Richard Holdaway

Richard Holdaway, CBE, FREng (born 1949) is Professor of Space Engineering RAL Space, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Life and works

Educated at The Skinners' School, Tunbridge Wells, he earned his PhD in Aeronautics and Astrodynamics at the University of Southampton, He is a visiting Professor at the University of Southampton, the University of Kent, and Beihang University (formerly the University of Aeronautics & Astronautics in Beijing). He worked on the design of the Harrier Jump Jet (VTOL) aircraft at Hawker Siddeley before joining the Appleton Laboratory in 1974 and RAL in 1980. He has 40 years of experience in Space Programmes, having worked on numerous missions in Space Science and Earth Observation with NASA, ESA, China, Russia and the UK National Programme. He was appointed Director of Space Science and Technology at RAL (now RAL Space) in 1998. Under his directorship, RAL-Space has merged fundamental space science with cutting-edge technological and engineering developments. RAL Space now comprises 200 Scientists and Engineers, has helped construct 199 instruments that are currently operating in space, and has a £20m turnover with over 15,000 customers in academia, commerce and industry. He has a role in several space technology spin-out companies and in 2012 he joined the Board of Directors of UrtheCast. In 2013 he was appointed a CBE in recognition of his services to UK Space Engineering, his work with the Royal Academy of Engineering, his long association with Southampton University and his numerous public outreach lectures.

A keen and competitive footballer himself, he is a passionate, loyal and lifelong supporter of Portsmouth F.C., and has dumbfounded many a senior overseas academic and programme manager by showing off the prize exhibit in his office - a piece of turf from Fratton Park, the club's ground.

Selected Works

• R. Holdaway, Is space global disaster warning and monitoring now nearing reality?, Space Policy, 17, (2), 127-132, doi: 10.1016/S0265-9646(01)00009-1, 2001
• R. Holdaway, The British Space Program, in Advances in the Astronautical Sciences (Edited by Hoots, F.R., Kaufman, B., Cefola, P.J., and Spencer, D.B., 97, (1/2), 1437-1442, 1998
• R. Holdaway, UK instruments for mission to planet Earth, Space Technology - industrial and commercial applications, 13, (6), 561-567, 1993
• J.-J. Miau, and R. Holdaway (eds), Reducing the Cost of Spacecraft Ground Systems and Operations,

Vol. 3., Springer, 2000 (https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0792361741)