We are delighted to launch the New Weddington Isles Space Program today, 5th March 2021.
This is, of course, a much more modest affair than NASA or SpaceX and you will not be seeing any 'Weddinauts' or New Weddington rockets in space any time soon.
Our program is, however, still a major step for the Isles; which claim as their micronation a renamed Royal Companies Islands. These are a remote set of isles situated in the Indian Ocean. Whilst referenced in various historical shipping charts and sightings; their remoteness and position off any major shipping line has largely accorded then the status of 'phantom islands' - meaning they remain undisturbed, outside of territorial waters and unclaimed by any state; many of whom consider them of questionable existence. More detail can be found here.
The first step of New Weddington's Space Program will be to initially access several existing commercial satellites via a link up to the New Weddington Isles' Prime Consul in exile in Canberra, that track over the area from latitude 51°75′S 143°04′E to 51°02′S 144°13′E and to exhaustively scan the images in the rough co-ordinates logged in historic sightings. As the area is prone to cloud cover this project will go back to 2003 in a bid to gain a tantalising glimpse of the Isles we claim. The key provider of this data will be NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) which provides the capability to interactively browse over 900 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data.
Lord Watitune said of the ambitious project: "Given the importance of history in our micronation - from the original Weddington Village in England the first millennium, through to the sightings of the former Royal Companies Islands in the late 1800s/early 1900s - it seems appropriate in this second millennium to use the technology of the future to commence the next stage of discovery for our micronation. As with all New Weddingtonians, I look forward with anticipation to the fruits of this venture; which will form a stepping stone to the next stage of our plans - to set foot on, and ultimately establish a presence on, these Islands."
This is, of course, a much more modest affair than NASA or SpaceX and you will not be seeing any 'Weddinauts' or New Weddington rockets in space any time soon.
Our program is, however, still a major step for the Isles; which claim as their micronation a renamed Royal Companies Islands. These are a remote set of isles situated in the Indian Ocean. Whilst referenced in various historical shipping charts and sightings; their remoteness and position off any major shipping line has largely accorded then the status of 'phantom islands' - meaning they remain undisturbed, outside of territorial waters and unclaimed by any state; many of whom consider them of questionable existence. More detail can be found here.
The first step of New Weddington's Space Program will be to initially access several existing commercial satellites via a link up to the New Weddington Isles' Prime Consul in exile in Canberra, that track over the area from latitude 51°75′S 143°04′E to 51°02′S 144°13′E and to exhaustively scan the images in the rough co-ordinates logged in historic sightings. As the area is prone to cloud cover this project will go back to 2003 in a bid to gain a tantalising glimpse of the Isles we claim. The key provider of this data will be NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) which provides the capability to interactively browse over 900 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data.
Lord Watitune said of the ambitious project: "Given the importance of history in our micronation - from the original Weddington Village in England the first millennium, through to the sightings of the former Royal Companies Islands in the late 1800s/early 1900s - it seems appropriate in this second millennium to use the technology of the future to commence the next stage of discovery for our micronation. As with all New Weddingtonians, I look forward with anticipation to the fruits of this venture; which will form a stepping stone to the next stage of our plans - to set foot on, and ultimately establish a presence on, these Islands."
The first satellite image of the area where previous New Weddington Isles sightings have been logged. A cloudy day means poor visibility but daily updates and historical images going back to 2003 will also be explored.
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