Over the past two months Twinkle’s project manager, Marcell, has been travelling around the world to present the mission to an international audience. The aim of these trips is to raise the international profile of the space mission and explore interests from potential collaborators and future partners. As we state on our ‘Mission’ page, we are exploring multiple funding avenues, of which international support is a strong candidate.
The first trip was to the 11th UK-China annual Space Workshop held in Shanghai, to which Twinkle was generously invited by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the UK Space Agency (UKSA). This workshop mainly focused on collaboration between Chinese and UK-based scientists, with themes covering Earth Observation, Agriculture and Space Science. We are very grateful for the support offered by STFC’s Dr Hugh Mortimer and his team.
The second trip was to Guadalajara, Mexico, where the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) was held, on the theme of making space accessible and affordable to all countries. This is a philosophy Twinkle strongly believes in, in line with our plans to offer access to Twinkle to scientists worldwide. Here as well, Twinkle was presented to an audience of international academics, and we strongly benefited from the support of the Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) and UKSA teams based at the event. At both events Twinkle was well received, with follow-up meetings with academics and representatives.
Marcell and our extended team have been and will continue travelling to similar conferences and workshops throughout the autumn to increase our visibility and raise support for the mission internationally.