Last week, our UK team represented #OrbitFab at the opening of the UK Space and Defence Gateway, a dedicated hub designed to bring together the civil and defence space sectors – all at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, a place Orbit Fab UK has proudly called home since 2022. Our team had the honour of briefing His Majesty King Charles III and other government and industry leaders on Orbit Fab's work in satellite refuelling, space sustainability and national security. As the event brought together so much of the UK space community, it reminded us that space remains a global community and our best innovations come from collaborating across borders. #OrbitFab #InSpaceRefuelling #SpaceInfrastructure #UKSpace
It was a huge honour to meet His Majesty King Charles III at the opening of the UK Space and Defence Gateway. The team and I had the privilege of discussing the Orbit Fab mission to refuel satellites, improve space sustainability and strengthen national security. As sponsor of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and Astra Carta, the King clearly knows and cares about activity in space. We enjoyed the chance to talk him through the differences between chemical and electric spacecraft propulsion in particular. The event provided a great chance to catch up with many of the wider sector too to hear about the new Gateway developments. I enjoyed the words from Sam Adlen in particular, to speak with Kevin Craven and Colin Baldwin from our trade associations and meet an early Orbit Fab investor Sanjeev Gordhan again. The team did (of course) take the chance to meet as many astronauts as possible. What a great way to spend a Friday afternoon! I hope it was also a proud moment Barbara Ghinelli and all the team at RAL Space and Harwell Science and Innovation Campus who have been working tirelessly to make the Gateway a reality. Having worked at Harwell since 2017, and Orbit Fab UK being based here since 2022, it was a real pleasure to see this progress. The feeling on Friday throughout the event was one of momentum and also of community… with so many parts of the Harwell cluster and the wider space sector coming together to make something exciting happen.