The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) are pleased to announce the Winners of the 2023-24 Sir Arthur Clarke Awards which were presented at the Gala Dinner and Awards at the BIS’s 21st Reinventing Space Conference at The Royal Aeronautical Society, 4 Hamilton Place, London, W1J 7BQ on Tuesday 12 November 2024
Presented annually since 2005, ‘The Arthurs’ recognise and reward those individuals and teams that have made notable or outstanding achievements in, or contributions to, all space activities here in the UK. However, the Lifetime and International Awards are open to all.
A panel of up to 50 judges from all areas of the Space sector and all levels of experience and seniority selected the three finalists in each of the 11 Award Categories and the winner of each Award.
This year the judges agreed to return to the pre-Covid system where achievements had to be completed between one Award Ceremony and the next, as presenting the Awards for the previous calendar year appeared to cause considerable confusion for our judges, our nominators and the general public. They were not clear which achievements or contributions were eligible. So to catch up this year we have included nominations with achievements and contributions in the 2023 calendar year through to September 2024, i.e. 21 months. This will allow us to return to our pre-Covid 12-month cycle in 2025.
All the Individual Finalists were invited to attend the Dinner and Awards on 12th November with a partner or guest and the Team Finalists were asked to name three representatives.
The Winners of the 2023-24 Sir Arthur Clarke Awards are:-
Space Achievement – Industry/Project Team
WINNER: The Space Cluster & ESA Business Incubation Team – Represented by Alan Cross, William Gault and Mary Walker
For enabling space start-ups to overcome barriers and scale into successful businesses with global impact.
Space Achievement – Industry/Project Individual
WINNER: Andrew Cawthorne
For 20 Years of Leadership Excellence at Surrey Satellite Technology, from working on TopSat and NigeriaSat-2 to Head of EO Business and Director of Business Development. In June 2024 he had to take immediate control of the company and was appointed Managing Director.
Space Achievement – Academic Study/Research Team
WINNER: The UK Cluster Mission Team – Represented by Professor Andrew Fazakerley, Anne Chadwick and Natasha Doss
For their major role in the pioneering multi-spacecraft Cluster space plasma physics mission, leading 3 of the 11 instruments, hosting the Science Operations Centre and producing hundreds of papers.
Space Achievement – Academic Study/Research Individual
WINNER: Professor Anthony Illingworth
For his long-time promotion of, and support for, ESA’s EarthCARE mission, launched in May 2024, using high-performance atmospheric Lidar and radar technology to measure cloud aerosol radiation.
Space Achievement – Education and Outreach Team
WINNER: The SUN Team – Represented by Professor Robert Walsh, Alex Rinsler, Netty Miles, Simon Ebo and Charlotte Proverbs
For the collaboration between artist Alex Rinsler, astrophysicist Robert Walsh and the SUN team, to create a unique ‘ball of fire’ light sculpture that, when touring the country, surprises and challenges the general public’s perception of our nearest star.
Space Achievement – Education and Outreach Individual
WINNER: Sophie Allan
For her outstanding teaching and resource creation for the National Space Academy’s Space to Learn and Space Engineering programmes, creating engaging, inspiring, curriculum-linked hands-on physics masterclasses and resources.
Space Achievement – Student
WINNER: Joaquin Perez-Grande
For building the largest-ever UKSEDS community through online platforms and in-person events, uniting members, enthusiasts, student societies and industry professionals and for organising the largest-ever NSSC conference in Manchester in 2023.
Space Achievement – Media, broadcast and written Team
·WINNER: The ‘Our Fragile Space’ Team – Represented by Max Alexander, Steve Kelly and Dr Stuart Clark
For bringing the space sustainability challenge to the masses with incredible photography that highlights our growing reliance on satellites for so many applications, but warns of the serious risk of overcrowding low-Earth orbit.
Space Achievement – Media, broadcast and written Individual
WINNER: Andy Saunders
For his ‘Apollo Remastered’ project, book, talks and exhibitions, including ‘The Moonwalkers: ‘A Journey With Tom Hanks’, which make a significant contribution to the history of spaceflight and inspire the next generation.
Lifetime Achievement
WINNER: Robert (Bob) Baldwin
For a lifetime in Space Propulsion, 43 years and counting, from the early days on the Olympus propulsion system, to numerous communications and science satellites and on to guide and mentor many new propulsion engineers, students and school pupils.
International Achievement
[Please note: Finalists and Awardees are selected by the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation Board]
WINNER: Elisabetta Monnini – Leonardo, Italy
For her role in the development of EUCLID’s Fine Guidance Sensor, a mission-critical equipment, that ensures the unprecedented pointing accuracy (1/400,000 arcsec) needed for the imaging performance of the mission.