UK space technology industry gets £6 million boost

The grant funding, part of the National Space Technology Programme from the UK Space Agency and the Technology Strategy Board, will support four major research and development consortium projects to be led by Astrium Ltd, Avanti Communications Ltd, DMC International Imaging Ltd and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. 

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science said: "The UK space industry supports thousands of high-tech jobs in the UK and is an important driver of economic growth.  This £6 million investment will build on that success by helping some of the most innovative British businesses develop highly commercial, cutting-edge space technology that will be in demand in a growing global market."    

The four projects will:

- Begin the development of the Next Generation Telecommunications satellite platform.  The work is focused on developing the mechanical platform architecture for future European telecommunications satellites in the 3 to 6 tonne range. This project will also prepare  UK companies to take leading roles in future European Space Agency programmes to develop telecommunication space technologies;

- Develop a ruggedised and light-weight portable Ka-Band satcom terminal. This “suitcase” terminal will provide portable and mobile access to the latest generation of high bandwidth satellite broadband services;

- Develop a system and service for measuring land carbon stocks and fluxes from Satellite Earth observation data. This service will provide much higher resolution services than are currently available and enable the monitoring and trading of carbon credits and similar commercial tools for tackling climate change;

- Prepare the way for the planned UK NovaSAR Synthetic aperture radar mission by accelerating the technology development of an innovative S-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument.