Martin Sweeting

Sweeting was educated at Aldenham School and the University of Surrey, completing a Bachelor of Science degree in 1974 followed by a PhD in 1979 on shortwave antennas.{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Surrey|title=The communications efficiency of electrically short aerials|first= Martin Nicholas|last=Sweeting|year=1979|url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.474349|oclc=500574846}}

With a team he created UoSAT-1, the first modern {{convert |70 |kg |lb |abbr = on}} 'microsatellite,' which he convinced the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to launch, as a secondary piggyback payload into Low Earth orbit alongside a larger primary payload in 1981. This satellite and its successors used amateur radio bands to communicate with a ground station on the University campus. During the 1980s Sweeting took research funding to develop this new small-satellite concept further to cover possible applications such as remote sensing, and grew a small satellites research group that launched a number of later satellites. This led to the formation of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in 1985, with four employees and a starting capital of just £100,[http://www.economist.com/node/21651929/ Britain's spaceman], The Economist Technology Quarterly Q2 2015, 30 May 2015. and to a know-how technology transfer program, introducing space technologies to other countries. SSTL was later spun off from the University and sold to Astrium in 2009 for a larger sum.{{Quantify|date=November 2016}}

In 2000 Sweeting was awarded the Mullard Award by the Royal Society and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the same year.{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117115010/https://royalsociety.org/people/martin-sweeting-12376/ |archivedate=17 November 2015 |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/martin-sweeting-12376/ |title=Professor Sir OBE FREng FRS |author=Anon |year=2000 |publisher=royalsociety.org |location=London }} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{quote|"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |accessdate=2016-03-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |archivedate=2015-09-25 }}}} In recognition of his pioneering work on cost-effective spacecraft engineering, Sweeting was knighted in 2002. In 2006 he received the Times Higher Education Supplement Award for Innovation for the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC).{{cite web|url=http://personal.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/cleo/awards/thes/ |title= Times Higher Awards, SSTL innovation |year=2006}} In 2008 he was awarded the Royal Institute of Navigation Gold Medal{{cite web|url=https://rin.org.uk/page/Awards |title= Awards - Royal Institute of Navigation |year=2020}} for the successful GIOVE-A mission for the European Galileo system; and he was awarded the Sir Arthur Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award.{{Cite news |date=14 April 2008 |title=2008 Sir Arthur Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award |url=https://aviationweek.com/2008-sir-arthur-clarke-lifetime-achievement-award |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114182926/https://aviationweek.com/2008-sir-arthur-clarke-lifetime-achievement-award |archive-date=14 January 2024 |work=Aviation Week Network}} In 2009 he was awarded the Faraday Medal by the Institute of Engineering and Technology,{{cite web |url=https://www.theiet.org/publishing/library-archives/the-iet-archives/iet-history/awards-and-prizes-index/the-faraday-medallists/ |title=The Faraday Medallists |year=2019 |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=18 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718033855/https://www.theiet.org/publishing/library-archives/the-iet-archives/iet-history/awards-and-prizes-index/the-faraday-medallists/ |url-status=dead }} and an Elektra Lifetime Achievement Award by the European Electronics Industry. In 2014, the Chinese Academy of Sciences award.{{cite web|url=http://www.surrey.ac.uk/features/professor-sir-martin-sweeting-scoops-space-research-award |title=Professor Sir Martin Sweeting scoops Space Research award | University of Surrey – Guildford |website=Surrey.ac.uk |date=6 August 2014 |accessdate=26 February 2016}} In 2021 he was a guest on BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific.{{cite web |title=Professor Martin Sweeting, inventor of microsatellites|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v7pb|website=BBC }}

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Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of the University of Surrey

Category:Academics of the University of Surrey

Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering

Category:Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Fellows of the IEEE

Category:Knights Bachelor

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:British electronics engineers