Title: HELIOS – A European Human Spaceflight Infrastructure
Speaker: Mark Hempsell
Date/Time: Thursday 16th Jan 2025 1900 GMT
Venue: BIS Headquarters, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 1SZ and Online on Zoom
Registration is now Closed
Abstract: With the approaching end of life of the International Space Station (ISS), Europe needs to decide on its next human spaceflight project. One of the key problems is that all the ESA members have different objectives. The HELIOS (Human Exploration Launch and In-Orbit Support) study is intended to illustrate that a comprehensive human spaceflight support system can be created that meets all the different national goals. Based on an aerospaceplane, it will carry specialist elements to tailor it for different missions that should cover all the requirements to support any post-ISS low Earth orbit facility.
Biography: Mark Hempsell is a past President of the British Interplanetary Society and a former editor of the Society’s Journal. He has a BSc in Physics and an MSc in Astronomy and Astronautics. He has forty five years’ experience as a systems engineer in the space industry working for BAe Systems, the University of Bristol and Reaction Engines and now runs his own consultancy, Hempsell Astronautics. He has published around 120 papers and articles on astronautics and currently runs a YouTube channel looking at the impact of films on our cultural perception of space.
