I’m not particularly practical.
I can mow a lawn straight-ish.
Top my cars up with fluids.
Change a flat tyre or battery.
Keep my bike on the road.
And that’s probably about it.
Which is why I always find it uplifting to spend time with people who are properly practical.
Like the team at our composites manufacturing facility in Bordon. A small group, working in a very traditional British engineering environment – and doing so with a real sense of industrious camaraderie.
You can picture it.
Lathes.
Ovens.
Autoclaves.
Cutting tables.
This is where metal and composite parts are machined, bonded, etched, cured, prepared and stored – before ending up inside satellites that will orbit around 500 km above the Earth.
High-quality space hardware doesn’t just come from spotless cleanrooms or clever software.
It often comes from skilled hands, proven processes, and people who know how to shape raw materials into something that really matters – usually in modest industrial units on small industrial parks. Little more than sheds, really.
Lovely.
Andrew Greenhalgh 