Defence Minister has announced a £1.5
million investment in 12 ground-breaking space innovation projects.
The announcement marks the next step in the Defence Science and
Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) ‘Space to Innovate’ competition,
which sought to find and fund new technologies that could improve
the UK’s resilience, awareness and capability in space.
The competition, run on behalf of Dstl by the Defence and
Security Accelerator, the MOD’s innovation hub, received more
than 60 bids from innovators around the world.
The successful entries cover the full spectrum of innovative
ideas, from state-of-the-art imaging technology developed at the
University of Strathclyde, to futuristic optical communication
technology from mBryonics.
The announcement was made by Defence Minister at the UK Space
Conference, which brings together government, industry and
academia to discuss the challenges and opportunities offered by
space. She said:
It’s vital we harness the ideas of the brightest and best
innovators to improve the UK’s resilience and awareness in
space.
Faced with growing threats to UK interests, programmes like
those selected today will boost our intelligence capability and
help us stay ahead of our adversaries.
The successful bidders will share more than £1.5m of funding,
provided jointly by Dstl and the UK Space Agency’s (UKSA)
National Space Technology Programme, to further develop the
concepts.
Key challenges outlined in the competition include the
development of technology to boost the surveillance capability of
UK satellites and identify potentially hostile actors in space.
Gary Aitkenhead, Dstl’s Chief Executive, said:
Our role at Dstl is to provide innovative solutions,
underpinning science and technology to access the best space
has to offer for defence and security, but also to protect our
interests against growing threats.
I am delighted that the competition has unearthed a breadth of
UK expertise from a good mix of industry, academia, and SMEs.
And I welcome the UK Space Agency’s investment which will
ensure that the civilian market will also benefit.
Dr Graham Turnock, UK Space Agency Chief Executive said:
The UK Space Agency is leading cross-government efforts to grow
a strategic capability in space-based systems, technologies and
applications.
The National Space Technology Programme provides vital,
early-stage support to innovative technologies which have the
potential to play a leading role in future space activities.
The initial stage of development will complete with a
demonstration day in summer 2020, at which point further funding
may be available.
The publication of the winning bids follows a string of recent
announcements on the UK’s military space programme.
At the RAF’s Air & Space Power Conference, the MOD
established a new transatlantic team of government and industry
personnel, named Team ARTEMIS, to lead a small satellite launch
programme and undertake research into the military uses of small
satellites.
The MOD also announced the UK as the first formal partner in the
US-led Operation Olympic Defender - a multinational military
effort formed to strengthen deterrence against hostile actors in
space, enhance resilience and preserve the safety of spaceflight.
At the DSEi conference earlier this month, the MOD awarded a
contract worth almost £70 million to QinetiQ to develop enhanced
satellite receivers and noted its intention to tender contracts
to develop the £6 billion SKYNET 6 programme over the next few
months.
The UK has a rapidly growing space sector estimated to have
generated an income of £15.5 billion last year and employing
almost 42,000 people.
The full list of the successful bids can be found
by clicking here.
