UK Space Agency to offer £15m in funding for satellite technologies

The UK Space Agency is making new funding available for satellite Earth Observation (EO) technologies.

The £15 million in funding will back the research and experimental development of space-based instruments, aimed at supporting a range of environmental services, which could include meteorology, climate monitoring, environmental management, agriculture and urban planning, and improving scientific knowledge.

The UK Space Agency said it hopes the funding will help to accelerate the development of UK EO technologies, “which could be flown on satellites in the next few years.”

“Earth Observation technology is critical to tackling the fundamental challenges of our age – from monitoring climate change to responding to humanitarian disasters – and so we owe it to the future of our planet to harness the UK’s world-leading skills in this field,” said the minister of state at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, George Freeman.

“This £15m investment will boost our economy and drive forward our ambition to make the UK a science superpower,” he added.

The funding, delivered by the Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI), is part of a £400 million package announced last November to support the EO sector in the UK.

The Earth Observation Technology Programme funding will cover Pathfinder projects of up to £75,000 and Fast Track projects of up to £250,000 both of which will support new ideas for technology development, including early-stage research and lab-based experimental hardware.

Flagship projects will see up to £3 million in funding, and will help develop technologies further, including instruments in relevant environments such as vacuum chambers and airborne demonstration flights.

“Satellite technology is essential to our daily lives, helping us to monitor climate change and protect our environment, manage our resources, respond to global humanitarian disasters, and support sustainable development,” said Harshbir Sangha, missions and capabilities delivery director at the UK Space Agency.

“This funding will help catalyse investment across the sector to support a range of innovative projects, from developing new sensor technologies to using the data for improved understanding of climate change,” Sangha concluded.

Currently, satellites are already being used by Microsoft to monitor homes in India that may be overheating due to rising temperatures, and satellite firm Astrocast’s satellites are also being used by climate researchers to keep track of the rate of glaciers melting.