New funding from the UK Space Agency (UKSA) is backing nine projects with promising technologies to support space capabilities.
The UKSA launched its £8.6m Enabling Technologies Programme (ETP) in 2022, in partnership with UK Research and Innovation’s Science and Technology Facilities Council.
The programme aims to boost British organisations researching and developing new and emerging space technologies to help grow the UK space sector.
“For almost two years, our ETP has been empowering scientists and engineers in universities, companies and research institutes to advance the technologies of tomorrow, demonstrating the UKSA’s commitment to harnessing the power of space to improve life for everybody,” said Paul Bate, UKSA chief executive.
ETP funding has been divided across nine projects. This latest £1.8m injection is the final phase.
Projects have ranged from an Earth observation satellite applications project to map global coastline trends and a material bonding method for use in the space environment, to a personalised tourniquet system for astronaut bloodflow exercises and a miniature ‘lab in a box’ capable of manufacturing high-value pharmaceuticals and science materials.
These projects, according to Bate, are of vast significance because “space is central to how we can plan for a safer and more sustainable future on Earth”.
Andrew Griffith, minister for space at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, added: “This £1.8m government fund will grow our economy through new innovation while helping to keep space sustainable and deliver more key discoveries for many years to come.”
The funding was announced today at the UK’s first In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing (IOSM) conference held at the Harwell Science Campus, Oxfordshire, which brought together experts from the global IOSM industry.
According to the UKSA, IOSM is a crucial emerging technology that supports space sustainability by enabling spacecraft to be repaired and adjusted during flight. It also opens new possibilities for building products that we need on Earth, such as semiconductors, much more efficiently in the microgravity environment.
At the conference, the UKSA launched a new package of IOSM initiatives, including a funding call for the next phase of the UK’s national active debris removal (ADR) mission, to derisk technologies developed in two mission studies led by Astroscale and ClearSpace.
The UKSA is also backing new research studies on the size and health of the IOSM market and the UK’s current capabilities, and has awarded the University of Southampton a project to assess the potential impact of satellites burning up in Earth’s atmosphere, known as ablation.
In a recent issue of E+T magazine, we published an interview with Ray Fielding – head of space sustainability at the UK Space Agency – where he examined the issue of human-made debris currently orbiting the Earth and the ramifications if left unchecked.
