18:00 – The MBed award for the most engious circiut goes to Laurence Stant for liking his device to his phone’s Blue Tooth! Impressive.

16:45 -  Dan Kent from Vega has arrived to deliever his workshop on Satalite operations. People on this workshop will be trying to locate the Death Star from thier earth orbit satalite.

15:45 – MBed workshop well under way now with lots of electronic gizmos making an appearance!

15:40 – Err… big gap here as my laptop broke … again… but we did get the branch summit done. Successful hour of finding out how our enthusiastic branches are getting on and brainstorming lots of projects ideas.

12:10 – Apparently the moon has the biggest impact crater in the solar system on it! it’s 12km deep

12:07 – Dr. Ian Crawford his currently doing his presentation on “The Scientific Case for renewed Robotic
and Human Exploration of the Moon”.  Talking about the evolution of life during the bombardment of the early solar system.

11:51 – Just finished registering everyone – attendance is at 50 but I’ve almost certainly missed some people

11:00 – High altitude ballooning is looking good with a helium balloon floating in the workshop and teams of people hectically drawing plans for asteroid excavation on to big sheets of paper. Even My laptop, which had died has decided to come back to life! Things are looking good at the moment, if we could just find a kettle!

Everyone is here, the kinks have ironed out, and the first workshops are in progress! The UKSEDS November workshop is underway!

One of the teams from the Systems Engineering workshop getting down to designing an asteroid sample return mission.

Students selected by ESA’s Education Office will be reimbursed their conference registration fee and up to a maximum of €300 in travel and accommodation expenses. Sponsorship will be in the form of a single reimbursement after the conference.

Before applying students must visit the conferences page of the ESA Education Portal (www.esa.int/education > Conferences) and:

• Check their eligibility for the programme under the “Sponsorship Conditions” link.
• Familiarize themselves with the content of the “How to Apply” link.

To apply, please visit ESA Education registration system: www.joinspace.org.  The deadline for sponsorship applications is January 4th 2012.

The deadline for submitting abstracts is postponed to 11 Nov 2011 for students only. Student who submitted abstracts before can also apply for ESA sponsorship.

Check http://www.vki.ac.be/CubeSatSymposium/ for details.

(Source: Cem O. Asma, PhD, von Karman Institute, via email)

This facility is one of the most sophisticated and high-quality research centres of its kind in Europe and boasts a 146 m high tower that provides experiments with up to 9.3 s of microgravity.

The deadline to submit the experiment proposals is 13 February 2012.  The selected team will perform its experiment during ESA’s fourth Drop your Thesis! campaign, to be held during the Autumn of 2012.

All the information for this programme can be found at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education/SEMFNY6UXSG_0.html.  For any further information, please do no hesitate to contact us through the e-mail dropyourthesis@esa.int.

(Sources: Dr Javier Ventura-Traveset, ESA, via email; ESA Education News)

If you’re not aware, this year’s UKSEDS workshop will be held at Imperial College London on Saturday the 19^th of November. This is an all day event which is FREE for all to attend.

This all day event will run from 9am to 6:30pm with not one, not even two, but THREE workshop sessions where you’ll get the chance to learn how to run your own high altitude balloon missions, plan and operate space missions and attend an electronics workshops with MBed. A full time table can be found here.
If that wasn’t enough we’re also throwing in a guest talk by Dr Ian Crawford on “The Scientific Case for renewed Robotic and Human Exploration of the Moon”

Registration is now open, please email workshop@ukseds.org to book a place by Monday the 14th of November.

Please note: If you do not book, you will not receive a guest wifi accounts at imperial.

Also please feel free to download the workshop poster from the website to help us advertise the event at your establishment.

Looking forward to seeing you all there, just remember to bring a laptop, stationary, a packed lunch and plenty of ideas and enthusiasm!

• 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

There are still some places left, so please contact us if you would like to come along. Entrance is free, we just ask for a contribution towards the food.

Present at the UK Space Conference (Deadline Extended!)

The competitions to present at the UK Space Conference as a student is still open! One student will be selected to give a 10 minute presentation for each of the parallel sessions. For more details on what is required see the page on the UKSEDS website.

We have decided to give an extra few days for you to bring together an abstract, so are extending the deadline till 18:00 on Monday 23^rd May. Remember your abstract can be anywhere between 100 and 300 words, and can be based on a project you are completing as part of your studies or on an idea, concept or vision you have. More information is available on the website in the FAQ section.

Student Parallel Session

We’re also putting together a student parallel session. This will be something a bit less intimidating where there will be a few talks and then an open discussion about what student want to see happen to the UK Space Industry over the next 20 years. Speakers will be announced soon, but if you’ve never been to a big conference before, this is the ideal session to start you off contributing!

Registrations Open

Just a reminder, you can now register online to attend the 2011 UK Space Conference at www.intellectuk.org/ukspace2011.
There is a reduced price of £30 (£36 Inc VAT) per day for students compared to £70 (£84 Inc VAT) per day for a standard delegate, representing a saving of over 55%. This includes lunch and refreshments throughout the day. Be aware though student places are limited and are on a first come first served basis.

A programme is available on the website highlighting the main plenary speakers, including among others:

• David Willetts (Minister for State for Universities and Science)
• Jean-Jacques Dordain (Director General, European Space Agency)
• David Williams (Chief Executive, UK Space Agency)
• Jonathan Amos (Space Reporter, BBC)
• Sir Martin Sweeting (Executive Chairman, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd)
• George Whitesides (CEO and President, Virgin Galactic)
• Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Director General for Knowledge and Innovation, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)

Attending the Conference on Budget

We realise we’re all poor students, and even at the reduced price it’s a lot of money that you might rather spend down the pub or elsewhere, so we’ve put together a resource on our website on attending the conference on a budget.

It highlights cheap accommodation for those going to both days, public transport links to get to the venue for those without a car and some inexpensive places to acquire breakfast and dinner. All this is available here.

We also have in pipeline the opportunity for a limited number of students to have their delegate fee waived in return for helping with various aspects of the conference. The details for this are still being finalised and will be announced in due course.

Still Not Sure?

If you’ve got any questions you want answering please don’t hesitated to email graeme@ukseds.org to ask.

Speakers include David Willetts, Jean-Jacques Dordain, DG, European Space Agency, David Williams, Chief Executive, UK Space Agency,  Jonathan Amos, Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, George Whitesides, CEO and President, Virgin Galactic and Professor Sir Adrian Smith, Director General, BIS, to name just a few.

Parrallel Sessions are:

• A – Science & Exploration
• B – CubeSat
• C – Consumer Applications
• D – New Horizons
• E – The Business of Space
• F – Environment
• G – Security
• H – Students  
• J – History

Plus its not too late to enter the Student Presentation Competition.

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!