Paul R.H. Williams – General Manager

Paul joined British Aerospace plc in Stevenage in 1985 and moved to the Propulsion department in 1986. He was heavily involved in the development trials of the Eurostar propulsion platform and headed up the ground operations training in 1988. He was also a member of the Olympus propulsion team, providing assistance to SNIA-BPD in Italy during the development testing and was part of the launch team in 1989.

Following a transfer to Bristol in 1989, Paul became a member of the Cluster propulsion team, responsible for production and test of the four spacecraft RCS prior to delivery.

In 1994, he joined Aerospatiale in Cannes, France, on the Stentor technology demonstrator programme, before moving to Lampoldshausen, Germany in 1997, where he became involved in all major programmes. He joined ISP International Space Propulsion Ltd at its inception in 2001 and he continues to be the Chief Executive Officer.

Paul is also responsible for implementation of Quality protocols and standards and overall Production management at the Westcott facility.

Michael Y. Griffiths – Project Manager

Mike joined Sperry Gyroscope in Bracknell in 1971 working on guidance control systems before joining the Propulsion department in British Aerospace plc in Bristol in 1980. Over the next 18 years, Mike held increasing responsibility in positions of seniority within the Company, working on the propulsion subsystems as varied as Ulysses, Skynet 4/ NATO IV, Polar Platform, and Cluster.

During his time with Cluster 2 following the in-flight failure of Ariane 501, Mike devised the solution to the problem of transporting the Cluster spacecraft horizontally, without major modification to the subsystem, using a hydraulic lock principle. He subsequently presented a paper at the 2000 Propulsion conference in Cannes on the subject.

In 2001 Mike joined Polyflex Aerospace as Project Engineering Leader on the CryoSat propulsion subsystem.  Mike has also performed many procurement roles, covering Suppliers both in the US and Europe, to great effect.

Mike joined ISP International Space Propulsion Ltd in 2006. He has primarily provided Project Management to the CryoSat 2 subsystem production at Marotta UK, until delivery in 2007.

Mike heads up the Integrated Project Co-ordination team and is responsible for Design and Project management.

Rob A. Lenaghan – Procurement Manager

Rob joined EADS Astrium Ltd in Stevenage in 1996 and moved to the Propulsion Test department in 1997.

Between 1996 and 2003, Rob first performed, and then led, subsystem test campaigns on many diverse propulsion subsystems, from Cluster 2 and various Eurostars to monopropellant systems.

In 2003, he carried out design and procurement duties in the Propulsion department, before spending two years in a Mechanisms Design capacity.

Rob joined ISP International Space Propulsion Ltd in 2007, providing shadow and component engineering support in the procurement of components for a major European space company. He also assists in subsystem test and is a key member of the ISP launch capability.

He is responsible for Procurement and Production issues within the Group.

Chris L. Smith – Operations Manager

Chris joined the Chemistry department at Royal Ordnance plc in Westcott in 1985 as a Research Chemist. By 1991, as Senior Chemist, he then managed the laboratories, going on to lead test campaigns on rocket engines until 1997.
In 1997, he joined the Propulsion Test team at Matra Marconi Space in Stevenage. Apart from 10 launch campaigns to various facilities globally, he was also heavily involved in the design, production and operation of the Rosetta propulsion subsystem, before leading the Launch team in Kourou and devising NTO offload procedures to meet this difficult ESA requirement. He has presented a number of papers at conference on chemistry and test issues.

Chris joined ISP International Space Propulsion Ltd in 2005 and has been an important part of the Astrium test team in Lampoldshausen since that time..

Chris heads up the ISP Test and Launch Division and will be responsible for Operations and Facility management.

Arthur C. (Archie) Rayner – Ground Equipment Manager/HSO

Archie joined the Propulsion Test department at Astrium UK in December 1996 having served 12 years as a propulsion engineer in the UK Royal Air Force.

During his time at Stevenage, Archie played key roles in launch campaigns in Kazakhstan, French Guyana, California and Florida, as well as leading test programmes in Toulouse and UK on spacecraft propulsion subsystems.

Archie’s main responsibilities, however, involved GSE design, manufacture and refurbishment and Health and Safety issues.

Archie joined ISP International Space Propulsion Ltd in 2008 where his responsibilities in GSE and Health and Safety continue.