Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Fixing our Mess in Space!

Dr Mark Post, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York

Since the 1960s, we have launched thousands of pieces of hardware into orbit of our Earth, many of which are still up there (or in many cases, pieces of them). This is problematic for our future astronauts, scientific and communications satellites, and indeed any beneficial use of space. To ensure that we have a future above our planet, new robotic technologies for satellites and space missions are now being created. Modular satellites that can be assembled and serviced in orbit will replace single-shot launches of large satellites that are difficult to service and challenging to remove from space when they become obsolete. Autonomous networks of robots will perform manufacturing, warehousing, and maintenance in orbit, without risky human spacewalks.

Dr Mark Post received his MSc and PhD in Space Engineering from York University in Canada, and is currently a Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems and Robotics at the University of York in the UK. His research focuses on adaptable autonomous robots and cyber-physical systems for space and other challenging and distant environments. He has created autonomous agricultural mapping systems, sensor fusion and control algorithms for orbital and planetary vehicles, tensegrity and bio-inspired land and underwater robots, and communicating modules capable of knowledge-based self-reconfiguration.

7pm in the Tempest Anderson Lecture Theatre in the Yorkshire Museum on Tuesday 10 February 2026.

YPS Members and students free, non members £5.