If I told you I thought Scotland should have its own space agency, you might say I was a mad rocket. After all, space is a playground for superpowers, isn't it? And thus far, the only Scotsman who has made it to space is a character in Star Trek.
Ask someone to picture a Scottish astronaut and they usually come up with Scotty, scratching his head as he attempts to fix a warp drive with a sonic screwdriver.
So when, last month, the real-life Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield stepped on stage in Edinburgh and told the Association of Space Explorers that he thought Scotland should have our own wee version of Nasa, it was greeted with a smirk.
But his argument was compelling. After all, he said, Canada has no shuttles and no launch pads, but it has a thriving space agency, manned by scientists and engineers who are tapping into the lucrative new markets for space technology. Scotland, too, has talented space scientists, he said, so why not make the next leap?
With a change of mindset, could we see space innovation as part of Scotland's proud heritage of engineering achievement?
In fact, we are one small step closer to that reality, thanks to an announcement this week by Craig Clark. Since 2005, 34-year-old Clark's company, Clyde Space, has been designing and building components for satellites. Now he is preparing to boldly go (sorry) where no Scot has gone before, by launching the first ever fully-Scottish-built satellite.
Two years from now, ScotSat-1 will be launched into lower-earth orbit, 500-600km, most likely from Russia, or a Pacific Island near New Zealand. It may be only very tiny - weighing just 5kg and measure only 30x10x10cm - but it will be more than just a token lump of circuit boards.
"It's got to be something a bit special," says Clark. "We're not just going to put some electronics in box and say: Ooh, we've just launched a satellite'. That's not going to show Scotland in the right light. We want to show what a great engineering nation we are. So it's going to be something that will push the boundaries of technology.
"At the end of the project, we will have a product we'll be able to sell to other people."
Clark has just been awarded a knowledge transfer partnership, which means he will have somebody full-time to design the instrument. "We'll be doing that in partnership with Strathclyde University, with Professor Colin MacInnes, one of leading experts in satellite design in Scotland."
He is now trying to raise £200-£300,000 to create the satellite, which will be built with the help of students from Strathclyde and Glasgow universities, as part of an outreach programme designed to inspire interest in engineering.
"In today's climate, the cream of our kids will go into medicine and law. There's not enough going into engineering. And that's where the real value comes to Scotland - from bright kids having ideas and setting up their own businesses."
Clark sees ScotSat as the start of Scotland's adventure into space. "There is a real opportunity now for Scotland to get involved in space industry," says Clark. "There's a huge market opening to make a lot of money out of space. Virgin Galactic have invested a lot in their space tourism programme. Then there's the telecoms industry, too. In the future, there are going to be more people, not less, using space to communicate."
So, bearing this in mind, should Scotland follow the example of Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Portugal and Belgium - and set up our own space research agency?
"In the last 10 to 15 years it has been moving towards the point where most nations have their own space agency, carrying out scientific research," says Clark. "It's a shame Scotland has taken so long to get in on the act.
"There are not only military reasons to have a space programme. It's a huge commercial opportunity and Scotland should take note.
"But, at the moment, our hands are tied. One of the rules of devolution is Scotland can't have a space programme.
"But if Scotland were independent, I would try to push for that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article