Bayes Centre

Bayes Centre News: Great British Lift Off - a new Space and Satellites podcast

Featuring a live link to the International Space Station, the podcast “Great British Lift Off” launches today.

Podcast Great British Lift Off

It’s the third in a series of space podcasts hosted by broadcaster Kim McAllister and space expert Dr Murray Collins, in which they interview leaders in this rapidly growing sector.

“The UK space industry is a huge driver of economic growth, the government aims to capture 10% of the global market by 2030 - and yet still so many people are unaware we even have a space industry,” said Dr Collins, Chancellor’s Fellow in Space and Satellites at the University of Edinburgh. 

“With our podcasts we’re telling the story in an accessible way because often it literally is rocket science. Our main purpose is to inspire listeners and shout about the incredible work going on across the country to show that space is for everyone.”

The first episode of Great British Lift Off features a 20 minute link with the Space Station during which school children from Scotland, Ecuador and Houston, Texas ask questions of the astronauts. It was a project led by Rice University in Houston, in partnership with the presenters and colleagues across the three continents.

“It was an incredible event to pull together,” host and producer Kim McAllister said.

“There were so many variables, not least a global pandemic and the chance NASA wouldn’t find a slot in the astronauts’ busy schedules! They’re only up there for a short time and they have a lot of work to do after all. We hosted a watch party around the event which allowed us to invite three more astronauts along, together with VIPs from all three regions. We’ve set the bar pretty high for this series, but we’ve got lots of high level interviews to come, for example with Sir Martin Sweeting of Surrey Satellites and Lord David Willetts.”

With space and satellites being one of the 10 sectors of Edinburgh's Data Driven Innovation (DDI) programme, the organisation sponsored the first two series. DDI is now joined by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, to sponsor the Great British Lift Off.

“Having such important organisations back us is a huge vote of confidence,” added Kim, who produces the podcast with communications agency Connect.

“They can see the value in telling these stories to a wide audience. Our second series hit no 6 in the UK Science podcast charts and inspired lots of new collaborations, often across continents. We know this one will be even better.”

Listen to the first episode now! 

Great British Lift Off

 

Links

Space and Satellites 

Great British Lift Off podcast

Edinburgh: Space Data Capital podcast

Scotland's Secret Space Race podcast