For those who are afraid of noise, the condition might make them so stressed that their bodies go into a fight-or-flight response. "Your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure goes up," says Stephen Stansfeld, a psychiatrist and professor emeritus at Queen Mary University of London. Sleep quality can also take a hit. In one 2021 study, researchers tracked the sleeping patterns of 500 adults in China and nighttime noise levels over the course of a week. They found that, while the noise itself didn't affect people's sleep quality, noise-sensitive individuals tended to find their sleep less restorative, rating their sleep as less refreshing and saying they felt moodier and had less energy during the day. Noise exposure has also been linked to a range of long-term health effects, including heart disease and diabetes – and noise-sensitive people may suffer the most from mental health impacts, Stansfeld says. In one 2021 study, Stansfeld and his colleagues surveyed 2,398 men in the Welsh town of Caerphilly who were exposed to different levels of road traffic noise. Those who were noise-sensitive were more likely to have long-term anxiety and depression. While that may be partly because anxious people are more vigilant about their surroundings and therefore more likely to notice noise, it's also possible that being noise sensitive can worsen anxiety. And, one 2023 survey of 1,244 adults living near airports in France found that people severely annoyed by aircraft noise levels – especially some noise-sensitive individuals – were more likely to rate their general health as poor. But why do some people react more negatively to noise than others? Studies on the brains of noise-sensitive people reveal some clues. When Shepherd and his colleagues hooked people up to devices that measured the electrical activity in their brains, those without noise sensitivity only showed heightened activity when the researchers played them threatening sounds. But in noise-sensitive people, "their brains tend to go up the gears irrespective of the sound, whether it's a threatening sound or a non-threatening sound", Shepherd recalls. Both Shepherd and the neuroscientist Elvira Brattico of Denmark's Aarhus University have independently found evidence that this has to do with how the brain filters out information about unimportant sounds. Shepherd's team found evidence that in noise-sensitive people, a specific clump of cells within the medial geniculate nucleus – a relay station for sound information entering the brain – are less efficient at this filtering task compared to the brains of those without the condition. Where most people can "filter this information out and get on with life, those who have noise sensitivity don't do it as easily", he says. This kind of filtering also seems to be important during sleep. While most people show patterns of electrical activity called spindles as they fall asleep, which are thought to be important in getting used to surrounding noise, people with noise-sensitivity have less of them – helping explain why they stay so reactive to sounds that normal people aren't bothered by. How brains end up this way, though, is a mystery. One Finnish study on twins suggests that noise sensitivity is often heritable, so some people might be predisposed to have it from birth. But it's also possible that people living in noisy environments develop sensitivity over time, Brattico says. People with anxiety, schizophrenia and autism are especially likely to develop noise sensitivity. While some people can get it after suffering traumatic brain injuries, for most it's usually something that persists over a lifetime, Stansfeld says. "It is very difficult, as compared to someone who's not noise-sensitive, to actually habituate to sound and actually desensitise to it." The ideal solution, of course, would be to tackle the sources of noise themselves. Urban planners could build quiet inner courtyards for residential buildings, use rubberised asphalt ingredients that reduce traffic noise, or erect sound-diffracting walls around highways and noisy areas like highways. Some cities in Belgium and France have already begun implementing such measures, as well as reducing vehicle speed limits, encouraging bike infrastructure and creating quiet zones in parks and along rivers. While noise is a real cause of health problems, "it's also one which is potentially avoidable", Stansfeld says. But progress is slow, leaving many noise-sensitive people to fend for themselves – for instance by avoiding noisy areas, soundproofing their living spaces or turning to earplugs, earmuffs or noise-cancelling headphones. But these methods often just dampen sounds rather than removing them altogether. "Even quiet noises might be annoying to a noise-sensitive person," Brattico says. More like this:• How traffic noise hurts children's brains• Why noise pollution is hurting your heart• The rise of highly sensitive parents Sometimes, treating underlying conditions like anxiety with medications may help, Stansfeld says. Cognitive behavioural therapy, a kind of talking therapy that centres on managing one's psychological reactions and behaviours, can make sense in settings where people are afraid of noise. "I treated somebody myself with cognitive behaviour therapy, and I think it could be quite helpful," Stansfeld says. Meanwhile, Brattico believes that music therapy with qualified practitioners could also be useful, which involves selecting soothing, soft music that calms people and builds positive associations with sound. For those wanting to try self-soothing, Brattico recommends music with few, soft instruments like piano or harp, such as Renaissance or Baroque chamber music. When even music is annoying, art therapy might help – "something that's relaxing and allows expressions and regulation of emotions", Brattico says. As for myself, it was earplugs, jazz-playing noise-cancelling headphones and a towel wrapped around my head, that eventually helped somewhat. Until the world around me becomes quieter, I can at least try to find some peace in my own mind. -- For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Avoiding these foods could help people lose twice as much weight, study finds
Cooking from scratch and avoiding ultra-processed foods like pre-packaged sandwiches and protein bars could help people lose twice as much weight, a study has found. Ultra-processed food (UPF) is typically high in saturated fat, salt and sugar, contains ingredients you would not find in your kitchen cupboard like emulsifiers and preservatives, and is ready-to-eat or heat. The study published in the journal Nature compared a UPF diet to a minimally processed one, and found avoiding UPFs helped curb food cravings, increased weight loss and improved fat loss. The trial, led by experts at University College London (UCL) and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), involved 55 people who were overweight but otherwise healthy. Half of the participants were given an eight-week diet plan comprising minimally processed foods such as overnight oats, cottage pie and chicken salad cooked from scratch. The other half were given a diet of ready-to-eat protein bars, shop-bought sandwiches and microwave lasagne. Both diets were matched nutritionally and contained the recommended levels of fat, saturated fat, protein, carbohydrates, salt and fibre. After completing one diet for eight weeks, the groups switched. Dr Samuel Dicken, of the UCL centre for obesity research and UCL department of behavioural science and health, said: 'Previous research has linked ultra-processed foods with poor health outcomes. 'But not all ultra-processed foods are inherently unhealthy based on their nutritional profile.' Researchers aimed to find out whether eating more processed foods impacts weight, blood pressure, body composition and food cravings. Results showed those on the minimally processed diet lost twice as much weight (2.06 per cent) compared to the UPF diet (1.05 per cent loss). Those on the UPF diet also did not lose as much fat, researchers said. Dr Dicken explained that although a 2 per cent reduction may not seem like much weight loss, it is a significant amount for eight weeks. 'If we scaled these results up over the course of a year, we'd expect to see a 13 per cent weight reduction in men and a 9 per cent reduction in women on the minimally processed diet, but only a 4 per cent weight reduction in men and 5 per cent in women after the ultra-processed diet,' Dr Dicken said. However, researchers measured other markers like blood pressure, heart rate, liver function, glucose levels and cholesterol but found no significant negative impacts of the UPF diet. Gunter Kuhnle, professor of food science and nutrition at Reading University, who was not involved in the study, told The Independent: 'I think it confirms it is not processing that is important but rather food composition.' He suggests consumers should focus more on composition, such as carbohydrates and fats, rather than on processing. However, those on the UPF diet ate more calories than those on the minimally processed diet. The NHS recommends the average woman should consume around 2,000 calories a day, while the average man should consume 2,500. Participants were given more food than they needed, but those on a minimally processed diet spontaneously had 230 calories less than is recommended and those on the UPF diet had 120 calories less. A questionnaire also revealed those on the minimally processed diet had fewer cravings than people on the diet of ready meals and packaged snacks. Rob Hobson, registered nutritionist and author of Unprocess Your Family Life, who was also not involved in the study, told The Independent: 'The findings support the idea that cutting back on UPFs may help with appetite control and weight regulation and not because UPFs are inherently toxic, but because of how they affect eating behaviour. 'Many are designed to be hyper-palatable, easy to eat quickly, and less satisfying. They don't give us the same satiety signals as minimally processed foods.' Professor Rachel Batterham, senior author of the study, said: 'The best advice to people would be to stick as closely to nutritional guidelines as they can by moderating overall energy intake, limiting intake of salt, sugar and saturated fat, and prioritising high-fibre foods such as fruits, vegetables, pulses and nuts. 'Choosing less processed options such as whole foods and cooking from scratch, rather than ultra-processed, packaged foods or ready meals, is likely to offer additional benefits in terms of body weight, body composition and overall health.'
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Skyrora becomes first UK-based firm to get space launch licence
A Scottish company has become the first UK-based rocket firm to receive a space launch Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licence allows Skyrora to launch from the SaxaVord Spaceport in a future launch is successful, the company could become the first British company to manufacture and launch a rocket into space from the welcomed the news. Both the Edinburgh-based company and the CAA both describing it as a "huge milestone". The license will allow the firm to launch and operate its suborbital rocket Skylark L from the hopes to launch the rocket up to 16 times a year by 2030. A number of companies hope to use SaxaVord in Unst, the northernmost point in the UK, as a launch site for commercial January, German firm Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) was awarded the first launch operator licence allowing it to launch rockets from says Skylark L has the potential to be used for microgravity experiments at a lower cost than an orbital 11m (36ft) tall rocket was produced using components that were 3D-printed in the UK and it is capable of reaching 3.5 times the speed of is hoped that the rocket would reach an altitude of about 310 miles (500km) and then return to Earth, which would involve passing into and out of space. Rob Bishton, the chief executive of the CAA, said: "Granting a home-grown company, Skyrora, its launch licence is a major milestone for our space sector and our nation."Our work as the UK's space regulator is enabling the burgeoning launch industry to safely grow, bringing new jobs and investment with it."Skyrora chief executive Volodymyr Levykin said the journey to getting the license was a "long but ultimately rewarding one".He added: "Becoming the first homegrown company in the UK to receive a vertical launch operator licence is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone at Skyrora."Safety is paramount to us, and so we are grateful to the CAA for its diligence in ensuring any launch activity is held to the highest of standards."Skyrora is proud to be leading efforts that enable launch activity from the UK and we look forward to achieving a reliable commercial launch programme that benefits us all." Scottish Secretary Ian Murray MP called the news "a massive boost to the whole of Scotland and the wider UK's space sector".He added: "I'm very proud that Scotland is at the forefront of such pioneering technology and I look forward to blast off from SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland."The SaxaVord Spaceport is a former RAF radar year, during a test known as a hot-fire, an engine exploded at the resulted in a some damage to the launch platform and completely destroyed the space industry in the UK is estimated to be support tens of thousands of jobs.
