The 2023 British Interplanetary Society Reinventing Space Conference was held in the Spine, Liverpool on the 11-13 October. Reinventing Space is an international conference and exhibition dedicated to advancing future capabilities in space and highlighting future trends and the date was chosen to coincide with the formation of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) in Liverpool in October 1933.
NSC chairman Bob Morris and NW Space Cluster Manager Alan Cross are both members of the BIS and as well as being part of the organising committee for the event also chaired some of the sessions. The Conference was opened by BIS President Alistair Scott followed by Alan Cross who welcomed all to Liverpool. The themes of the first day’s sessions were Space Technology, Launch and Law, Platforms and Science and finally a UK Session covering the Growing Threat of Grey-Zone Activities in the Space Domain and Disruptive Technology in the Space.
The second day’s first two sessions were on Space Technology, during which Ian Muirhead and Benjamin Kent from Manchester University each presented a paper. During the lunch break poster session Dr Anicho Ogbonnaya, Liverpool Hope University, presented on High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) in New Space. The afternoon’s session on Materials and Science included a presentation by Dr Anne McArdle on the Liverpool University MicroAge Mission. The final session of the day was entitled Technology and covered progress in LEO SAR, Space Control and latest developments at Rolls Royce.
The third day, Friday 13th October was the actual 90th anniversary of the founding of the BIS in Dale Street in Liverpool and the first and keynote presentation was by Bob Parkinson MBE, past President, who described the early days and subsequent events. This was followed by current CEO Simon Feast who talked about the future and the next 90 years. Balazs Slezak presentation “the iPhone Moment for Space Entrepreneurship” was about the dramatic changes and advances happening now in the industry. GNOSIS and Space Sustainability was described by Katherine Courtney followed by Griff Ingram who covered the BIS and Astra Carta.
The third ‘Beyond the Moon Symposium’ included presentations on Ethics in Extraterrestial Nanotechnology, The Human Spaceship, Analysis of Martian Habitats, The Economic and Logistical Drives for the Settlement of Space, Space Elevator, Interplanetary Fusion Powered Spaceships, The 50th Anniversary of Daedalus and an Update and Project Conclusion on Project Icarus, that was the follow up BIS interstellar spaceship design project. Richard Soilleux then chaired a panel of Bob Parkinson, Michael Lamontagne, Helen Schell, Mark Hempsell, Nina Kojima, Sophie Bywater and Peter Robinson who discussed ‘Humanity’s Future in Space’.
The BIS NextGen Network is a free community that aims to connect, inspire and empower students and young professionals in the UK Space Sector and they had parallel talks and workshops happening throughout the afternoon. At the end of the day Swetha Kotichintala gave a brief summary of the event.
Finally the conference was closed by Alistair Scott who reminded everyone of the details for the evening’s Gala Dinner.
The spectacular Gala Dinner, also held in the Spine, was a celebration of the last 90 years of the British Interplanetary Society and also the award ceremony for the Sir Arthur Clarke Awards. The ‘Arthurs’ have been presented annually since 2005 and recognise both teams and individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to Space. Categories include Space achievement for industry, academia, student, education and outreach, media, broadcast and written, Lifetime achievement and International achievement. The public nominations are judged by a panel of senior space representatives.
The Arthur Award winners
Details of all the winners can be seen on the BIS website www.bis-space.com
For further information on the above or the Space Industry generally contact bob.morris@thensc-uk.com