Space Industry Networking Returns with New Name and New Locations

Orbit South Coast, our monthly networking event for the region’s space industry, is back with a new name, Orbit South Central, and new ‘roadshow’ format as we transition into the UK’s biggest space cluster, Space South Central.

Up to now, the events all took place at our HQ in the Technopole, Portsmouth, but going forward, Orbit South Central will be held at different locations in Hampshire, Surrey or the Isle of Wight to reflect the area covered by Space South Central.

The first Orbit South Central of 2023, held on Wednesday 25 January, was fully booked and featured presentations from Portia Bircher, the UK Space Agency’s Local Growth Manager, Ed Stevens, Chief Engineer at In-Space Missions and Dr Rob Scott, Co-Director of the Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI).

First up, Dr Rob Scott explained the virtual CEOI partnership between industry and academia involving QinetiQ, University of Leicester, Airbus Defence and Space, and RAL Space. The consortium offer a grant support programme for EO Instrument developers with ~£2m of funding available each year. To date, CEIO instruments, including including FARADAY, HydroGNSS, TRUTHS and CubeMAP, have been on 17 major missions.

Portia Bircher discussed the new UKSA Business Accelerator programme. The first phase has already generated almost £9M in investment for inventors and entrepreneurs looking to develop their innovations. The second phase is now open for applications and details can be found here https://lnkd.in/eSqPXtmy.

Ed Stevens was last up and highlighted In-Space Missions' journey from an exciting new start up company to their acquisition by BAE Systems last year. He also described the lessons learnt during the development and launch of the FARADAY 1 mission which had seven payloads onboard from customers including Airbus, Kleos and Dstl.

SCCoE Centre Manager, Louise Butt, said: “This year is set to be a very exciting one for the region’s thriving space industry.

“We’re looking forward to bringing Orbit South Central to new locations, sharing industry news and knowledge with great speakers, and helping more organisations build on their existing contacts and forge new connections.”

Find out when Orbit South Central is coming to your area and book your place via Eventbrite at bit.ly/OrbitSouthCentral2023.