Coming to you via radio, on video in RTL Play and podcasts I'm delighted to be back with a wonderful array of guests after the summer break.

Filmed on Friday 9th September, we reflect on the life of Queen Elizabeth II, such a long life of dedicated service carried out with quiet grace and dignity. One tweet which struck me personally was that she has reigned for more than a quarter of the existence of the United States.

In a look back at other news, Sasha Kehoe guides us through some of the stories of the week. The energy crisis will affect us all across Europe for many more months. Gazprom has switched off Nordstream 1.

Zelensky has been quoted as saying, "Europe has to pay higher gas prices; we fight the war."

Luxembourg Energy Minister Claude Turmes has set out guidelines of how to reduce energy use which is part of the EU's emergency plan, which sets out that member states must voluntarily save 15% of energy by the end of March next year. There is some good news in terms of energy – more solar energy was produced in the entire EU this summer than ever before. According to the think tank Embeer Climate, 12% of all electricity produced in the EU was solar. Producing that amount of gas would have cost over €29 billion.

Germany has had to backtrack on its nuclear power pledge, keeping two power plants on standby beyond the end of this year, which is a U-turn in policy following the stop of Russian gas supplies.

In positive news, Google maps have launched a sustainable route feature, also available in Luxembourg.

Another energy saving initiative saw Nobel prizewinning physicist urging Italians to save gas by turning it off as they cook pasta, incurring the wrath of chefs who have told him to keep his genius out of the kitchen.

ESRIC-ESA Space Resources Challenge: Moon Prospecting

Rockhal has been turned into a lunar surface, covered in artificial moon dust. It's currently hosting an ESRIC-ESA Space Resources Challenge with contenders from all over the world.

https://gouvernement.lu/en/actualites/toutes_actualites/communiques/2022/03-mars/29-esric-esa-space.html

To talk us through this and much more to do with space resources, I'm joined by Dr. Kathryn Hadler, Director of the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC). https://www.esric.lu/

Dr. Hadler joined ESRIC on 1st April 2022 to lead the development of the centre, advancing scientific discovery and technology development in space resource utilisation. She is a chemical engineer by background with many years of experience in the terrestrial mineral processing sector. Dr. Hadler was a Lecturer in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London from 2011 to 2022.

Dr. Hadler talks about what space resource mining means, and why it's important for space, but also for Earth technology.

Using AR and VR to help First Responders in areas of radiation

Dr. Roderick McCall, Group Leader of the Visualisation and Interaction Research Group at LIST, talks to us about some of his latest research to help First Responders.

Originally from Scotland, Dr. McCall aims to use new technology to improve people’s lives.

Dr. McCall's research focuses on STARRI and RISARX; using AR to train First Responder teams.

https://www.list.lu/en/news/terrific-results-for-the-terriffic-project/

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