-
DASA has
launched the Charlie Drop of the Space to Innovate Campaign
- Up to £1.5 million in funding available for innovative
technologies that can aid UK Defence and Security to develop
future space science and technologies
- The Space to Innovate Campaign – Charlie Drop is the third
‘challenge drop’ as part of the Space to Innovate Campaign
The Defence and Security
Accelerator (DASA) and Defence Science and
Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Space
Programme are pleased to launch the Charlie Drop of the
Space to Innovate Campaign. The Charlie Drop seeks proposals that
can aid UK Defence and Security to develop future space science
and technologies.
Charlie Drop follows on from the Alpha and Bravo Drops, and
offers a broader range of challenge areas to explore novel
solutions.
What innovations is DASA looking
for?
- novel ways to achieve fine resolution collection for
intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance (ISR)
- technologies and techniques to alert, protect and defend
satellites
- satellite and ground segment technologies for future Defence
operations
Tony Forsythe, Head of Space technology at the UK Space
Agency, said:
The UK has a fast-growing space sector that makes a significant
contribution to our economy and security. We rely on similar
underpinning technologies for civil and defence uses of space
and, by working together with our partners at Dstl and
DASA, we
can tackle shared challenges and seize significant new
opportunities. With the Space to Innovate – Charlie Drop
competition, we are supporting the development of future space
science and technology that can benefit us all.
Key dates and funding
The total funding available for Space to Innovate – Charlie Drop
is £1.5 million (excl VAT). DASA expects to fund
between 3 and 12 proposals over a 24 month period.
The deadline to submit a proposal is 12 midday BST on Wednesday
12 July 2023.
Space to Innovate – Charlie Drop Challenge Areas
Charlie Drop aims to attract novel scientific and technological
solutions from a broad range of innovators, including academia
and industry, to address the UK’s Defence and Security space
challenges.
Space to Innovate – Charlie Drop has 3 challenge areas which
address themes set out by the Defence Space
Strategy.
Challenge Area 1: Novel ways to achieve fine resolution
collection for intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance
(ISR)
This challenge area seeks technologies and scientific techniques
to achieve fine resolution imaging for space-based ISR /
Earth Observation, especially from non-Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Challenge Area 2: Technologies and techniques to alert,
protect and defend satellites
This challenge area seeks methods to provide warning of threats,
and types of threats to critical Defence and Security assets in
space.
Challenge Area 3: Satellite and ground segment
technologies for future Defence operations
This challenge seeks to develop technologies for satellite
platforms and ground segments of specific relevance to Defence
and Security applications.
Read the full competition document
to learn more about the challenge areas.
Supporting eventsQ&A
Webinar
Join us on Wednesday 25 May 2023 for a webinar that will provide
further detail on Space to Innovate – Charlie Drop and its
challenge areas. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask
questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate,
please register on the Eventbrite
page.
One-to-one Sessions
20-minute one-on-one teleconference sessions that provide you
with the opportunity to ask specific questions you may have.
Submit a proposal
Do you have an innovation that can aid UK Defence and Security to
develop future space science and technologies?
Read the full competition
document to learn more and submit a proposal.
What is the Space to Innovate Campaign?
The Space to Innovate Campaign was set up to aid UK Defence and
Security to develop future space science and technologies. As the
third drop in the Space to Innovate Campaign, Charlie Drop
follows on from Alpha Drop and Bravo Drops.
The Alpha Drop and Bravo Drops addressed challenges in areas such
as visualisation tools for exploiting data from multiple sources,
characterisation techniques, ISR
technologies and improving signal-to-noise performance of
communications and tracking.
The Charlie Drop follows the success of the Alpha Drop, which
awarded £1.6 million in contracts to 8 innovators, and Bravo
Drop, which awarded £1 million in contracts to 5 innovators.
Learn more here.
