Space Situational Awareness

Sputnik 1 was launched in October 1957. At the time it was an extraordinary achievement.

Sixty-five years later we are able to launch 100 objects into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in one go and there are something like 5,000 active satellites and many other pieces of defunct hardware orbiting our planet.

Launch costs have plummeted and so it is feasible for many organisations to launch their own satellites.

The development of technology is such that suitcase-sized satellites can now provide useful functionality.

This talk will discuss how we track these objects using radar and optical techniques and will cover some of the risks of the current free-for-all.

The problem now extends much further than LEO with the first known uncontrolled impact of a rocket tank on the Moon earlier this year.

Refreshments will be available before the talk from 18:00.

Book your FREE place:
https://events.theiet.org/events/space-situational-awareness/

Nick James is an internationally recognised engineer in the field of high-performance space tracking and communications and works for BAE Systems in Chelmsford. He was the chief designer of the IFMS system which was used as the primary means of communicating with and tracking ESA's deep-space spacecraft in the period 2001-2016 and is currently the lead technical officer for its successor programme, the TTCP. Nick is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Chartered Engineer.

Outside of his professional role Nick is a STEM ambassador, an author of astronomy books and a prolific science communicator with many publications and public lectures given in the UK and internationally.

Book your FREE place:
https://events.theiet.org/events/space-situational-awareness/