ESTL Provides Thought Leadership at TriboUK 2019

Simon Lewis, ESR Technology’s manager of ESTL, was invited to provide a keynote lecture at the TriboUK 2019 conference held at University of Leeds recently (https://www.it-cdt.co.uk/). The conference is an annual forum for presentations by the next generation of tribologists from around the UK, working their PhD’s in the field.

Simon took the opportunity of the invited presentation to provide some inspiration for the upcoming generation of specialists, by highlighting the important role of tribology in spacecraft, the consequences of failure and the very limited opportunities for relubrication in space. He also gave some examples of ongoing tribological research work being carried out at ESTL, which is part of ESR Technology, on behalf of the European Space Agency.

Simon also offered a personal view on the challenges of space tribology expected in the next 10 years, which he believes will be driven not only by mission/scientific needs but also the emerging “New Space” commercial approach for lower cost, rapid development, high volume and even some failure tolerance. This is beginning to impact the approach of the more traditional, so-called “Big Space” institutional players in the space technology market.

Feedback from delegates was wholly positive – ranging from “I didn’t know there was so much to understand about lubrication in space” to “…lots of people are now considering careers in the space industry”.

For more information, please contact Simon here.