Space Exe is the space and astronomy student society at the University of Exeter. We pride ourselves on being a friendly and welcoming environment to all students interested in space. Our society was founded in 2015 to work on the XRT-C, a currently-dormant radio telescope in Caradon.

Nowadays, our society focuses on four main areas: Stargazing, Outreach, Projects and Socials. If you’d like to get involved, you will find our socials and our memberships at the bottom of this page.

We also have a strong commitment to outreach work, both within the university and the wider community. We regularly attend several outreach events, like the Sidmouth Science Festival. At these events, we seek to engage the general public about the history of astronomy and some of the amazing ongoing research. We have run outreach stalls with hands-on demonstrations and presented talks on topics like Martian weather forecasting. The annual Space Exe Conference is our most popular event and features presentations of leading research, science communication and more, with past speakers like Simon Clark and Chris Lintott. Check out our Youtube Channel for videos of past speakers!

Our project work currently focuses on rocketry and a High Altitude Weather Balloon (HAB). The society has competed in the UKSEDS National Rocketry Competition multiple times and came runners-up in 2020, although we now focus more on model rockets with chemical motors which can be launched around Exeter. The HAB project is a work in progress with the aim of launching it to measure the concentration of greenhouse gases and the general vertical structure of the atmosphere.

In addition, we host regular stargazing nights for our members throughout the term. Our society telescope, S.T.E.V.I.E., is an 8-inch Dobsonian Sky-Watcher that provides fantastic views of the night sky. To ensure members have an avenue to relax and socialise away from their studies, we also run a number of casual socials, including pub trips, dinners or space-themed movie nights. If you are or will be a student at the University of Exeter and you’re interested in space and astronomy, then this is definitely the right place for you!

– The Space Exe Committee