Undergraduate Delegate to the Space Generation Advisory Council

Charlie Gamblin, a recent Physics with Astrophysics Bsc graduate, talks about the Space Generation Advisory Council, and an event they held in July 2020 called SpaceGen United (SGU).

Greetings Physics and Astronomy department, my name is Charlie and I am a recent Physics with Astrophysics Bsc graduate. In this blog post, I would like to briefly talk about a fantastic organisation called the Space Generation Advisory Council, or SGAC for short, and an event they held in July 2020 called SpaceGen United (SGU), which I was lucky enough to be a part of as a delegate.

The SGAC is “THE global network for students and young professionals interested in the space industry” and was founded on July 30 1997 within the framework of the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) to create a “a consultative mechanism to facilitate the continued participation of young people from all over the world, especially young people from developing countries and young women, in cooperative space-related activities”. The SGAC aims to engage and inspire early career scientists and undergraduates, while also connecting them with key players in the space industry. They put diversity and inclusivity at the top of their list of values, as well as working and growing together as a community connected through a passion for all things space! The SGAC hosts numerous events around the world and most recently an online congress called SpaceGen United, which was my first introduction into this amazing community.

SGU was held via Zoom from the 18th July to the 26th July and was a gathering of over 150 participants, including experts from across the space industry, SGAC alumni and delegates, such as myself. This was a truly diverse event, as this year 52 countries were represented and there was a mix of 56% male and 44% female participants, further emphasising the diversity in this community! We were each asked to select a workshop to take part in from a varied list which included: Planetary Defence; Space Exploration Benefits for Earth-based industry; Fostering Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Space Sector; Advanced Exploration Systems, among others. Each workshop was led by a team of subject matter experts from the likes of Lockheed Martin, ESA and NASA, just to name a few. As well as the workshops, there were also various keynotes from the likes of Virgin Orbit, NASA (including a couple of Astronauts!), Lockheed Martin and HE space and also social activities scattered throughout the event, for example, an excellent space trivia night hosted by the Earth observation company Planet; all of these activities were organised well and displayed in a shared google calendar for our convenience. There were also many networking opportunities during this event, and this was made very easy as all the delegates communicated through an instant messenger service called Slack, which is available as a very accessible mobile app.

In terms of my involvement, I chose to be a part of the Advanced Exploration Systems workshop that was run by NASA. The aims of the workshop were to address three questions:

1. “What are the primary tenets of sustainability at the Moon that will ensure global partners are in a confident position to embark on the first human mission to mars?”
2. “What are the key areas of science, technology, and exploration advancement that international space agencies can begin working on now to ensure a common architecture and unified plan to begin human Mars missions in the 2030’s?”
3. “What are the benefits of an integrated, international Mars mission campaign compared to multiple efforts led by different countries or individual companies?”

During the introductory workshop session our subgroup was assigned question number 3 and we worked throughout the week to formulate a 1-minute speech outlining the benefits of an international Mars mission campaign and how we thought it best to develop such a campaign. One key thing we were told during the first workshop was that ‘There’s no such thing as a crazy idea’, which essentially meant we were given free reign to come up with as many ideas as possible and none of them would be discredited, as often the best ideas are a little ‘crazy’. We communicated via Slack and Zoom to formulate our ideas in a shared google doc as well as to decide on questions to ask the subject matter experts during our mid-week control point workshop to further aid in our speech. As well as the speech, we were also required to make a couple of presentations, one to present our initial ideas mid-week and the other to present our final recommendations in the last workshop session. Despite some individual scheduling and time-zone issues, we were able to record our final speech and present our recommendations to the NASA experts, which they were very pleased with. I am proud to say that these final deliverables will be presented at the next meeting of the UN COPUOS and hopefully they will influence policy and decision making when an international Mars mission campaign is developed.

I am truly astounded by some of the fantastic ideas that were formulated as part of this event, the speeches presented in the closing session were all very forward thinking and inspiring, much like the event as a whole. The delegates that I was lucky enough to meet through this event were so welcoming, incredibly knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with, and I truly believe the connections I made thanks to SGU will be lifelong! The SGAC staff were phenomenal, they organised everything so that the whole event ran smoothly, were friendly and inclusive, and also moderated the keynote and workshop sessions incredibly well. I very much encourage you to have a look at the keynotes on the SGAC’s YouTube channel (link below) as they were all astoundingly insightful and you will almost certainly learn something fascinating! I also encourage you to become a member of the SGAC, it is free and well worth doing, as there are some fantastic events that they host, as well as support they provide in the form of scholarships, awards and careers information (more information on their website, link below). I have never taken part in a more inclusive, diverse, inspiring, and insightful event as SpaceGen United and I hope to attend many more SGAC events in the future. I hope you have enjoyed this brief insight into the SGAC and their recent online congress, SpaceGen United, and I hope to see you at one of their future events. Stay safe and healthy, and Per Aspera Ad Astra!

SGAC Website: https://spacegeneration.org/

SGAC YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/spacegeneration