£2.5 Million Investment to Grow UK Space Technology Industry

Twenty-two British companies are to share £2.5 million of government support to enable them to develop commercial products and services using space technology or space-derived data. The grant funding from the UK Space Agency, the Technology Strategy Board and the South East England Development Agency will support twenty-eight fast-track

research and development projects, each lasting between 6 and 9 months. Including match-funding from the businesses involved, the total value of the R&D is nearly £5 million. Projects will cover a broad range of growth opportunities, ranging from novel propulsion for cubesats; through technology to exploit the Galileo navigation satellite system; to techniques for crop monitoring from space. The investment forms part of the UK Space Agency's National Space Technology Programme (NSTP), which will see government investment of £10 million to help UK industry exploit growth opportunities in the space sector and improve the UK's space technology capabilities. Dr David Williams, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said "The UK space industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country, contributing £7.5 billion annually to the UK economy. The National Space Technology Programme will help us further this success by providing an opportunity for promising UK space technologies and applications to be developed to meet their full commercial potential and for businesses to explore collaborations with other sectors to establish services in new markets."