Flying high. Professor Sir Martin Sweeting has won the Sir Arthur Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award

Sir Martinsaid: “It is a great honour to receive this award and especially in the month during which Sir Arthur sadly passed away. As a teenager, I was captivated by Sir Arthur’s books and particularly the film 2001: A space odyssey which inspired me to strive for a career in space.”

SSTL, formed by the University of Surrey in 1985 to exploit the commercial small satellite market, has launched 27 small satellite missions for a range of applications including Earth observation, communication and navigation. Today, SSTL are the world’s premier small satellite supplier, employing 270 staff across three sites in the south-east of England. The company achieved a £26 million turnover last year and are currently building a further 14 spacecraft at their manufacturing facilities in Guildford.

The awards were presented at a black-tie dinner which closed the 2008 UK Space Conference at Charterhouse. The occasion was attended by many of the top names in the space community, including Joe Engle, Astronaut & X-15 Test Pilot with NASA, David Southwood, Director of Science, European Space Agency and Sir Patrick Moore made a video appearance.

Nominations for awards are submitted by the public and the winners were voted for by representatives of the space industry, research institutions and universities, and space-related organisations.

This year’s awards were a poignant celebration of the life of Sir Arthur, who died on 18 March in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, at the age of 90.