Brian, Sir Patrick and Chris - Nominated for Sir Arthur Clarke Awards

26 Mar 2007

WHO WILL WIN AN ARTHUR?

The nominations for the 2007 Sir Arthur Clarke Awards include Sir Patrick Moore, Piers Sellers, Anousheh Ansari, Lord Sainsbury and Virgin Galactic.

The Oscars® have recently been awarded for the best achievements in the film industry, and soon the Sir Arthur Clarke awards - the space equivalent of the Oscars® - will be presented at a gala dinner at this year’s conference of the British Rocketry Oral History Programme, which will also raise funds for charity work in Sir Arthur’s adopted home of Sri Lanka.

The BROHP conference will run from April 12-14, at the prestigious Charterhouse School in Surrey, attracting over 300 participants from around the world to hear about the past, present and future of the UK’s involvement in space research and exploration. The award ceremony will be the climax of a selection process from categories which cover activities by individuals, teams and organisations in Space Science and the UK Space industry. As well as categories for corporate and individual achievement, there are also awards for educators and journalists, and for outreach and inspiration - promoting space and providing encouragement for the next generation.

One major difference from the Hollywood awards is that nominations for the “Arthurs” come from the public. If people were “impressed, intrigued or inspired” by some aspect of space research, they were encouraged to submit their nominations, and a panel of judges representing the UK space community drew up the following short-list from the submissions.

Best Corporate / Team Achievement
· The Mars Exploration Rovers team
· Space Adventures
· Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd

Best Presentation: TV / Radio
· BBC TV, for “Coast: Rocketry on the Isle of Wight”: Producer Oliver Clarke and reporter Alice Roberts
· “The Sky At Night” production team: Producer Jane Fletcher
· Patrick Moore, presenter of “The Sky At Night”

Best Presentation: Written
· Charles Cockell, for “Space on Earth”
· The British Interplanetary Society, for the “Project Boreas” report
· Patrick Moore, Chris Lintott and Brian May, for “Bang!”

Best Space Reporting
· Chris Lintott
· Robin Scagell
· The Solaris astronomy website

Achievement in Education
· The British National Space Centre
· The International Space School Educational Trust
· Mike Grocott and Clive Purchase, for the Callington Space Centre, Cornwall
· The Star Centre, Bradford

Outreach Award for the Public Promotion of Space
· Lord Sainsbury
· The Virgin Galactic team
Inspiration Award
· Anousheh Ansari
· Sir Patrick Moore
· Piers Sellers

In addition to these categories, there will be a special award whose recipient is chosen by Sir Arthur himself.

There is also a Lifetime Achievement award, chosen by the directors of the BROHP conference, and an award for Best Individual Achievement, for which there is no list of nominees this year - the judging panel selected a single name whose achievement stood out to such a degree that he was judged the outright winner.

The names of the winners will only become known at the awards event, so only then will everyone find out who will take home one of this year’s glass monoliths.

Previous winners have included Colin Pillinger, Michael Foale, Reginald Turnill, John Zarnecki and the National Space Centre. The awards organiser, Jerry Stone, is a freelance presenter on astronomy and space exploration, and has promoted space for over 35 years. He said

“The UK is a world leader in many aspects of space research, and many of the nominees should be regarded as heroes in their field. Their names may not all be widely known by the public, but they richly deserve an honour such as this. The UK should be very proud of its achievements in space research and exploration, which we hope will provide jobs, research and inspiration for the next generation.”

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Additional information

BROHP and the Space Oscars

The UK’s space activities are rarely given mainstream coverage in the media, to the extent that many members of the public may be surprised to learn that the UK’s space programme pre-dates Beagle 2. It may come as more of a surprise to discover that not only have we built a large number of satellites but that we launched one using our own rocket.

However, as the people involved in the British rocketry programmes of the 1950s and 1960s retired or passed away, there was concern that a priceless heritage was in danger of being lost with the passage of time. As a result, the British Rocketry Oral History Programme was set up, with the intention of recording the experiences of those who were involved with this aspect of British technology.

In 1998 it was decided to take this further and to allow more to share in this venture by organising a conference at the prestigious Charterhouse School in Godalming, where talks and papers on these topics could be presented. For the last eight years, the Charterhouse conferences have grown in size and esteem, and they now run for three days, attracting over 300 participants from around the world. The subject matter is not limited to the history of UK space activities; the programme also covers current and future projects and includes a major educational element. This year's event is entitled "Space Really Matters". It will run from 12 - 14 April and will feature a wealth of presentations on various aspects of space exploration.

Additional information on the conference is available from the main BROHP website at http://www.brohp.org.uk

The Sir Arthur Clarke Awards

In 2005 there was an additional aspect to the proceedings, with the introduction of special awards, which are regarded as the space equivalent of Hollywood’s Oscars. The awards are intended to provide recognition and tribute to those who have worked for the advancement of space exploration. Although there may be some international involvement, the aim is to concentrate on British achievement. It was obvious that the awards should be named after Sir Arthur Clarke, who is known around the world for his far-sighted writings on space exploration, and it was a delight to receive Sir Arthur’s agreement to his name being used in this way.

Sir Arthur’s most famous work of non-fiction was produced just over 60 years ago, with an article in the October 1945 issue of Wireless World entitled “Extraterrestrial Relays”. In this paper, he calculated that a satellite at an altitude of 22,300 miles would take 24 hours to circle the Earth. As the Earth itself rotates in this time, such a satellite placed in orbit over the equator would appear to stay in the same point in the sky - it would be a geostationary satellite. He showed that three such satellites, spaced 120º apart, would be able to provide world-wide communications coverage without the need to be tracked across the sky. This was around 20 years before the first such satellite was launched; today there are hundreds, each occupying a place in what is now called the Clarke Orbit. The diagram of three satellites in this orbit, which was included in the original article, is etched on the front of the awards.

His most famous work of fiction is “2001: a space odyssey”, which deals with the discovery of the first evidence of extra-terrestrial intelligence, in the form of a monolith buried on the Moon which had previously helped the evolution of intelligence in early ape-men in Africa.

The award takes the form of a solid glass block in the proportions of the 2001 monolith. Etched on the front is the diagram of three satellites in orbit which was included in the original 1945 article on satellite communications.

Sir Arthur, who will be 90 this year, resides in Sri Lanka. His diving school was swept away in the 2004 tsunami which devastated areas of the island, and the awards dinner also acts as a fund-raising event for Sarvodaya, the largest development charity in Sri Lanka, which has been reaching out and helping the poorest of the poor for over 45 years.
The Judging Panel

An invited panel from the UK space community drew up the shortlist of categories and nominees. Some members are winners of previous year’s awards.

Jerry Stone Director of the Sir Arthur Clarke Awards
Lesley Wright Co-organiser of the BROHP conference. Chair of the judging panel
Claire Etherington Chair of UK Students for the Exploration & Development of Space
John Harlow President of the British Interplanetary Society
John Holt The Arthur C Clarke Foundation.
Gareth James Chairman of the Space Education Council
Andy Lound UK Co-ordinator for the Planetary Society
Bo Maxwell Managing Director of the Mars Society UK
Pat Norris Chairman of the Royal Aeronautical Society Space Group
Colin Pillinger Professor of Planetary Sciences at PSSRI
Chris Riley Science writer, broadcaster and film-maker
George Scoon European Space Agency (Retired)
Alistair Scott Communications and Public Relations, EADS Astrium
Martin Shelley Space Education Consultant
Michael Simpson President of the International Space University
David Southwood Director of Space Science for the European Space Agency
Nick Veck Chairman of UK Space
David Williams Director General of the British National Space Centre
John Zarnecki Director, Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research
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