UK Space Conference
Encyclopedia
The UK Space Conference is an annual conference devoted to space held in the United Kingdom
. The conference hosts the Sir Arthur Clarke Award
prizegiving dinner.
Starting in 2011, the conference will be held at the University of Warwick
in July. Until 2010, the conference was held at Charterhouse School
in Surrey
in March each year. Speakers included British planetary scientists Colin Pillinger
(who was the principal investigator
for the Beagle 2
probe) and Professor John Zarnecki
who was instrumental in the success of the Huygens
probe to Titan
. Speakers also came from outside of the UK including former NASA astronaut and shuttle pilot Joe Engle and former Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey
. The UK space commercial sector was represented with Virgin Galactic
, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
and EADS Astrium
giving presentations, the latter also sponsoring the event.
Lembit Öpik
MP attended the 2008 event, giving a plenary talk
The event also hosts the fly-off of the UKAYRoC student rocket competition
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The conference hosts the Sir Arthur Clarke Award
Sir Arthur Clarke Award
The Sir Arthur Clarke Award is a British award given in recognition of notable contributions to space exploration, particularly British achievements. It is owned by the Space Education Trust and is independent of and separate from . Founded in 2005, the awards are an annual event. They take place...
prizegiving dinner.
Starting in 2011, the conference will be held at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
in July. Until 2010, the conference was held at Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
in March each year. Speakers included British planetary scientists Colin Pillinger
Colin Pillinger
Colin Trevor Pillinger, CBE, is a planetary scientist at the Open University in the UK. He was the principal investigator for the British Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and has done much work studying a group of Martian meteorites.In May 2005 Pillinger was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.-Early...
(who was the principal investigator
Principal investigator
A principal investigator is the lead scientist or engineer for a particular well-defined science project, such as a laboratory study or clinical trial....
for the Beagle 2
Beagle 2
Beagle 2 was an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. All contact with it was lost upon its separation from the Mars Express six days before its scheduled entry into the atmosphere...
probe) and Professor John Zarnecki
John Zarnecki
John C. Zarnecki is an English Sir Arthur Clarke Award winning professor and researcher in space science. Currently working at the Open University since 2000, he was previously a professor and researcher at the University of Kent...
who was instrumental in the success of the Huygens
Huygens
Huygens is a Dutch patronymic surname, meaning "son of Hugo". People with the name Huygens include:People* Constantijn Huygens , Dutch poet and composer...
probe to Titan
Titan (moon)
Titan , or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
. Speakers also came from outside of the UK including former NASA astronaut and shuttle pilot Joe Engle and former Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey
George Abbey
George William Samuel Abbey is a former director of the Johnson Space Center and Fellow in Space Policy at the Baker Institute of Rice University.-Biography:Born in Seattle, Washington, Abbey attended Lincoln High School there...
. The UK space commercial sector was represented with Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...
, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, is a spin-off company of the University of Surrey, now fully owned by EADS Astrium, that builds and operates small satellites. Its satellites began as amateur radio satellites known by the UoSAT name or by an OSCAR designation...
and EADS Astrium
EADS Astrium
Astrium Satellites is one of the three business units of Astrium, a subsidiary of EADS. It is a European space manufacturer involved in the manufacture of spacecraft used for science, Earth observation and telecommunication, as well as the equipment and subsystems used therein and related ground...
giving presentations, the latter also sponsoring the event.
Lembit Öpik
Lembit Öpik
Lembit Öpik is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat in the 2010 General Election...
MP attended the 2008 event, giving a plenary talk
The event also hosts the fly-off of the UKAYRoC student rocket competition