About Satellite 9
Welcome
After a short hiatus when members of the committee were busy with Glasgow 2024: a Worldcon for Our Futures, we’re delighted to be back in our regular slot and look forward to bringing you a further helping of Science Fiction, Science Fact, Science Fun in late May 2026.
You’ll notice a few changes since previous Satellites. First, we’re moving to the lovely Clayton Hotel on the north bank of the River Clyde, close to the City Centre. Second, although our programme will as always strongly feature the interface between real world science and science fiction, we’ve decided to expand our scope beyond ‘hard SF’. As such, we are delighted to welcome Liz Williams as our first Guest of Honour best known for her fantasy writing.
As always, we’ll be running parallel programme streams featuring a diverse range of talks, panels, and other items (including many Satellite favourites). We’ll also have a small Dealers’ Room and Art Show.
We look forward to welcoming you to Glasgow in 2026.
Mundilfari
(Chief of the Frost Giants)
Our History
Satellite Conventions was born following the 2005 Worldcon Interaction, when a group of friends who attended the Glasgow conventions of the 1980s and 1990s decided to run a small, one-day event in 2007 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1 (Earth’s first artificial satellite – hence the convention name Satellite 1). Satellite 2 followed in 2009, marking the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, then Satellite 3 in 2012 celebrating the -30th Anniversary of the first human setting foot on Mars.
With the UK hosting another Worldcon in 2014 (Loncon 3) the team decided to step up and bid to run that year’s Eastercon, Satellite 4, allowing more experienced convention-runners to focus on the larger event. The convention then settled into a regular slot, running biennially on the late May bank holiday of even-numbered years (except during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in 2024 when most of the team were heavily involved in running another Glasgow Worldcon). Although Satellite no longer changes date to mark notable anniversaries in the history of space exploration, each convention features a particular planet, moon or space craft and discusses both science and science fiction related to it.
| Convention | Dates | Guest(s) of Honour | Featuring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Satellite 1 | 6 Oct 2007 | Ken MacLeod (author) | Sputnik 1 |
| Satellite 2 | 25-26 July 2009 | Iain M Banks (author) | Apollo 11, the Moon |
| Satellite 3 | 25-26 Feb 2012 | Charles Stross (author) | Mars |
| Satellite 4 | 18-21 April 2014 | John Meaney (author), Juliet E McKenna (author), Jim Burns (artist), Alice and Steve Lawson (fans), Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell (scientist) |
Voyager 1 & 2 |
| Satellite 5 | 28-29 May 2016 | Jaine Fenn (author), Ed Buckley (artist) |
Space stations, orbiting habitats, floating cities |
| Satellite 6 | 25-27 May 2018 | Paul McAuley (author) | Venus |
| Satellite 7 | 27-29 May 2022† | Aliette de Bodard (author), Margaret Walty (artist) |
Jupiter |
| Satellite 8 | 26-28 May 2023‡ | Christopher Priest (author), Michelle “Cuddles” Drayton-Harrold (fan) |
The Earth |
† originally planned for May 2020
‡ originally planned for May 2022