William has surrounded himself with specialists when coming up with his Prize project for green inventors and community leaders. On top of Sir David Attenborough, UN diplomat Christiana Figueres, or environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, among others, the Duke of Cambridge called in Japanese astronaut and engineer Naoko Yamazaki.

       The second Japanese woman to fly in space in 2010, Ms Yamazaki, 50, was invited to take part in the Earthshot Prize Council and select the contenders for the five Prizes.

       "I'm so pleased to be a part of it," she told People Magazine.

       The astronaut was glad to partake in a project that has "an ambitious goal [uniting] millions of people and resources together to save our planet."

       "We have a global networking of more than 200 global partners of specialists - that kind of networking is very valuable," she said.

       "So I really appreciate Prince William's leadership.

       "I have been so impressed with him getting an inspiration from space exploration."

       Indeed, William got the idea from US President John F. Kennedy's Moonshot initiative back in the 1960s.

       The President wanted American scientists to find a way to send a man to space in record time, which they managed to achieve in 1969.

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       However despite the inspiration, the Duke of Cambridge has recently criticised space trips funded by billionaires for tourism purposes.

       Prince William previously said during a BBC interview that "we need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live."

       However, Ms Yamazaki thinks there are still lessons humanity can learn from these trips.

       "There are so many problems on the ground.

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       "But when we have higher goals, then we can get various innovations, including technology and systems and way of thinking.

       "Those kind of innovations will help the life on Earth.

       "If we can utilise space as a resource to resolve our problems on the ground, it will be helpful."

       It's from space that Naoko Yamazaki realised how easy it would be for humanity to destroy the planet and therefore became more focused on sustainability.

       "The Earth is shining blue in the vastness of darkness.

       "It is very beautiful, but at the same time, I realised it's fragile as well.

       "The layer where the atmosphere is so thin, it's paper thin."