The Manchester Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (ManSEDS) Innovation in Space Festival was held on the 27th March on the Manchester University campus and attracted over a hundred students, academics and industry personnel. This year for the first time the Festival included presentations from industry and a small exhibition.
ManSEDS is one of the largest SEDS Groups in the country and has previously won National and International competitions.
The Festival was opened by the ManSEDS President, Zuzanna Nagadowska. Bob Morris, NSC, described the current state of the Space Industry with specific reference to the latest developments in the UK and the sort of projects that the students could be working on in the future. This was followed by David Johnson from AMSAT-UK on their work from ground stations to orbiting satellites. Xavier Geneste from the European Space Agency talked about co-operation in Space, the day to day working of a space engineer and some of the latest technical developments. Mitch Hunter-Scullion talked not only about his Asteroid Mining Corporation and their plans but also about entrepreneurship. Finally Alistair Scott, British Interplanetary Society gave a history of the influence the Society has had and continues to have in the industry and the relevance and support it provides for students.
There followed a break for networking and to allow attendees to look round the exhibition. The exhibitors included the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, The Institute of Physics, Fossa Systems, Micross Components, The British Interplanetary Society and the Northern Space Consortium, manned by Board Member Will Chambers.
The presentations resumed with the ManSEDS project leaders, Matthew Liu, Joshua Green, James Lockwood and Alex Shelly describing the various projects that the group is working on viz Rovers including the European Rover Challenge, High Altitude Balloon, Rocketry and CanSat.
Finally all the guest speakers participated in a panel session chaired by ManSEDS member Zachary Madin.
“This was a really interesting event, with a variety of topics and it’s great to see the enthusiasm and effort that the students put into it and ManSEDS generally and we wish them every success in this year’s competitions. Being a student run group they would welcome any support or sponsorship from local companies. The Northern Space Consortium fully supports ManSEDS and we are keen to see such groups in all our region’s universities” Bob Morris, NSC.
For more information on SEDS see www.ukseds.org or contact bob.morris@thensc-uk.com