The University of Southampton is proud to announce the launch of the new Southampton Space Institute (SSI), which is dedicated to harnessing the world-leading research being carried out at the University of Southampton for enriching the space ecosystem and keeping the UK at the forefront of the global space industry.

The Southampton Space Institute will support government plans to develop Britain’s fast-growing space sector, which is worth £17billion every year.

Building on our 65-year heritage of education and research in space science, aeronautics and astronautics, the institute will bring together the expertise of world-renowned research groups and facilities at the University to interact with government agencies and industry, driving the development of new space technology and conversations around policy and space sustainability.

Our people

The management team of Southampton Space Institute:

• Professor Matt Middleton, Director of the Southampton Space Institute; Deputy Head of School (Education) in the School of Physics and Astronomy. Matthew leads a team developing new ways to study black holes.
• Professor Simon Cox, Head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Simon works on computational tools, technologies and platforms that solve interdisciplinary engineering and science problems.
• Professor Mark Sullivan, Associate Dean for the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Mark leads a supernova research group in the School of Physics and Astronomy.

The SSI draws on the expertise of many groups including those working in the fields of engineering, aeronautics and astronautics, space weather, artificial intelligence, risk and resilience, and biomedicine in space.

Professor Matt Middleton said:

The UK space industry is now supporting around 50,000 jobs and contributing billions to our economy. It needs the expertise of a university like Southampton to train the next generation, create new jobs and companies, and ensure that space is sustainable in the long term.

We will be drawing on our expertise in electronics, fundamental science, astronautics, artificial intelligence and many others, to enrich the UK space industry and support the national space strategy.

Southampton’s established international reputation for space training and research will drive the success of the new Institute, said UK space policy expert and former European Space Agency exploration director and UKSA CEO Professor David Parker .

Prof Parker, a Southampton alumnus who worked with Prof Middleton to set up the Institute, added:

Our vision is to drive sustainable, local and national economic growth by becoming one of the top UK universities for space education, novel space science, technology, and applications of space data here on Earth.

The University has some unique strengths, and we are working on exciting initiatives that will come to fruition across the next few years – watch this space.

Scientists at the University were recently awarded more than a million pounds through the UK Space Agency’s national space innovation programme.

They will use the funding to develop a plasma torch system, simulating the extreme thermal conditions spacecraft face during re-entry, as well as a sustainable water-based propulsion system for satellites.

The new Institute is working with the UK’s largest regional space cluster, Space South Central, which connects the University with 130 space-related businesses across Hampshire, Surrey and the Isle of Wight.

Read more about the new Southampton Space Institute.

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