FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS: THE SPACE RACE IS ON

The UK space sector generates an income of £15 billion every year, but the global space industry is predicted to be worth $350 billion. The UK government wants to gain a 10 per cent share of the global space market by 2030 and is investing. This really is rocket science and it’s exciting

Space launch from British soil one step closer

Sixty years after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to journey into outer space, the government is looking to give the go-ahead to spaceflight from UK soil. Over the last few months, ministers have been inviting industry, stakeholders and the public to have their say on the rules that will govern a UK spaceflight programme.

Such legislation will supercharge the development of commercial spaceflight, from vertical rockets to high-altitude balloons and spaceplanes, and launches could take place within a few years.

Spaceport locations in the UK could be built in Scotland, Newquay in Cornwall and Snowdonia in North Wales. At present, there are no spaceports in Europe.

Spaceports are the future, but the UK is already a global leader in commercial small satellite research and development, and it’s this technology which will more quickly help the UK grow our share of the global space market to 10 per cent by 2030.

The government has awarded nearly £40 million in grants to establish commercial vertical and horizontal small satellite launches from UK spaceports. But private enterprise isn’t waiting for these.

Open Cosmos satellites aim to connect hard-to-read areas across the globe

In March space technology company Open Cosmos launched two commercial nanosatellites built at its Harwell Campus facility in the heart of the UK’s space industry in Oxfordshire.

The launch saw the two nanosatellites launched aboard the Soyuz-2 rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan where Sputnik was launched. One of the Open Cosmos satellites is the latest addition to the Lacuna Space IoT constellation. Lacuna (which is also based at Harwell), is developing an “Internet of Things” (IoT) constellation of small satellites that can link connected objects anywhere in the world. It aims to provide low-cost, reliable global connections to sensors and mobile equipment.

Open Cosmos will be monitoring and operating the mission from four ground stations around the globe.

Open Cosmos and Lacuna Space are part of a new generation of companies leading the way for the UK space industry. The sector employs almost 42,000 people, more than 1,000 of whom work at Harwell, Europe’s most concentrated SpaceTech cluster, which launched in 2015 as Open Cosmos was just beginning operations.

Open Cosmos operates space missions from start to finish by manufacturing and building satellites as well as handling the mission, satellite operation and services. The company, set up five years ago, wants to make it more affordable for small businesses and governments to use satellites to access the data they need to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges from climate change, to civil protection, emergencies and infrastructure.

Rafel Jordá, founder and CEO of Open Cosmos, said: “These launches mark a major milestone for Open Cosmos, demonstrating the capacity of low-cost satellites to provide IoT connectivity to remote parts of the world and collect data.”

The world’s economy increasingly relies on IoT which in turn relies on technology enabled by satellites to connect economies and manage supply chains.

“With £300 billion of wider UK GDP supported by satellite services, Open Cosmos is key to unlocking these services and making them more accessible for businesses and governments across the world,” added Rafel. “We’re also extremely proud that these latest launches have been made possible by working closely with the UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, the UK’s Satellite Applications Catapult and all our partner companies at Harwell Campus and abroad.”

Lacuna Space enables miniature sensors to be connected to the internet no matter where they are in the world, even in the most remote and hostile locations.

Sensors in these locations are being used to manage water and power distribution networks, protect endangered species and track goods across global supply chains. The IoT revolution is now transforming industries such as utilities, agriculture and asset management.

Another Harwell-based company, Oxford Space Systems, was also instrumental in Open Cosmos’ recent launch. It provided the innovative deployable antenna that goes on top of Lacuna’s IoT satellite receiver and is able to receive short messages directly from small, batterypowered devices on the ground.

The satellite was tested within the Disruptive Innovation Space Centre of the Satellite Applications Catapult and RAL Space testing facilities, both of which are based at Harwell. Such close collaboration among space start-ups, scale-ups and stakeholders is enabling this new breed of companies to grow.

Following these two launches, Open Cosmos will look to expand its commercial offering, delivering constellations for private companies and governments in need of accurate global and information services.

The company has 10 missions under development at the moment – including the MANTIS mission in partnership with the European Space Agency-Incubed programme and the UK Space Agency.

This aims to provide high-resolution imagery, and in-orbit partnership with the Satellite Applications Catapult that will test innovative services in orbit.

These satellites will be key to powering our digital transformation.

UK Space Agency launches multi-millionpound drive to design hospital of the future

Space technology could also be deployed here on earth following the government inviting the UK’s space innovators to help design a new “space age” hospital.

It wants to explore whether technologies pioneered on missions to Mars or the International Space Station could help treat patients and make life easier for NHS staff.

Up to £5 million of UK Space Agency funding is available to support a joint initiative with the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to modernise its hospitals.

The programme is part of the government’s Health Infrastructure Plan, which includes the provision of 40 new hospitals across England by 2030.

The space-enabled services might include new diagnostic tools, improved logistics by tracing goods or using drones, improving hospital parking or better patient reach using tele-rehabilitation or care.

Space is already playing an important role in supporting healthcare.

The UK Space Agency has funded projects to help the NHS tackle the Coronavirus pandemic, including electric drones that navigate via satellite-enabled GPS, carrying COVID-19 samples, test-kits and PPE to improve delivery times and free up transport infrastructure.

Health technologies inspired by space technologies have already helped provide real-time diagnosis of bowel cancer, developed more compact 3D X-ray machines and improved healthcare in the community through both remote diagnostics and an app targeting people at risk of social isolation and mental health issues.