Town's role in space satellite industry celebrated

A town in Surrey will be holding events to mark the county's role in the space and satellite industry.

The University of Surrey has its own space centre, one of the leading facilities in the UK.

The department led to the creation of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in Guildford.

To mark World Space Week the town's high street will feature demonstrations and displays on 10 October.

Jennifer Barry is a senior systems engineer at SSTL, which is currently working on seven spacecraft for missions ranging from defence and climate monitoring to the world's first commercial lunar communications service.

"Space has become so important to everyone's lives nowadays," she told BBC Radio Surrey.

"You might think about it when you open your weather app on your phone and say 'I can look seven days into the future', that's because of space."

"Space underpins so many different technologies that we all use, if you're using internet banking, you can't do that without space.

"Things like CT scanners, MRI machines, all of those came from space technologies."

Her advice for anyone thinking of a career in the industry, is to get some experience, even if not in the space sector.

"We get people coming from so many different sectors," she added.

"They might come from nuclear energy, aviation, something completely different like banking. Getting transferable skills is step number one."

The event on 10 October will see the University of Surrey and the Institute of Physics bring World Space Week to Tunsgate Quarter Shopping Centre.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd will have models, propulsion tanks, circuit boards and satellite panels at the event.

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