(Source: Hyperbola)

Rob Coppinger of Flight International interviews Alan Bond, managing director of Reaction Engines and chief designer of the Skylon SSTO.

(Source: British Space Organisation)

Rob Hawkes, BSO technical coordinator: "Yesterday we presented our campaign to a representative from Channel 4, as well as the entire Media School at Bournemouth University. Your Voice in Space went down really well and we are grateful for the opportunity given to us. The introduction to our presentation can be viewed below, it’s quite dramatic!"

BSO Presentation Introduction from Rob Hawkes on Vimeo.

Prof. Stephen Hawking's Speech "Why We Should Go Into Space" given in April 2008, streamed into Second Life and NASA TV.

After-dinner speech by British-born private space traveller Richard Garriott given at ISDC 2009. I was in the audience for this one, video courtesy of spacevidcast.com.

Reaction Engines has posted its May 2009 news update, and a press release on the visit by Science & Innovation Minister Lord Drayson on 22nd May.

(Source: British Space Organisation)

Another interesting and insightful update from Stephen Ashworth: Astronautical Evolutions #46 contains a note from Andrew Lound of the Planetary Society UK branch on the subject of UK space advocacy (or the lack thereof). Andrew says: "The BIS has done its best, currently Parliament is too preoccupied to be concerned about space issues... [I]f the space interest fraternity are serious about lobbying UK parliament then it will need to present a more professional approach rather than the academic enthusiasts style. This would require serious money however and would need aerospace companies involved who would have to fund an All Party Group staging events with some incentives."

I was speaking at ISDC with a British aerospace lobbyist working in Washington DC, and he expressed what I'd already felt about the BIS and its political impact. The issue with the BIS is that it can't really make its mind up what it wants to be: a learned professional society (along the lines of the RAeS or AIAA) or a populist advocacy organisation like the NSS. I spoke to NSS representatives about the idea of BIS affiliating with NSS, and/or joining the Space Exploration Alliance and they seemed very positive about the idea. Note that I'm not speaking as anyone with any responsibility for BIS, just as an interested outsider.... so far. This particular troublemaker will be joining the BIS very shortly ;-)

If the BIS (or whoever) is to make a serious effort at political lobbying, we (the UK space community) at least have to come to some general conclusions about what we want. Case in point: the UK Human Spaceflight Campaign. Personally, I don't care that much about British astronauts in ESA flight suits travelling to the ISS to do taxpayer-funded experiments (though it's arguably better than nothing). I'd much rather see British astronauts in SpaceX flight suits travelling to Bigelow stations to do AstraZeneca-funded (or whoever) experiments promoted by "zero gravity-zero tax" breaks. So far, we aren't even having this debate.

Stephen Ashworth points to a comment in the September 2008 issue of SPACE:UK, the BNSC house magazine: "The path to becoming a European astronaut is daunting and designed so that only the best of the best will ever make it into space". That sentence in a nutshell illustrates everything that is broken with UK space policy as it stands. I don't care about Tim Peake going to space. I care about me going to space (and you, and you, and you). What is being done to advance that goal?

More on this subject to follow. Gotta pack for my flight back to the UK.

Update: Revisiting Lound's comment "[Lobbying] would require serious money ... and would need aerospace companies involved who would have to fund an All Party Group staging events with some incentives". Yeah. Or funding by a high net worth individual with an interest in spaceflight. Or a "grassroots" organisation based on individual contributions. What's to stop us organising an NSS-style "March Storm" face-to-face lobbying campaign? As far as I can see, nothing, apart from the will to actually do it. A modern advocacy organisation would harness online social media to build such campaigns, which is why I'm interested by the BSO's use of Twitter. From little acorns...

Sorry for the lack of postings at the moment, but I'm currently at ISDC 2009. Many thanks indeed to Space.co.uk for their kind hospitality. Had some interesting chats while I'm here, including with the National Space Society reps (I think NSS and BIS should affiliate, or at least actively support each other) and the guys involved in creating the NASA MMO. Got video of Wil Whitehorn's presentation, but you'd probably want to watch the SpaceVidcast version rather than my wobblecam, as I didn't bring a tripod :p

Highlight of the day yesterday, Jeff Greason's presentation, dropping hints about a TSTO reusable orbital system! See Clark Lindsey's page for more. Plus, flying the Orbital Commerce Project rocketplane simulator was pretty cool. We need that at the NSC ;)

In other news, Heather Couper's making a tit of herself again. Comment to follow.