Proactive Investors - The UK Space Agency has issued a call for space innovation technologies that could receive up to £65 million of funding.
The National Space Innovation Programme is seeking proposals that drive innovation in the space arena, which is heating up with the entrance of private players such as Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX, Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB) and Jeff Bezos’s start-up Blue Origin.
More than US$47 billion of private capital has been invested across the global space sector since 2015, with the UK accounting for 17% of this investment.
The national space programme will make £34 million of funding available to drive innovation and catalyse investment in the UK space sector. It plans to invest the remainder of the money into projects that will run until March 2027 through future funding calls in 2024 and 2025.
George Freeman MP, Minister for Space at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “Our space sector is constantly advancing thanks to pioneering new ideas from our world-class scientists and technologists that push the potential of British innovation at its best.
“Investing in these projects not only bolsters the UK’s seat at the table of the global space community, but it unlocks future business and job opportunities that will accelerate the growth of our nation’s £17.5 billion space sector.”
As well as major projects, the funding will be invested in a kick-starter scheme designed to provide support to early-stage disruptive innovation.
The programme has previously invested in companies such as infrared satellite building emissions disrupter SatVu and a miniature laser optical communications prototype by Northumbria University that could support future space missions.
It has also funded Welsh company Space Forge’s retractable solar panels for reusable satellites, and Imperial College London’s research into metal additive manufacturing for space usage that could allow for replacement parts to be printed in space.
The innovation programme has provided £25 million of funding to organisations in the UK since its inception as part of a pilot launch in 2020.