Transcriber: Judith Matz Reviewer: Mile Živković
Let's make space personal!
For you, and you, and you, and you... and you!
It's easy!
Just connect with your mobile phone to your own personal nano-satellite.
Simple. No big deal.
Living as we do in the 21st century, we all have the mandate
of pushing the limitations of technology and of scientific breakthrough
through the adjacent possible.
And that means that boundaries grow as we explore them,
and this whole new possibility of space opens new dimensions for us.
That's why we really have the idea to instantly connect you all to space.
And we have identified the following five key points of personalization,
because we believe
space and personalization is really a human experience.
So number one:
You will have instant access to your own nano-satellite.
Number two: You will have ownership of the nano-satellite,
so it means you can buy it.
Number three: We image an unprecedented large-area coverage.
Number four: The applications that you will be able to access
will be related to your own personal life and to your personal situation.
And perhaps the most important point is number five:
That you will get motivation, feelings, excitement,
as you can view the Earth from space.
And we believe that your mobile phone is the key tool to connect to space,
so we have the model that the mobile phone is your direct interface to space.
Or is there anyone in the audience who does not have a mobile phone?
Okay, great! You all have mobile phones!
So you and the other 7.1 billion people on planet Earth
can all be connected to space.
Since in 2014, the number of mobile phones
is supposed to exceed the world's population,
because there's really an explosion of mobile phones,
so that's really amazing.
That's why we have the plan to make space personal for you,
to install a constellation of 88 nano-satellites for Earth-imaging.
Actually, the conventional satellites for communication
are the size of a school bus.
That's about a half of this room,
so you really see the difference between that and this nano-satellite.
We believe that these nano-satellites are the new sci-tech of space systems
that is enabled by the miniaturization of micro-components
and also commercial off-the-shelf components,
so we can use the components in this phone in this 1:1 model.
Space is very close to us.
It starts at just 100 km, that's where the Karman line is,
that is the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
And this constellation will be operating between 200 and 400 km altitude,
so that's quite low, and actually very close to the Earth.
It will enable novel applications, like augmented reality,
but also improve traditional applications, like forest fire monitoring.
And I want to give you a prototype application,
so for example, with the data that the satellite generates,
we can make a 3D temperature map of Australia,
and we can locally find the temperatures, and once the temperature hits 300°C,
that's when wood starts to burst into flames, so it looks like this,
an instant alert can be sent to the fire brigade,
and they can see on their mobile phones
that they have to go and extinguish the fire immediately.
But also you yourselves can see on your phone:
The fire is there, it reaches this far: Where are my loved ones?
Just three days ago, I went to Perth, Western Australia,
and I heard that there was this "Stormageddon" in the Netherlands,
this gigantic storm,
and I would have loved to check on my phone:
was my car safe or did some tree fall into it?
This could also be an application.
But the biggest possible application, I believe, is augmented reality.
So you could imagine yourself virtually present at the most exciting places.
So you could go on a safari, or you could go mountaineering,
so you could imagine you could climb the highest mountains virtually,
like Mount Everest.
And this is Patrick Hollingworth, I met him in Australia just four days ago,
and he actually climbed Mount Everest.
And it would be of great value to make a virtual climb before the real climb,
to prepare for the real expedition,
so that you can really optimize your choices,
and are not immediately on the border of life or death,
because the pressure on the mountain is just one third of Earth atmosphere.
And that's why this 88 nano-satellite constellation
will change your view of the Earth.
It will give you an executive power to be present at any place at any time.
We have really confirmed this vision with an astronaut,
so this is Leroy Chiao, and he spent 229 days in space.
I met him at the International Astronautical Congress three weeks ago,
this was in Beijing, in China,
and he wrote a personal message, especially for this audience,
confirming this vision,
and he would like you to experience the same as he did in space.
"The experience of space flight is a life-changing event.
And the view of the Earth from low-Earth orbit
is what leaves the biggest impression.
During one of my space walks, I was facing straight down,
I had no view of the spacecraft.
So I felt like a satellite flying over the Earth.
While I was watching the continents and oceans roll by,
I was struck by the beauty and peace instilled.
If all world leaders could have this experience,
maybe we would have less conflict on our planet."
This is my call today, to this audience, to join the new race for space!
Thank you.
(Applause)