With the space shuttle on the eve of his last mission are British companies at the forefront of innovation for the next wave of space exploration drive

Chris Bridges has set plans for mobile phones in their place. The scientists, based at the Surrey Space Centre, Guildford, prepares to put into orbit around the Earth. Roaming call will never be the same again.

In fact, Bridges 's small satellites, called the beach, a very serious purpose. Its payload, a Nexus 1 contains - like other modern cell phones - some sophisticated miniaturized components: complex sensors for the execution of Google Maps called devices accelerometer that can play with the user electronic games, powerful computing chips and small, long-life batteries .

Bridges wants to examine them, if they perform well in space and hopes to launch its probe after the end of the year. If he succeeds, cell phone components could soon be used as building blocks of a new generation of cut-price satellite, he says.

"The mobile phone industry has spent billions on miniaturization of components," he says. "We want to see if these could be used in satellites. Rather than a fortune on custom-built components for probes, we could use off-the-shelf equipment."

The idea is fascinating, and typical of the ingenious concept for satellite manufacture, from the University of Surrey Space Centre, and its parent company, Surrey Satellite Technology has been made. The two outfits have built more than 30 compact, highly advanced satellite to customers in the past 30 years and last year was an order, a series of 15 satellites for Europe 's navigation system Galileo to build.

Also, the University of Surrey group alone - was recently a space for real bread-winners unveiled for the United Kingdom, with messages that are our out-of-this-world activities now added ? 7.5 billion per year for the economy, while jobs for 25,000 people. Surrey Satellites build innovative spacecraft; universities such as Leicester and Surrey have strong space science and engineering departments, the nation plays a key role in building large European probes such as the Planck telescope, and the associated software and computer companies for their data-handling prestigious know-how.

Last month, NASA released pictures taken by the Messenger probe, the planet Mercury, which supplied the sensors by e2v in Chelmsford, Essex were taken. Meanwhile, last week struck a deal with China for British companies and DMCii Surrey Satellites, high-resolution space ship building to China 's to monitor industrial growth.

This happy state is an encouraging backdrop of the national UK Space Conference, held on Monday, 4th July open offer in Coventry. Certainly a lot of applause, the delegates to the recent developments are found. But in its quieter moments, they will recognize that important questions remain to be clarified: in particular there is concern as we are and wait for improvement of our ongoing efforts - because it's a simple fact that the world 's space industry now at a crossroads. America 's reusable space shuttle will be his last flight in the world this month and then flew back to the same old, expensive consumables rockets, Yuri Gagarin into space.

New ways to get into orbit is now urgent to entrepreneurs to pursue most of them in America, while aerospace engineers are designing smaller and smaller spacecraft to fly on existing launchers. It raises interesting questions for the UK. As a nation, we gave the world Dan Dare, Doctor Who and the stories of Arthur C. Clarke, but in real life, we have a sad record for rockets or astronauts flying until recently. Now we have a second chance to become a space power, a point stressed by Professor Richard Brown, director of the Centre for Future Air-Space Transportation Technology at Strathclyde University.

"The UK has developed innovative and unique technologies, the way we get into the room and use it when we get there could revolutionize," he says. "But we must act, and soon we can either sit on our hands and go as we are under-funded small business -. -. Or we can decide, for once, that the UK engineering has to offer something"

And this is an important point fall for Britain 's efforts are still behind other nations such as France, Germany and Italy in terms of government support. Far more public money will go to support area are committed than in Germany. If Britain is to increase demanded that ? 7.5 billion annual input from space activities to ? 40 billion by the year 2030, as Minister, it must recognize that large government investments are needed. Emma Lord, director of policy for the UK Space Agency remains confident anyway. "There is a distance to go, but the characters are \ very positive," she says.

In fact, there are two basic approaches that can be taken. One is to spacecraft smaller and smaller, and more and more demanding. This is the problem of the cost of satellite launches. These are high because they offer a full three-stage rocket each time you participate in a payload into orbit. The price tag works with around ? 10,000 per kilogram. (For comparison, charges a commercial airliner just a few pounds per kilo.)

"It corresponds to the flying a 747 passenger aircraft from Heathrow to New York and then scrapping the aircraft at the end of the flight is," says UK aerospace engineer Alan Bond, the aviation and aerospace company Reaction Engines, in Culham, Oxfordshire. "The exploitation of space will not be easily extended in this way."

And this is the next real hurdle: finding a place in the same way simple way to access that planes in the sky. "We can not really exploit space until we find a way to find cost down by an order of magnitude," says Professor Brown. But how? And can the UK play a role in that revolution? Brown thinks we can, and refers to Reaction Engines such as the UK 's best hope. It has Skylon, a revolutionary unmanned reusable space plane, which is currently in a proof-of-concept stage, but, it is hoped, will develop the implementation of charges of up to 12 tons into space until 2020.

Skylon will take off like an airplane, cruising in the room can be a charge of up to 12 tons and then off to a landing on a runway like a jet to cut start-up costs of ? 10,000 per kilo to € 1,000 or less. Its secret lies with its hydrogen-powered engines to burn up the oxygen from the atmosphere is like a jet flying at low altitudes and oxygen from an on-board tank when in the room.

It sounds simple, but it has required years of careful design. "The problem about the use of engines at very high speeds, is that it carries the air with incredible speed, about 1 km a second, because the plane flies so fast. The friction between metal and air temperatures raises of about 1,000 C. inside the engine "says Bond.

"We are down to this temperature - and the trick is, Skylon 's use liquid hydrogen as fuel with heat exchangers in addition to the hydrogen tanks, we can cool the incoming super hot air, so we motor temperatures down .. We keep our engines and the craft to an altitude of about 16 miles, about three times as high, that a civilian airliner flying. At this point, where the atmosphere is very thin, the onboard tank of oxygen is turned on and the craft flies like a rocket - and into the orbit ".

Once in the room, Skylon will release its charge - which could be manned capsules - and then return to earth by gently slow down the speed. The craft will rise into the atmosphere "like a balloon," says Bond. "It carries hydrogen as a main fuel and that is very easy. This Skylon not fall like a brick, like the Space Shuttle, and so does not need to be covered in thick, expensive tiles to protect them from the heat of re-entry . We will just use silicon carbide-reinforced glass that is easy to use and easy. Then, after a few days for the changeover, Skylon will be ready to fly again. "

The fast turnaround time and the lack of supplies that slash costs if it is to note that there is still only in planning Skylon as paper, computer graphics and equations. No hardware is not built yet, although its basic principles have been recently tested at the request of the British government, by the European Space Agency, the spaceship is a neat thing - both technologically and economically too.

"Our next step is to build a test machine," says Bond. This is an investment of ? 200 million, which he says has already been promised by the investors. "Then around 2014, we hope to begin construction on the first full-size Skylon. It will cost ? 7.5 billion. There is a tunnel under the English Channel size sum of money. We are for institutional investors looking for all the and are confident about them. This is a commercial enterprise, complete. Skylon After the first craft should fly in space by 2017 and by 2025 it should be there around 30. "

It should Skylon the price for the space by one or two orders of magnitude slash, but it is also clear that other U.S. companies rely on projects to build reusable space planes even though they probably use different technologies. If nothing else, the race is on open space.

But what do we do when we get there? British scientists have once again answers - such as Professor Stephen Sweeney of the University of Surrey 's Department of Physics, which is part of an international group that wants to use the space, is - for its sunshine. "In space, you get almost five times to collect more energy from a strip of photovoltaic cells that are on the ground," he says. "All you have to do is get up, a lot of them out there - and if start-up costs drop by 10 -.. Or 100 times, what is feasible then you can beam the giant orbiting stations, and build up energy to the earth with using lasers, it is safe and environmentally friendly. "

This point is supported by Dr Craig Underwood, of the Surrey Space Centre. "If we are truly open space, is all sorts of things like this is feasible. The great thing is that the UK a chance to be a player."