Space

SaxaVord Spaceport launches Education Strategy

Posted 4 October 2022

Today, on the first day of World Space Week, SaxaVord Spaceport has published its Education Strategy in partnership with Shetland Islands Council’s Shetland Space Education Employment and Skills Pipeline working group.

Above: Click here to download the Education Strategy .
Courtesy SaxaVord Spaceport

The strategy aims to encourage learning in STEAM subjects to a tertiary level, with the view of creating a skilled and enthusiastic workforce across the UK. It will also inform audiences of the exciting opportunities in the nation’s growing space sector.

SaxaVord Spaceport’s mission is to build on Shetland’s heritage of exploring, innovating, and collaborating to make the UK the premier European base for New Space. The Spaceport hopes to maximise the educational and societal benefits for the UK, while caring for the environment and promoting a skilled and diverse workforce.

The strategy confirms partnerships with international academic bodies, such as Strathclyde University and the University of Alaska to promote STEAM subjects. The Spaceport will work with governments, and agencies, including Shetland Islands Council, the Department for Education, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the UK Space Agency as well as industry partners like HyImpulse to achieve its goals.

SaxaVord Spaceport will forge collaboration opportunities through these partnerships to inspire individuals and develop the UK’s space workforce. Current initiatives planned at SaxaVord include Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Job Clubs for children as well as internships for young people at the spaceport.

Mason Robbins, Education and Innovation Officer at SaxaVord commented: “Our Education Strategy will ensure that everyone from one to 101 is inspired by space and increase engagement with STEAM subjects. Space has the power to motivate and invigorate and the whole of the UK should be able to benefit from the industry.”

Frank Strang, CEO of SaxaVord Spaceport commented: “This strategy marks another exciting milestone for SaxaVord. I am particularly looking forward to increasing the number of internships for students from the UK and overseas here. As we forge ahead with developing Shetland as the place for space, we’re aware that we too must work with a range of like-minded organisations across the nation for the UK to be the European hub for space.”

For more detail, the report includes a visualisation of how SaxaVord Spaceport intends to achieve this strategy at every age level from space leaders visiting nurseries, to CV and interview assistance for job opportunities in space.

SaxaVord Spaceport (SaxaVord) is the UK’s first vertical satellite launch facility and ground station located at Lamba Ness in Unst, Shetland. Given Unst is the UK’s highest point of latitude, SaxaVord offers customers a geographic competitive advantage enabling unrivalled payloads per satellite, launch site operations, a network of ground stations, as well as in-orbit data collection and analysis. SaxaVord has received endorsement from the UK Space Agency’s (UKSA) Sceptre Report and formed industry-leading partnerships. It has also been chosen to host the UKSA’s UK Pathfinder launch, which will be delivered by Lockheed Martin and ABL Systems, in 2023.

Integral to the UK’s space economy ambitions, SaxaVord is building a highly skilled workforce, championing STEM education and supporting the economic regeneration of Shetland. Follow the journey of SaxaVord, from ground preparation to launch, here.

SaxaVord Spaceport partners include: