RESTON,
Va., July 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AIAA is
pleased to announce the 2024 AIAA David W. Thompson Lectureship
in Space Commerce is awarded to Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman, Surrey
Satellite Technology, Ltd. (SSTL) and Distinguished Professor,
Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey. The lecture, "Small
Satellites – The Foundation of NewSpace," will be presented
Tuesday, 30 July, 12 p.m. PT, during
2024 ASCEND, 30 July – 1 August, Las Vegas.
Sweeting's lecture will trace 20 years of small satellites'
impact on life on Earth and look toward future developments. The
emergence in the early 2000s of low cost and rapid response, yet
operationally capable small satellites initiated a fundamental
gear-change in the economics of space. Two decades later, small
satellites are mainstream and the basis of mega constellations in
low Earth orbit providing communications and Earth observation
services with the private sector now playing a dominant role.
Recent developments in launchers, both large and small, have
accelerated this trend, often referred to as "NewSpace," enabling
far wider participation by nations and commercial companies. The
next generation of launchers on the horizon will stimulate the next
gear-change in space, with dramatic implications for industry and
society.
In 1979, with a Ph.D. in radio engineering from the
University of Surrey, Sweeting pioneered rapid-response, low-cost,
and highly capable small satellites utilizing modern consumer
electronics to change the economics of space. In 1985, he founded a
university spin-off company, SSTL, that has designed, built,
launched, and operated in orbit over 70 nano-, micro-, and
mini-satellites for customers worldwide providing missions for
communications, Earth observation, space science, and the
demonstration of active space debris removal techniques. Sweeting
was knighted in 2006 by HM the Late Queen and is a Fellow of the
Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Institute
of Physics. He has received numerous international awards, and has
been identified as one of the UK's 20 most influential engineers.
He is regarded as the "father of small satellites" that led to
NewSpace.
This lectureship recognizes a prominent industry leader or
senior management team who has created or grown a space-related
business and generated substantial economic benefits and market
value. It was endowed by Orbital ATK to commemorate the long
and distinguished career of commercial space pioneer, David W. Thompson. The lecture will be delivered
in person, as well as recorded and available on demand.
Registration for 2024 ASCEND is open. Press passes
are available for credentialed media by request.
Contact: Rebecca
Gray, RebeccaG@AIAA.org, 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
AIAA is the world's largest aerospace technical society. With
nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100
corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and
government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space,
and defense. For more information,
visit www.aiaa.org, or follow AIAA
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SOURCE AIAA American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics