Professor Sir Martin Sweeting

Biography

Sir Martin studied for his PhD in the late 70's on shortwave antennas but, with a passion for space and in his spare time,  he built a tracking station at the University to receive images from US & Soviet weather  satellites and a command station for amateur radio satellites. In 1979, he started designing and building UoSAT-1, the first modern 70 kg ‘microsatellite’, and persuaded NASA to launch ‘piggyback’ on a DELTA rocket. UoSAT-1 was controlled in orbit after launch in 1981 from the groundstation on the Surrey campus and its transmissions were monitored by thousands of radio amateurs and schools worldwide. Following the launch of the University’s second satellite (UoSAT-2) in 1984, Martin vigorously pursued research funding to develop this new concept of ‘microsatellites’ to meet emerging applications in satellite communications and Earth observation. With modest research funding, he formed a young and dynamic research group that developed more sophisticated and capable satellite subsystems and payloads.

Recognising that research funding alone would be insufficient to enable the team to build a series of microsatellites, Sir Martin launched the University owned spin-off company, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in 1985 to exploit the commercial potential of Surrey’s small –  initially with 4 employees and a capital of just £100.

In the 1990’s, SSTL’s business developed a unique “Know-How Transfer and Training” (KHTT) programme where a combination of academic and hands-on technical training was provided to young engineers and scientists from countries who wanted to take their first steps into space – but on an affordable budget. Working together as a team with Surrey engineers to build a satellite, each of our international partners were able to master the complex and diverse skills required to design, build, launch, and operate a satellite once in orbit. Surrey has since provided 14 highly successful international programmes and has trained the nucleus of staff that formed 5 new space agencies!  Importantly, these KHTT programmes with SSTL fuelled the research activity in the Surrey Space Centre (SSC) academic team to develop ever more capable yet affordable microsatellites. A KHTT programme has recently been completed with Nigeria resulting in the launch of NigeriaSat-2 and Nx in August 2011 and currently a team from Kazakhstan is at SSTL building an EO satellite for launch in 2013.

Around the year 2000, following landmark UoSAT-12 minisatellite and SNAP-1 nanosatellite demonstration missions, small satellites made the transition from being a research novelty to becoming a very powerful provider of operational  missions. This transition was demonstrated first by the creation by SSTL of the international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) of Earth observation microsatellites – building medium resolution microsatellites for Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey , Spain & UK.  SSTL’s capabilities grew rapidly and is currently manufacturing 8 small satellite for launch in 2012-13, alongside 22 navigation payloads for the Galileo Full Operational Constellation for ESA/EC and a new constellation of 3 high-resolution (1-metre) Earth Observation minisatellites with capacity leased to customers through a novel business model. A low-cost medium-resolution SAR minisatellites (NovaSAR) has recently commenced, supported by the UK government and planned to be ready for launch in 2014.

SSTL has grown now to 465 staff with an annual turnover of £100M and exports exceeding £600M. In early 2009, the University sold its shareholding in SSTL to EADS Astrium NV and today the Company has a larger order book than at any time in its past.

The Surrey Space Centre has similarly expanded to 90 researchers working across a wide range of multi-disciplinary space topics, with very close links to both SSTL and ASTRIUM for the sponsorship and exploitation of its research – demonstrating the real synergy of academic research and commercial exploitation.

In recognition of his pioneering work on cost-effective spacecraft engineering, Sir Martin was appointed OBE in 1996 and awarded a Knighthood in the Queen's New Year's Honours list in 2002.. More recently Sir Martin was awarded the Royal Institute of Navigation Gold Medal in recognition of the successful GIOVE-A mission for the European Galileo system, awarded the Sir Arthur Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award and named as one of the ‘Top Ten Great Britons” in 2008. In 2010, Sir Martin was awarded the Faraday Medal by the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and an Elektra Lifetime Achievement Award by the European Electronics Industry.  In March 2012, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Design – presented by HRH Duke of Edinburgh.

Sir Martin is currently active in a number of external bodies:

• UK Space Leadership Council
• UK Government Office for Science, Foreign Office Review Committee  
• Royal Academy of Engineering International Committee
• Chairman of the Board of Trustees, National Space Centre, Leicester    
• Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Radio Communications Foundation
• Chairman of the International Astronautical Federation Honours & Awards Committee
• Chairman of AMSAT-UK

Publications