Letter: Moon legacy wasted
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: With reference to your leading article "The empty legacy of the Moon landings" (17 July) I feel, as the daughter of the scientist responsible for a major British contribution to the success of the mission, that much greater benefit could have accrued.
Mr father, Dr Tom Bacon, spent most of his working life on the development of an economically viable fuel cell for the production of electricity without harmful emissions. This technology was brought to such a pitch for Apollo that it was said at the time that the mission could not have succeeded without it.
Despite this we in this country are almost alone among the developed nations in having no fuel-cell technology at work, even though the skills exist and the hardware is available to produce electricity at an efficiency which makes conventional power generation look stupid, and without polluting the environment.
As with so many British inventions, the development has been carried out overseas and we are the last to benefit from it.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments