British Science Festival: Fly me to the moon
Friday 18 September 2009
The British Science Festival is one of Europe's largest science festivals. It took place at the University of Surrey from 5-10 September 2009. On 10 September 2009, The "Fly me to the Moon" workshop, organised by Professor Mark Roberts of the Department of Mathematics and Dr Phil Palmer of the Surrey Space Centre, was a huge success.
After several decades of neglect, the Moon is once again an important focus for space exploration. This workshop at the BA Festival of Science was an opportunity to find out how lunar missions are designed using sophisticated new mathematical theory, and how research into novel technologies might radically change the way we send spacecraft to the Moon. The event was sponsored by the astrodynamical EU network AstroNet.
The workshop started with a short welcome from Prof Mark Roberts, followed by four talks:
- From the Earth to the Moon (and beyond) … on a budget
Dr Craig Underwood - Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey - Setting sail for orbit
Professor Colin McInnes - Dept of Mechanical Engineering, University of Strathclyde - The Cassini orbital tour
Professor Carl Murray - School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London - Surfing the interplanetary transport network
Professor Shane Ross - Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
More details can be found on the British Science Festival web pages.
Various newspapers had lively reports on the workshop:
- The Times: Setting sail for orbit
- The Guardian: Setting sail for orbit
- The Times: Surfing the interplanetary transport network