SSPI UK, the UK Chapter of the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI), has named Volodymyr Levykin, founder and CEO of rocket company Skyrora, as the recipient of its prestigious “Satellite Personality of the Year” award.  

Betty Bonnardel, chair of SSPI UK, said: “As part of the annual ceremony of the Better Satellite World Award, the SSPI UK chapter selected Volodymyr Levykin for his entrepreneurship in building and putting forward Scotland’s ambitions to reach outer space with the launcher technology that Skyrora is creating.” 

Past winners of the “Satellite Personality of the Year” award included: Catherine Mealing Jones (UK Space Agency), Magali Vaissiere (ESA), Greg Wyler (OneWeb), Ian Jones (Goonhilly) and Ahmed Mohin (International Mobile Satellite Organisation).

The Better Satellite World Awards, established in support of the industry’s global awareness campaign, honours established companies along with disruptive innovators who make the world a more prosperous, healthier, better-educated, sustainable and inclusive home for humankind. This year’s event also awards three international companies:  

  • Hellas Sat and its founder and CEO, Christodoulos Protopappas, for promoting satellite communications and connectivity across Europe, the Middle East and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Speedcast and Willka Yachay for bringing satellite connectivity and access to education to the isolated Q’eros tribe in Peru.
  • UltiSat for providing satellite connectivity services for the UN relief efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


“On behalf of SSPI UK, I congratulate all recipients on their achievements using satellite technology to improve the lives of people all over the world,” Bonnardel said.

The online ceremony to celebrate all the awards will take place during SSPI UK’s annual “The Better Satellite World Awards” event on 9 December, while the awards will be handed over to recipients in a personal ceremony in London on 10 January 2022. 

ENDS

Note to editors
To join the Better Satellite World Awards Virtual Celebration on 9 December and/or the live reception in London on 10 January 2022, please contact Tamara Bond-Williams via email on tbond-williams@sspi.org. 

For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact Harry Pirrwitz via email on harry@ciceroandfriends.com or call +44 (0)73 9252 5980. 

About SSPI
Space & Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) is the space industry’s largest, most international and cross-disciplinary network of individuals and companies.  Founded in 1983, SSPI is on a mission to make the space and satellite industry one of the world’s best at attracting and engaging the talent that powers innovation. SSPI helps the industry attract, develop and retain the talented people it needs to keep the engine turning. People who connect through high-profile events and gain recognition from prestigious awards. People who rely on SSPI for a broader understanding of the industry as much as for individual networking and career mentoring. From young people seeking a career path to industry veterans with wisdom to share, SSPI connects them all.

SSPI is the only organisation that also promotes the enormous value of space and satellite through dramatic stories of our technologies and companies making a better world. Through the stories we tell and the people we serve, SSPI inspires the growth of the $1 trillion space economy of the future. www.sspi.org

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