ageing

The Environment Agency said that Wessex Water's rising mains are "ageing" and account for many of the company's pollution incidents.

But the university says "its ageing infrastructure means it no longer meets modern standards and requirements."

"There's likely to be a very large underserved population who deserve to have the support they need," said Dr Gavin Stewart, a research fellow at King's College London, who is interested in ageing and autism spectrum disorders.

"Having the right help and support could be a real key factor in ensuring that they're ageing well and I think that everyone is entitles to have the best life that they can."

Already, the UK Space Agency is funding efforts to do this at lower altitudes, and the Americans and the Chinese have shown it's possible to snare ageing hardware even in the kind of high orbit occupied by Skynet-1A.