ESA showcases UK space success
British contributions to Europe’s ambitious space endeavours were in the spotlight this week, as a national space conference coincided with celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the European Space Agency's facility in the UK.
These two events created a unique week-long opportunity to recognise the UK's outstanding achievements in space and explore potential for future growth.
The UK Space Conference, held from 16 to 17 July in Manchester, was attended by more than a thousand space professionals, decision-makers and students from the UK, Europe and beyond.
ESA’s presence was led by its Director General Josef Aschbacher, who was joined by British ESA astronauts, as well as experts working on activities such as the upcoming space weather forecasting mission Vigil, and Earth observation and climate action programmes.
Supercharging the economy
Josef Aschbacher participated in the conference’s opening plenary session, focusing on the potential of space to supercharge the British economy and highlighting the strong contributions of the UK to several critical ESA programmes.
Continuing this theme, ESA’s stand – which was located in the centre of the main conference hall – was surrounded by several innovative companies with close ties to the agency, including launch services firm Orbex, radio frequency technology specialist Filtronic, and space technology company Open Cosmos.
Presenting ESA’s upcoming Vigil mission
During the conference, the team behind ESA’s upcoming Vigil mission demonstrated how the satellite will transform Europe’s ability to forecast and mitigate space weather following its planned launch in 2031.
Space weather events – such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections, solar wind and geomagnetic storms – have the potential to disrupt the complex systems and infrastructure on which society relies, including power grids and satellite navigation.
Addressing the potentially severe consequences of extreme solar activity, Vigil will use its vantage point in deep space to accelerate the provision of actionable space weather forecasts – providing advance warning to support the mitigation of such an event.
Airbus UK is the prime contractor for the spacecraft and several of its instruments are being developed under the leadership of British institutes, including its magnetometer and its plasma analyser.
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Astronauts inspire kids about space
Student outreach was a key theme at the UK Space Conference – and the three British members of the ESA astronaut class of 2022, as well as former British ESA astronaut Tim Peake, joined the event to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and space experts.
In total, around 300 kids from local schools participated in the conference’s outreach activities – which took place in front of a giant inflatable sphere illuminated from within to create a striking representation of our closest star.
Across several sessions, Tim Peake, British ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan and astronaut reserves Meganne Christian and John McFall recounted their unique experiences of life as an ESA astronaut – and took questions on the challenges of living and working in Earth orbit, the possibility of extraterrestrial life, the importance of space for people on Earth, and much more.
Using space data for climate action
ESA’s climate team, based at the agency’s facility in the UK, attended the event to demonstrate how Earth observing satellites are supporting global climate action.
The team presented a 2.5 metre globe displaying datasets, generated through ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, that reveal the long-term changes impacting planet Earth.
These datasets consist of essential climate variables, such as clouds, aerosols and biomass, land and sea surface temperatures, the antarctica ice sheet and lakes. For those who didn’t attend the conference, ESA’s interactive climate from space web app allows you to explore climate evolution from a satellite’s viewpoint.
The team also highlighted two recently launched Earth observing missions – named EarthCARE and Biomass – that were developed with strong contributions from the UK.
Celebrating 10 years of ECSAT
The day before the UK Space Conference began, ESA hosted an event at its European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT), located on the Harwell campus in Oxfordshire, to mark 10 years since the flags were first raised at the establishment.
The celebration was attended by Josef Aschbacher along with ECSAT’s head of establishment Laurent Jaffart, ECSAT’s develop manager Dave Parker, and representatives from the UK Space Agency – along with the establishment’s workforce.
It included demonstrations from several of ECSAT’s cutting-edge facilities, covering climate action, space-enabled 5G and exploration. The demos were followed by visits to two ESA-support companies on Harwell campus: Oxford Space Systems, which manufactures deployable antennas for space; and Astroscale UK, an in-orbit servicing and space debris removal specialist.
You can read more about ECSAT’s contributions to European space activities and ESA’s long-term plan for the establishment here.
