Airbus in Broughton, Cheshire was the venue for the last North West Space Cluster meeting of 2024. The event was held in the Airbus Wings Club on December 12th and was a joint Space Wales and North West Space Cluster event in the morning and an Aerospace Wales meeting in the afternoon. Members of the three groups were able to attend either or both meetings and many did so.
John Whalley, CEO Aerospace Wales, welcomed everyone and briefly described some major Space Wales events and projects such as the upcoming launch of the Space Forge satellite Forgestar-1 and the Snowdonia Space Centre developments.
Given the mix of attendees Rosie Cane, Space Wales Cluster Development Manager, and then Alan Cross, North West Space Cluster Development Manager, summarised the current status of the regions, recent and future developments including events.
Rosie Cane described the close relationship that the Space Wales Cluster has with Welsh Government, Paul James from Wesh Government was in attendance, and that sustainability was at the heart of what they aim to do. There are over one hundred companies and organisations employing more than two thousand people working in the sector in Wales. Many aspects of Space were covered by the sector and examples included Qioptiq based nearby in North Wales whose work ranged from solar panel cover glass to instruments such as the Enfys spectrometer on the ESA ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover. Swansea University was involved in Space Solar developments and Cardiff University developed instrumentation. Facilities being developed included the National Microgravity Centre being built by Space Forge in Cardiff, the Space Technology Test Centre in Llanbedr and the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) in Pembrokeshire.
Describing the North West Space sector Alan Cross listed some of the almost two hundred companies and organisations employing over two thousand three hundred people in the region. Facilities included the ESA Tribology Laboratory, Jodrell Bank and the Hartree Centre in Daresbury. He covered the ongoing work developing the Space Partnerships, Power4Space and the recent Beyond Earth bid.
Two minute lightening pitches were then given by attendees including Sam White of Amentum, Adam Harper of Hosokawa, Adrian Quayle of Flintloque, Duncan King of Adept Fasteners, Ian Thomas of Fatigue Management Systems, Aidan Wigham of MSP, Dominic Hopwood of SHD Composite Materials, Wayne Baker of Qioptiq, Adam Paigge of Supernova Labs, Alex Macleod of the IET, Emmanuel Dupuis of STFC, Litah Atans of Cloud Aero Training, Space Technology Consultant Mark Williamson, Mick Salt TUV SUD Nuclear Technologies, George Titley of Light Coatings, Ed Trollope from EUMETSAT, Gavin Cox of Global Invacom, Simon Booth of DSV Air and Sea, Barry Williams of Glyndwr Innovations, Sophie Addison of Addison Group, Ray Stott of Space Specialists and Marcus Rutherford of 2Dheat Ltd.
Topics covered included Microgravity Test Facilities, Materials Chemistry and Composite Materials, Radiation Testing and Shielding, Specialised Coatings, Transportation and Shipping, Groundstation Equipment, Space Equipment Design and Manufacture, Space Insurance, Space Publications, Business Incubation and Help, SpacePlanes, Consultancy, Training and Coaching, Components and Infrared Smart Heating Panels.
Looking to the future Bob Morris also took the opportunity to encourage attendees to think about encouraging and helping local student Space societies and offering internships.
Following a networking activity and break Omar Khorshid, CEO of MLS Connectivity Solutions gave the keynote presentation. He explained the global lack of connectivity in many areas both geographical and sector based and how technology can address this. MLS, based at OpTIC in St Asaph, provides advanced satellite based AI powered IoT to connect and enhance operations across various sectors. The company has wide experience in various hi-tech domains including earth observation, 5G connectivity and remote sensing. It provides a satellite gateway that allows seamless reliable communications between different satellite networks, terrestrial networks and IoT devices even in remote areas. An AI Data Management System is used to process the large volumes of data and enhance the decision making process.
The company also provide specialised remote sensing devices for different sectors including Agriculture, Energy and Logistics.
The Space meeting formally ended with lunch that provided another great opportunity for networking.
The Aerospace Wales meeting was chaired by Rachel Blackburn, Director Aerospace Wales, who gave an overview of the recent events including a trip to China.
Helen Swift, Airbus UK Public Affairs Manager, reflected on the implications of the UK Governments’s Industrial Strategy for Aerospace and Regional Growth. Barry Kirby, KSharp MD, talked about the importance of a human centred approach in developing systems and products. Darren Reynolds, Airbus & Unite, reminded everyone of the issue of metal health and the risk of overworking and Hannah Garratt, Head of Airbus Digital Academy, explained the role of human factors in digital transformation.
Following a break Sharan Kaur and Rob Weatherhead from AMRC talked about Industry 5.0 and robotics. The last presentation was entitled Xplore! – Helping to shape the next generation and was given by Katie Williams the Business Development Manager. Xplore! is a Science Discovery Centre based in Wrexham aimed at children from three to thirteen years old and houses eighty five interactive exhibits all STEM based. It holds a Science Festival in August and runs forty different curriculum related activities.
John Whalley formally ended the day by thanking the organisers and hosts for such a varied and interesting agenda and speakers. He then provided his thoughts on the day and prompted attendees to do so. Finally he invited everyone to remain for the next hour or so to enjoy the refreshments available and continue informal discussions.
“As an organisation we cover the North West of England and North Wales and today illustrated just how the Space industry has developed here in the last few years. It was great to see so many members present and stay for the Aerospace meeting and also the valuable connections that they were able to make. Another really interesting and useful event.” Bob Morris, NSC Chairman.