Mark Hempsell is a British aerospace engineer and CEO of Hempsell Astronautics Ltd.[1] which is currently designing the Universal Space Interface Standard (USIS), a system which aims to standardise berthing, docking and attachment of satellites and other spacecraft.[2] Hempsell formerly worked at Reaction Engines Limited,[3][4] where he was a member of the board of directors as the Future Programmes Director.[5]
He has a BSc in Physics from Imperial College London and a Masters in Astronomy and Astronautics from Hatfield Polytechnic, now the University of Hertfordshire.[5] As a Business Development Manager he ran infrastructure studies on launch systems (BAe HOTOL, MacDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper), European space stations and the BAe Multirole Capsule.[5]
He was the president of the British Interplanetary Society from 1997 to 2000 and from 2015 to 2018, and was editor of the JBIS periodical from 2005-2009.[5]
Hempsell got public audience as author of the book "A Sumerian Observation of the Köfels' Impact Event", with Alan Bond proposes a theory not accepted by the scientific community, which describes an asteroid impact at Köfels (Alps) causing a heat downwash far away in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah which burned the cities.[6][7]