Membership details are outlined in the Rules & Regulations which can be changed by the committee  at any time (as opposed to the constituion, which requires referenda) but it was felt that this change was sufficiently far reaching that the outgoing committee should seek a mandate from the members to advise the incoming to make the necessary changes. An indicative vote was held at the opening to AGM.

The changes were proposed by the outgoing UKSEDS Treasurer, Damian Rumble – he outlined the motivation for changes as follows:

• Fees, of any value, only act as a barrier for membership – given falling membership and students cutting back on spending this is only going to hinder growth.
• Existing record suggest that total revenue from all fees accounts for about 40% of UKSEDS income, of which Branch fees account for about 25% of this.
• The whole left by removing these fees is estimated at £400 – a figure dwarfed by sponsorship contributions.
• A consequence of this action will result in all members of our branches becoming members by default – boosting numbers, which in turn increases turn out at our events and  encourages wider participation by sponsors -  hence producing a virtuous circle.

There was considerable discussion and excitable chatter by conference goers – during which some points and queries were addressed, specifically concerning the nature of the conference which was previously funded by fees and free for members. Under the new proposals, it’s likely that qualifying members would be charged a fee for the conference, but this would not be any more that previous fee level.

Following discussion, the members voted unaminously to support these proposals. The new committee has now carried out the members wishes and updated the Rules and Regs. But what does this mean for you?

• Upon joining your local UKSEDS affiliated branch, you can apply to join UKSEDS for free.
• Alternatively when your branch committee submits its membership lists to the Secretary of UKSEDS (secretary@ukseds.org) you will be signed up to UKSEDS (you can subsequently opt out if you wish).
• Members who are not members of a branch or are not students will still be required to pay the full student membership fee (£15) or Professional membership fee (£30).
• All members who joined and renewed at this years conference will not be entitled to a refund as theses changes were not law at the time.
• Branches can now advertise ‘free UKSEDS membership’ as part of the fresher fairs campaigns.
• Anyone who would care to take a look can find an updated version of the constitution here.

On behalf of the 2012/13 UKSEDS committee I hope you enjoy your new found financial freedoms that comes from being members of our branches!

Please visit the AGM page for more info on the following positions:

Executive positions

Chair

Vice Chair

Treasurer

Secretary

Officer positions

Events Officer

Web Officer

Public relations Officer

Membership Officer

Projects Officer

Industry Officer

Outreach Officer

IMPORTANT

Nominations for all positions will close at 6pm Saturday 31st March. Speeches and elections will be held on the morning of Sunday 1st April. Candidates will run against re-open nominations (RON) if the position is uncontested . Only in the unlikely event that no nominations are received for a given position will nominations be taken from the floor during the AGM on Sunday.

With just over a month to go until the UKSEDS National Annual Conference we can start taking registrations for this fabulous event.

To re-cap -

• Kent University – 31st March/ 1st April
• Two days of talks on everything from astrobiology, space planes, colonisation, rockets and our most successful projects of the year so far.
• Exhibitions from industry leaders including; HE Space, Vega, AspireSpace and many more!
• UKSEDS AGM – election of next years committee.
• Social fun!

Interested? Sign up on the registration page and join our Facebook event for you tickets and more info. Also keep upto date by following the Ecliptic and the conference home page

Conference information (more coming soon!):

Main

Registration

Venue

Programme

Speakers

Exhibition

Sponsors

Social

AGM

More information will be following shortly, we’ll let you know as soon as registration opens.

The next big event on the UKSEDS calendar is the 23^rd Annual UKSEDS conference. For those who’ve never been, the UKSEDS conference is a weekend-long event with speakers from all areas of the space community, hosted by a different university each year.

We’re now accepting proposals from SEDS branches to be the host, and (hopefully) every branch should have received an email detailing what the proposal should contain, with a couple of winning proposals to give an idea of what we will look for.

The deadline for proposals is 4^th December. So if you’re interested, contact your branch and tell us why your university is the one that should be the lucky hosts. Proposals can be emailed to conference@ukseds.org

Good luck!

• Space systems engineering workshop with Dr Jenny Kingston – how to plan and design your own space missions.
• “The Scientific Case for renewed Robotic and Human Exploration of the Moon” – a talk by Dr Ian Crawford
• Branches summit – a chance to network with colleagues and develop new project ideas.
• MBed workshop – Electronics and integrated chip programming for your projects.
• Spacecraft operations with VEGA and Dan Kent – software training and introduction.
• High Altitude Ballooning with Steve Randall – demonstration of how easy it is to run your own HAB missions.
• Zoe’s birthday – not actually part of the workshop but as we’re making Zoe work on her birthday, we probably should do something to say thanks (for the cake)

Whether you’re in an established branch looking for help or expertise with your projects, or just looking to be inspired by all the exciting things our members get up to, we’ll have something for everything. We especially want to see you if you’re interested in setting up a new branch – just be there with your friends and we’ll be on hand to help you with any and all your queries.  All you’ll need is a laptop, stationary, lunch and plenty of ideas and enthusiasm!

To keep up to date with developments, please add yourself on our facebook event where applicable

We look forward see you all there

UKSEDS Committee 2011/2012

Fun at the last conference!

Limited time offer – get your name in space!

Register now to get your name on orbit! Should the UKSEDS myPocketQub payload be selected for the upcoming UKube-1 UK Space Agency mission, all registrations before the 15th February will have their name printed on a PCB to be flown on the satellite! Go register, now! Click here to register now!

The UKSEDS conference is coming, and it’s coming soon! We’ll be heading up to the Manchester Conference Centre on the 26-27th February 2011. The even better news is, you’re all welcome!

As always we will be running a series of talks over the weekend from the biggest names in space. You can expect speakers from ESA to Astrium, Reaction Engines to HE Space. You’ll find out the latest developments in space exploration and technology across the UK and Europe. You’ll also have the chance to speak with many representatives from UK space industry and academia, one-to-one at the exhibition which will run in parallel. So if you’re looking for placements, graduate courses or jobs, this is a great opportunity to find out what’s out there.

So what do you need to do to register? Simply head on over to the conference minisite where we’ve collated all the information you need to know about the weekend.

You’ll need to register so we know to expect you! Registration includes a year’s UKSEDS membership, and if you’re a member of one of our branches, you’ll get a discounted rate. Register here now!

Once you’re registered head over to the Facebook page to chat with everyone else!

We’re looking forward to seeing you all there in sunny Manchester!

16:30 – Arduinos making music (or noise take your pick) and you can controll them by hand. Awesome. Roger made a red LED imitate human heartbeat

15:30 – The whole place turned into an Arduino workshop the two room now merged that second Labview workshop finished

15:20 – I just meet Bristol branch rep and they are planning a balloon launch experiment, and we will help them to get the funding for their idea. If you are near Bristol and want to get involved contact them!

14:50 – People hacking away on Arduinos. Loads of laptops and blinking LEDs everywhere.

14:39 – Arduino workshop, currently learning about the wearable LilyPad which is a sawable, washable arduino chip!

13:45 – Second LabView hands on session happening now! Also an open discussion is going on about possible future myPocketQub projects.

12:30 – After loads more interesting STK scenarios we break for lunch. Off to the pub! Others stay for the first LabView workshop.

12:15 – Playing more with STK and Q&A. How to fly your aircraft with STK, and what is that UAV doing over Scotland? A live simulation with many 100s of objects, live UAV control and military target identification all in STK.

12:00 – We have a satellite on orbit with communication link to New York. Nice one!

11:50 – Back at the STK workshop the satellite orbit simulation is coming along nicely. People following the instructions on their laptops. STK can use collada models, we put an A380 to space you can also export google sketchup models directly.

11:45 – I just saw the setup for the Labview workshop. Loads of laptops, it looks really exciting, I can’t wait.

11:40 – I just chatted to the Arduino workshop people, and we agreed that Arduinos are the easiest and fastest way to interact software and hardware for your DYI project. They have a small robot for the workshop.

11:35 – STK workshop starting. Free trial license for everyone.

11:30 – Slight change in the program to allow everyone to attend the sessions they want to. Workshop website now updated accordingly.

11:20 – Adruino workshop is being set up. Loads of cool looking hardware and some new Arduino Uno boards from coolcomponents!

11:10 – Tour of the telescope outside. Everything snowy!

tour of the observatory

11:00 -10 min coffee break, I should catch up with people, oh and there are jaffa cakes

10:55 – Live STK demo, you can even model terrain! Even on the Moon, or Mars!

10:45 – STK presentation starts, workshops after this!

10:44 – Labview offers student internships. Considering they do stuff with CERN, NASA and loads of other interesting companies around the globe you might want to get one! Check out their website for details!

10:30 – Live Labview demo. A temperature sensor hacked together in less than a minute. It is very high level, powerfull and easy to use.

10:16 – Labview presentation starts

10:15 – AMSAT deploying ground stations to schools and universities. If you want to join or get a radio license drop us a line.

10:10 – AMSAT launched over 70 satellites to date and they are planning a mission to Mars!

9:46 – AMSAT presentation starts.

9:45 – I arrived late after getting lost in the pretty snowy countryside. Its a nice drive up to the observatory. Sadly I missed Roger and Michael talking, I will ask them to give me an update later.

note: all this from a single perspective, there are loads more going on here, and loads of interesting people to talk to!

The workshop will be a one day affair, sited at the Norman Lockyer Observatory in the beautiful Devon countryside.   The event will be free to attend, though a donation to the NLO is encouraged, however the attendee  will have to cover their own travel & accommodation.  If you would like to attend, drop us a line! We will have a finite number of places available, and also we’d like to gauge interest.  If this event is successful, then we might make it a regular thing (maybe in a location near to you)

The action-packed, hands-on programme will cover a variety of aspects of satellite design and engineering.  On the agenda:

• AGI STK workshop – How do you use AGI’s STK to simulate a cubesat in LEO? How about a mission to Mars? Find out and have a go! A 7-day education licence is available for anyone interested in this. Bring your own laptop!
• National Instruments LabView workshop. We’re building ground station software! How? Find out! Again, bring your own laptop!
• Arduino for noobs (that’s me – chair). Arduino is the open source solution for your electronic hardware desires. We’re using these on our PocketQub satellite project! What does it take to get it working? Find out!
• ‘Ardcore Arduino! We’re going to push the boundaries as far as we can! How can we program an Arduino for use as a ‘virtual satellite payload’? Up for a challenge? Two words: Hell yeah!
• Other stuff: dig a dish, start a SETI group, plan a satellite mission, …

Also, we intend to hold a branches summit.  Those in any one of our branches or affiliated societies are encouraged to attend.  We hope to discuss UKSEDS activities & projects of the future and how our branches can play their part.

Get in touch if you’ve any questions,  etc.  There is, of course, the option to discuss this in the forums.

]]> http://ukseds.org/ukseds-satellite-workshop-branches-summit/feed/ 0 http://ukseds.org/win-a-trip-to-sgc-and-iac-with-the-2010-move-an-asteroid-competition/ http://ukseds.org/win-a-trip-to-sgc-and-iac-with-the-2010-move-an-asteroid-competition/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 09:40:46 +0000 membership@ukseds.org http://ukseds.org/?p=664

SGAC and its Near Earth Object Working Group are happy to announce the third annual Move an Asteroid technical paper competition!

While previous years’ competitions asked contestants how to move an asteroid, this edition of the competition challenges students and young professionals worldwide to come up with ideas for a global asteroid impact early warning system.

The winner will receive a fully paid trip to Prague, Czech Republic to present the findings at the Space Generation Congress and the International Astronautical Congress.  Flights, hotel, and conference registration will be covered.

Submissions are due 30 July, 2010 so don’t delay!