Hatfield Branch 2026 Sir Geoffrey de Havilland Lecture: The Opportunities and Challenges of Low Earth Orbiting Satellites

The orbit closest to home has never been busier — or more important. In just a few short years, low Earth orbit has been utterly transformed. Where once a handful of satellites circled a few hundred kilometres above us, thousands now race around the planet every ninety minutes, beaming high-speed broadband to remote communities, carrying global communications, and capturing Earth observation imagery of astonishing detail.

This revolution is reshaping how we connect, navigate, farm, forecast and respond to disaster. It is opening space to new nations, new companies and new ideas at a pace never seen before. But with opportunity comes pressure. Space today is more contested, congested and critical than ever. Mounting debris threatens the orbits we rely on, competition for room and radio spectrum is intensifying, and our growing dependence on these systems raises urgent questions of resilience and security.

Join us to explore how we reached this remarkable moment, what is truly at stake, and where low Earth orbit goes next. The lecture will be preceded by the presentation of university prizes and followed by a buffet.

Speaker: Patrick Wood FRAeS, a retired Senior Vice President from Airbus Space Systems and former CEO of Surrey Satellites and Technology Ltd. He is a UK Space Fellow with over 30 years' experience in the Space Sector, involved in the design, build, test and launching of satellites.

Programme: 18:30 – Introductions; 18:40 – Branch Prizes; 19:00 – Lecture; 20:45 – Buffet.