Shahida brings 20 years of experience in operating governmental and commercial satellites and is presently responsible for defining the operational framework under which docked life-extension services will be provided by a fleet of small satellites – a UK industry first.

Shahida joined the Airbus group in 1997 as a Mission & Operations Engineer, supporting commercial operators and went on to become the Operations Director for the British military satellite programme, Skynet 5, during their launch and initial payload test campaigns.

She went on to provide operations support to the Galileo programme, working from the European Space Agency centre in Noordwijk, Netherlands; and later worked at Viasat UK to develop and promote satellite broadband applications in the UK, leveraging off the worlds highest capacity satellites.

Shahida has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Queen Mary College, University of London and is a Chartered Engineer as well as being a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.