Innovations in technology and business are changing the economics of space, encouraging private corporations to offer space services and deploy resources in orbit. At the same time, nation states, businesses and consumers are increasingly reliant on space services for day-to-day life as well as national security.
This briefing event will introduce recent developments and work from several organisations looking at how technology, services, policy, safety and security will evolve, and present a Report outlining the contribution that Imperial can make to the development of relevant policy. Participating organisations include: Imperial College London, BMT Group, NATO, London Institute of Space Policy and Law (ISPL).
The event will take place online. To register, please email Max: m.swinscow-hall@imperial.ac.uk
Chair:
Professor Deeph Chana, Imperial College London
Co-Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology
Speakers:
Dr Jonathan Eastwood, Imperial College London
Dr. Jonathan Eastwood is Director of the Imperial Space Lab and a senior lecturer in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London. His research interests in space weather include the development of novel magnetometer instrumentation for a range monitoring requirements, most recently for the planned Lagrange L5 mission and the Radcube Cubesat. He is also leading the development of a new generation of global magnetospheric models at Imperial College for improved forecasting of geomagnetically induced currents and extreme radiation belt dynamics. Dr Eastwood is a core-group member of the UK’s Space Environment Impacts Expert Group and has also worked on the economic impact of space weather.
Jonathan Eastwood will introduce the work of Space Lab, which is an Imperial College Network of Excellence bringing together all of the College’s space research and engineering activities in one place. In this talk he will give an overview of Space Lab, the different research capabilities it contains, and summarise recent activity and future plans.
Dr Christoph Beischl, London Institute of Space Policy and Law at IALS, UoL
Christoph is a Research Fellow at London Institute of Space Policy and Law (ISPL), and a Physics Academic Visitor at Imperial. His research focuses on, among others, Space Policy and Law in the Asian region, the UK and Germany, international space cooperation, space terminology and Space Safety. His current long-term project is the creation of the ISPL Dictionary of Space Terminology. He is further a member of the International Institute of Space Law, the German ‘SichTRaum’ space research network and the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). He served as Co-Lead of the SGAC Space Law and Policy Project Group from 2016-2019. He holds a PhD from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, supervised by ISPL. Prior to that, he completed a Magister Artium in Political Science (Major), Law and Modern and Contemporary History (Minors) at the University of Munich, Germany.
Imperial College London (ICL) Space Lab commissioned a three month study by the London Institute of Space Policy and Law (ISPL) into ICL’s potential contribution of evidence based information to the development of UK Space Safety Policy. The Project concluded in March 2020, producing a Final Report and two supporting reports.
This presentation gives an overview of the final report and its findings concerning each of five Space Safety subject areas: Terrestrial Environmental Impacts of Space Activities; Space Debris; Planetary Defence; Space Weather; and Space Traffic Management.
Nick Howes, BMT
Nick is an R&D/Test analyst with sixteen years’ experience working at the cutting edge of Research and Development. Formerly Deputy Director of Kielder Observatory, Sci-Comms for ESA, and development for the SKA Telescope, and Pro-Am Programme Manager for the Faulkes Telescope. Currently test analyst/SME for BMT’s Space R&D team.
Defence departments and commercial organisations around the world are taking an increasing interest in the strategic environment of space. As the training needs of the armed forces first evolved with the introduction of IT systems and now automated systems and new technologies, so will the training needs of the operators in the space domain. With the introduction of more complicated and intelligent assets to an increasingly crowded environment, what lessons can be learnt and transferred to the individuals operating defence and commercial assets in the final frontier. BMT’s global expertise in providing training services into existing defence domains, as well as our independence, uniquely positions us to scan the horizon, identify challenges and review the technology and solutions that can meet future training needs in this unique environment. This talk will discuss BMT’s horizon scanning activities looking at the potential training needs of operators in this domain, and the technology development required to meet it.
Richard Laing, NATO Communications and Information Agency
A retired RAF intelligence officer, Rich has over 20 years’ experience of operations, policy, and strategy formulation prior to joining the NCI Agency in 2019. Working within the Joint Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Support Centre, Rich provides ISR input to multiple projects including the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance capability, the Alliance Future Surveillance Capability and the Alliance use of space services. Following the Alliance declaration of space as an operational domain in 2019, Rich is working as part of a small team within the NCI Agency to consolidate space support activities into the NATO Space Technology Centre.
Following the NATO declaration of space as an operational domain in 2019, the NCI Agency is adapting to ensure that the Alliance space requirements have a focal point that can ensure delivery and resilience today and in the future. The short brief will cover the requirement for the establishment of the NATO Space Technology Centre within the NCI Agency, and outline the interactions with the NATO operational community, Alliance Nations, and space industry.