What are orbital data centres (ODCs) and how do they differ from orbital edge computing? How do they solve the bottleneck of transmitting massive volumes of data from space to Earth? How believable is the central premise of the SpaceX IPO, that because space offers unlimited real estate, solar energy and natural radiative cooling it is therefore the future of Earth’s AI computing needs? Why are some experts sceptical and is there a danger that while AI demand is real, the infrastructure market could be a bubble waiting to happen? And why is developing sovereign ODC capabilities so “critical”?

Join Alice and Jason Aspiotis, CEO and co-founder for a European space startup, as they talk about the “net present value” and future potential of ODCs, the lack of a “conviction to pursue something big” in Europe, and the terrifying or intriguing prospect of neuromorphic computing chips that mimic the low-power, high efficiency processing of the human brain.

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Contributors:

Alice Bunn, President of UKspace

Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn

UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Jason Aspiotis, CEO and co-founder for a European space startup

Jason Aspiotis | LinkedIn

Key topics covered:

• Orbital edge computing
• Orbital data centres (ODCs)
• Data bottlenecks
• ODCs as infrastructure
• UK and European sovereign capability
• ISAM (in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing)
• Neuromorphic computing

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Lord Heseltine tells the story of the birth of the European Space Agency. Why post-Apollo, when the US was spending £1.2 billion a year on space, the whole of Europe was spending just £200 million. Why the birth of ESA was driven by the self-interest of three major countries. Why the US general with a $29 billion budget for the Star Wars project wanted to invest in Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Why, the idea that Britain could compete alone with the technologies that were accumulated and available to the American capitalist system was “simply laughable”. Why “being European is not selling out British interests”. And why Margaret Thatcher told him: “If you want to get on and put your budget into this, you can, but you're not getting any of mine."

Join Alice and Lord Heseltine as they pick apart the negotiating contrivances and the wheeling and dealing to circumnavigate “turkeys not voting for Christmas” that ultimately put European space on the map.

Contributors:

Alice Bunn, President of UKspace

Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn

UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Lord Heseltine, Member of the House of Lords

Key topics covered:

• Creation of the European Space Agency (ESA)
• US "Star Wars" program and brain drain
• Geopolitical case for European R&D collaboration
• Impact of Brexit on science and technology

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The idea of 14,000 satellites in low earth orbit sounds pretty scary but in context there’s over a million cars on the road in the UK alone and low earth orbit is a really big 3D space. So, should people be worried about space sustainability? Shouldn’t they just relax and remember there’s loads and loads of space out there?

Or should they still be scared? What happens when satellites do cross paths? If they’re all part of the SpaceX Starlink constellation they’ll talk to each other instantaneously and get out of the way. But what if the contact is with a satellite from another country? Is it fair to say they’re on the equivalent of email or telephone? And what if they do collide? Will it be like the experiment in 2007 when the Chinese fired a missile at a defunct weather satellite? On the one hand, “great shot lads, you’ve hit something moving at 4km per second” but on the other, “you’ve probably caused a millennia worth of debris problems”.

If it’s within our capabilities to move bikes and cars and trains and planes around the world in an ordered fashion, shouldn’t it be well within human capabilities to extend the use of space? Is there a role for the UK in being “the AA” of space and is the UK-New Zealand debris removal agreement a useful step down this road?

Join Alice and Jonners as they talk to Phil Buckley, partner at the Public Service Consultants and a specialist in space sustainability, about the perils and pitfalls of satellite traffic jams and an opportunity that the UK “could be absolutely brilliant at”.

Contributors:

Alice Bunn, President of UKspace

Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn

UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Jonathan Daves, The Karman Line

Jonathan Daves | LinkedIn

Phil Buckley, Partner at the PSC

Phil Buckley | LinkedIn

Key topics covered:

• Space sustainability
• The Kessler effect
• Space debris
• Starlink
• UK-New Zealand agreement
• Space traffic
• The Fengyun weather satellite
• Refuelling
• Servicing

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Why do people in the space sector think they have a comms problem and yet the public at large think space is sexy? Should we stop evangelising about the technology that gets stuff into space rather than the core marketing message? After all, KFC is about the chicken not the trucks that deliver it.

What are the leadership opportunities in the UK from launch in Scotland and what is the “environmental conscience” behind that endeavour? And how did we end up with kids in St Austell working on global lunar space missions on the back of a famous “failure”?

Join Alice, Jess Ratty from Halo Global and John Harrington UK editor of PR Week, as they confront the introspection of space and figure out better ways of confounding British understatement and amazing a world of would-be investors.

Contributors:

Alice Bunn, President of UKspace

Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn

UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Jess Ratty, Founder and Leader, Halo Global

Jess Ratty | LinkedIn

John Harrington, UK Editor, PR Week

John Harrington | LinkedIn

PR Week UK

Key topics covered:

• Communications
• Marketing
• Leadership opportunities
• Saxa Vord launch
• Environment
• Spaceport Cornwall
• Virgin Orbit’s “Start me Up” mission

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With a mind boggling 1.8 million satellites filed for launch before 2030 how are we going to manage the congested and contested realm of space? We know about warfare in space but how about lawfare in space? Who actually owns the moon? More pointedly, who owns the resources of the moon? How useful are the UK’s regulatory frameworks and how do you dispose of a fridge in low earth orbit?

Join Alice, Jonners and international lawyer Joanne Wheeler, “the single powerhouse behind many of the space business successes”, as they mull on the legal challenges of an exponentially growing race for space.

Contributors:

Alice Bunn, President of UKspace

Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn

UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Jonathan Daves, The Karman Line

Jonathan Daves | LinkedIn

Joanne Wheeler, Managing Partner, Alden Legal

Joanne Wheeler | LinkedIn

Key topics covered:

• International law
• Regulatory frameworks
• Moon mining
• Moonrise project
• Space congestion
• Dual use

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How can Britain exploit the “astonishing opportunity” to become a global energy supplier from space? Why is space an engineering problem not a £7 billion physics problem like nuclear fusion? What did Gordon Brown do that transformed the UK film industry and why is this relevant to space? What connects the Crusades, crates of gold, coffee shops, blockchain and space?

Join Alice, Jonners and Mark Garnier MP as they figure out if space investment is big, messy and complicated or actually straightforward. And they argue why the UK Government must get properly involved.

Contributors:

Alice Bunn, President of UKspace

Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn

UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Jonathan Daves, The Karman Line

Jonathan Daves | LinkedIn

Mark Garnier, MP for Wyre Forest

Mark Garnier | LinkedIn

Key topics covered:

• Solar energy
• Nuclear fusion
• Space investment
• Space X
• UK financial sector
• Government role
• Public awareness
• Parliament

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So, we’re flying humans around the moon and bringing them back. But why are we doing it? To build a strategic outpost? To play power games? To do science? And if it's science, isn’t the useful value of resources on the moon a bit opaque? For example, why do we need to mine helium-3 when we can produce it on earth? More problematic, if you’re investing billions of dollars in putting sensitive instruments on the moon and you’ve got good access to light and frozen water, what happens when somebody else comes along and says: “I’d quite like a bit of that as well please”? How quickly does astropolitics become geopolitics?

Join Alice and her guests, Libby Jackson, Head of Space at the Science Museum and Ian Annett, Chair UKSpace Launch Committee, as they debate the value of Artemis II and celebrate the idea of being driven to push boundaries. “We’re human, what can we do?”

Contributors:

Alice Bunn, President of UKspace

Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn

UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Ian Annett, Chair UKSpace Launch Committee

Ian Annett | LinkedIn

Libby Jackson OBE FRAeS, Head of Space, the Science Museum

Libby Jackson OBE FRAeS | LinkedIn

Key topics covered:

• Artemis II
• Apollo missions
• Mining on the moon
• Astropolitics
• Collaboration in space
• Cost of commercial launches
• Security in space
• The lunar economy
• Mars missions
• Understanding evolution
• Kerosene alternatives

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How do we solve population pressure and climate crisis in space? How has GPS allowed us to provide 12% more food globally? How did the UK become a global leader in small satellite manufacture after the British Government said, “there’s no future for the UK satellite industry”? How did Elon Musk turn reusable rockets from science fiction to science fact in less than 20 years? What else are “Elon and Jeff” going to allow us to do? And why is SpaceX still “the elephant in the room”?

Join Alice as she talks to Will Whitehorn, chair of giant space tech investor Seraphim and former president of Virgin Galactic, as they discuss the implications of “The Elon Musk show” and its legacy, “the beginnings of a competitive space industry of scale”.

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Contributors:

Alice Bunn, President of UKspace

Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn

UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Will Whitehorn OBE, Seraphim Space Investment Trust

Will Whitehorn OBE | LinkedIn

Key topics covered:

• UK satellite manufacture
• UK universities
• SpaceX valuation
• Reuseable rockets
• Agricultural management
• Population pressure
• Climate crisis
• Solar power
• Data centres in space
• Industrialising in space

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