Last night (31 May 2017) the Gaia project picked up two awards given at the annual UK Space Conference Gala Dinner held at the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester. The Sir Arthur Clarke Awards (also known as Arthurs) have been presented since 2005 and recognise significant contributions to space activities. The UK Gaia Science Team won the Space Achievement - Academic Study/Research award "For its role in processing and analysing data from the Gaia star mapping mission as its contribution to the European Data Processing and Analysis Consortium”. Gaia also won the Industry/Project Team award, which went to Airbus Defence and Space "For the successful design and manufacture of the Gaia spacecraft and telescope which for the last 3 years has been accurately measuring the location and motion of the stars”. The award was presented by UK/ESA Astronaut Tim Peake to Gerry Gilmore, Martin Barstow and Simon Hodgkin. The award is made of glass, and is based on the monolith in Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, with the same proportions (1:4:9).
Page last updated: 07 December 2020