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Type
Lecture

The Shetland Space Centre Development

Event organised by ICE

Date
25 November 2024
Time
17:30 - 19:30 GMT
Location
Robert Gordon University 
Sir Ian Wood Building – Room N204
Garthdee House
Garthdee Road
Aberdeen, AB10 7AQ
United Kingdom

This event has now ended

Overview

SaxaVord Spaceport is located on the island of Unst, Shetland, the UK's most northerly location. It is the first fully licensed vertical launch Spaceport in Europe and is preparing for the first orbital test flight in 2025 at its Lamba Ness site.

The site has secured Spaceport and Range licences from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for the developing site, which is designed for small rockets delivering small satellite payloads into low earth orbit.

The ground station network will consist of an array of 1.5m to 3.7m antennas supporting satellite operations in low earth polar and sun-synchronous orbits. The antennas will operate in a number of frequency bands ranging from UHF/VHF to S, X and Ka bands. The island will also offer ground station hosting services for third party networks which need connectivity, power and pad facilities.

This presentation will give an overview of the project from conception up to where it is today including a review of the physical infrastructure.

Speaker

Scott Hammond

Scott Hammond

SaxaVord Spaceport

director and deputy chief executive officer

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Scott Hammond

Scott Hammond is a highly qualified former RAF fast jet and commercial airline pilot. As a qualified weapons instructor he was responsible for teaching RAF aircrew of all ranks. He assisted Thales by running courses for RAF aircrew at RAF Lossiemouth while also being a reserve services officer.

Scott has also worked in the oil industry, having been headhunted as part of an initiative by the industry to recruit RAF aircrew as consultants to train operators on the command-and-control systems for offshore drilling packages.

Scott is the operations director for SaxaVord Spaceport and is tasked with negotiating partnership arrangements, government contracts and building the space station in Shetland.

Scott has a keen understanding of the technical detail that is required to ensure the site becomes fully operational.

For more information please contact:

Lyndsey Pollock

Sustainable Development Goals: