Surrey Space Centre hosts the European Space Agency

Friday 19 March 2010

In 2009 ESA opened a brand new centre at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus near Oxford, the first of its kind in the UK. ESA is inviting collaborations with UK universities through a ‘hub and spoke’ model, and Surrey Space Centre intends to lead this initiative.

ESA Project Manager Martin Ditter explained the core objective behind the new centre is to be ‘different’. They will initially focus research on; Earth Observation, Climate Change and Robotics but ESA is also hoping for ‘disruptive’ and innovative research ideas and commercialisation opportunities from UK academia and industry.

On Tuesday 23 March 2010 the UK Government will report on the development of a UK Space Agency and the level of investment they will make in UK ‘space’ research & development over the coming years.

To coincide with Government recommendations and ESA priorities, Surrey Space Centre is leading the ‘Small Satellites Group’, which comprises the Universities of; Surrey, Reading, Bath, along with Mullard Space Science Laboratory, National Physical Laboratory, National Centre for Earth Observation, SEEDA and industrial partners SSTL and EADS Astrium.

The ‘Small Satellites Group’ will exploit key capabilities and expertise in space engineering across the south east and the UK, to form the premier ‘spoke’ into the Harwell centre, working closely on collaborative research programmes.

The group’s intention is to drive the collective development of end-to-end services, derived from small satellite techniques, to maximise high quality technological capability and deliver new, internationally competitive market opportunities.

ESA visitors enjoyed an impressive lunch at Lakeside with key University staff and were then given a tour of the Space Centre by Dr Vaios Lappas.

Media Enquiries

Peter La, Press Office at the University of Surrey, Tel: +44 (0)1483 689191, or Email mediarelations@surrey.ac.uk