The global space industry, once considered a low-growth domain of governments and companies with “space heritage” only— is now one of the hottest sectors in tech — especially in the UK. Over 1,500 organizations with a combined income of £17.5 billion are active here today, according to the UK Space Agency.
The World Economic Fund says global satellite launch traffic in low-earth orbit is now 27 times higher than it was 10 years ago. Dealroom figures show that VC funding for spacetech companies reached £2.5 billion in 2021 (although it dropped in 2022). Some new market entrants are using satellite data to improve weather forecasting, vehicle routing, and geospatial intelligence generally. Others are looking to build factories in space, develop new drugs in microgravity, and create space-based solar power systems. (Take a look at the Satellite Applications Catapult website for more examples.)
But as positive as this sounds, more activity in space also raises issues. According to NASA, “In Earth orbit, there are more than 100 million tiny particles of space debris that exceed one millimeter in size.” The risk of damage from “space junk” is increasing. Contention over spectrum, a limited resource, is also growing.
On February 7th 2024 WiTT assembled a panel of experts to discuss these and other trends and issues in SpaceTech. Our speakers provided an introduction to the sector; examined some of the hottest areas of private investment; and offered potential solutions to the issues of debris and sustainability. WiTT Director Yasmeen Majid led the discussion. Our panel included:
• Julia Astley, Mission and Systems Manager at ClearSpace;
• Maureen Haverty, Principal Investor at Seraphim Space; and
• Eloise Trimingham, Space Consultant at Know.Space
You can watch a video of the event on the WiTT YouTube channel, here.
Many thanks to our fantastic speakers and to Sheffield Haworth for hosting.
Chair and Panelist biographies
Panel Chair
Yasmeen Majid, Director, WiTT
Yasmeen Majid is a Director of Women in Telecoms & Technology (WiTT), a networking group for women in the sector. She has 25+ years of transformation and leadership experience in several sectors including Telecoms, Information Technology, Regulatory Licensing, Publishing, Insurance, Higher Education, Pharma and Consultancy.
Most recently, Yasmeen led a transformation of Vodafone’s B2B Cloud & Hosting division followed by an interim role in leading Vodafone’s Global Cloud & Hosting Customer Solutions delivery team.
Previous companies/roles include Direct Line Group (Chief of Staff to COO), Multimap (Head of Change), Verideon (COO), AU-System (Head of Operations), The American University of Paris (Project Director), KPMG Canada, Bell Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Health(Canada).
Yasmeen has always had a passion for sport and has played many team and individual sports over the years. She achieved a #5 ranking in France in squash, played varsity tennis and squash and still enjoys club league squash and tennis albeit at an entirely different level now.
Speakers
Eloise Trimingham
Consultant, know.space
Eloise is a Consultant at know.space, a specialist space economics and strategy consultancy, with a mission to be the source of authoritative economic knowledge for the space sector.
As a space economist, she has carried out numerous projects across the space value chain, for public organisations, notably the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency, as well as private actors. In 2022, know.space were commissioned to carry out the UK Space Agency’s annual Size and Health of the UK Space Industry study, the principal source of information on the UK space industry, for which Eloise developed the economic model. Eloise holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Maureen Haverty
Principal, Seraphim Space
Maureen is Principal at Seraphim Space Manager LLP. Maureen joined the business following a successful career in the Space industry. She was COO at Apollo Fusion, a Space start up that was sold for $145m, where she was responsible for business development, manufacturing and complex programmes. She was also Senior Director of Corporate Development at Astra, a rocket launch company listed on NASDAQ. She has a first-class Batchelor Civil and Environmental Engineering (BE) degree from University College Cork and a PhD in Nuclear Engineering from University of Manchester. Maureen is focused on deal origination, deal execution, portfolio management and fund operations in addition to actively supporting the associated accelerator activities.
Julia Astley
Mission and Systems Engineer, ClearSpace UK
Julia Astley is a Mission and Systems Engineer at ClearSpace UK, based in London, where she has spent the last two years working in early stage mission design for projects involving Active Debris Removal, In-Orbit Refuelling and Life Extension. Prior to joining ClearSpace, Julia worked in satellite operations and systems engineering at OneWeb for more than 3 years. She holds an undergraduate degree in Physics & Maths, and a Masters in Space Science & Engineering from Swansea University and University College London.