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NOVEMBER 4, 2016 SHANÉ SCHUTTE
Ten British space firms soon to enter US orbit
A mission organised by Innovate UK will see British space firms visit key players in the US from 5-11 November in a bid to secure investment and win business.
Ten SMEs are preparing for a government-backed trade mission to the US
Ten SMEs are preparing for a government-backed trade mission to the US
British space firms have ensured the sector punches above its weight globally, dominating 11.2 per cent of the market for the operation of space vehicles and 10.3 per cent of the market in data and services provided by satellites. It also directly employs 37,000 people and has more than doubled its turnover over the past decade to £11.8bn a year, delivering an average annual growth in turnover of 8.8 per cent since 2000.

All systems are go – British space firms are prepping for US orbit

This phenomenal growth hasn’t stopped UKspace from writing to science minister Jo Johnson, the Financial Times reported. The trade body is worried about being booted from the European Galileo satellite navigation system project after the referendum vote, which the FT said was “a significant driver behind our ambition of taking ten per cent of the global space market by 2030”.

It comes as no surprise then that British space firms are branching out, with ten SMEs preparing for a government-backed trade mission to the US. With some of the innovative ideas hoping to make it big including a system which alerts the emergency services if a motorcyclist has crashed, we just had to take a closer look at the firms looking to win business abroad.

Archangel Aerospace

“Only ten per cent of the data generated by earth observation today can be transmitted to the ground,” explained the Space Mission UK website. “This will drop to
It was initially built to assist with the Zephyr programme. In an interview, Archangel’s CEO, Daniel Sola, said: “The story behind Zephyr is an interesting one. At the end of the First World War, Royal Aircraft Establishment was banned from making airplanes, so the engineers pooled their own funds to develop an aircraft called Zephyr.”

Atout Process

The company itself provides quite an intriguing explanation of one of the things it’s been working on: “Atout leaps forward with the futuristic answer to today’s most accurate measurement taken inside a pipe. Our ECT (Electrical Capacitance Tomography) is the equivalent of a body scanner but for pipes and tanks. It is cheaper than a medical body scanner and 1,000 times faster. The information it gathers can be just as critical, particularly when working on something as far reaching as our latest space project, where the amount of fuel in a tank can make the difference between life and death!”

it’s no wonder then that since being established in 2010, Atout has grown significantly, even going so far as to reposition itself around measuring propellants in space as competition picks up.
Using sci-fi to lure talent to UK space sector – one dominated by satellites and manufacturing

Shané Schutte July 14, 2015
E2e Services

One of the British space firms flying the flag for our well-known penchant for delivering in the satellite sector us E2e. It recently received delivery of a prototype satellite data unit for a NEAT™access communications device. This, it claimed, is a 12 layer board, about credit-card size which is the core of the satellite terminal under development.

It also suggested on its site: “We plan to introduce managed communications services into niche markets by 2018. These services will initially be targeted at managing remote assets (fixed or mobile) and facilities by providing data communications in locations currently underserved by existing communications or as an alternative to present costly systems. Once the service is established, additional markets will be addressed including the capability to serve as a backup to or auxiliary for, services needed in hot-spots (e.g. cities) due to congestion problems or high costs.”

Goonhilly Earth Station

This is arguably one of the better-known British space firms heading to the US. It acquired the Goonhilly satellite station from BT in 2014 and is now home to some of the largest antennas in Europe. Founded by entrepreneur Ian Jones, the company plans to forge ahead in a number of commercial and scientific endeavours. One such “mission” is a journey to the moon. In 2019, when private moon missions begin, Goonhilly will launch a spacecraft named “Lunar Pathfinder” – built in the UK by SSTL, and tracked and operated by Goonhilly.

Lunar Pathfinder will carry customer-owned nano-satellites to lunar orbit. Once in orbit, Lunar Pathfinder will release the nano-satellites, some of which will remain in orbit, while others would land on the moon’s surface.

Continue to find out what other UK representatives will be making the trip to the US – such as the firm planning to make space TV a reality.


NOVEMBER 4, 2016 SHANÉ SCHUTTE
Ten British space firms soon to enter US orbit
A mission organised by Innovate UK will see British space firms visit key players in the US from 5-11 November in a bid to secure investment and win business.
Ten SMEs are preparing for a government-backed trade mission to the US
Ten SMEs are preparing for a government-backed trade mission to the US
Open Cosmos

According to the Space Mission UK site: “Open Cosmos provides simple and affordable space access. It solves the three main space access barriers – technology, paperwork and cost. It does this by offering an in-house built nano-satellite platform and a series of services around it (e.g. launch and ground segment procurement, licensing and insurance paperwork, in-orbit operations) so that the customer only has to take care of providing the payload.”

It’s pretty much a one-stop-shop space access provider and has only been in the UK since July 2015. Further to that, it managed to launch its first nano-satellite in four months and is now testing the second generation of its nano-satellite platform.

Oxford Space Systems

What we’ll refer to as OSS (Oxford Space Systems), is backed by a small consortium of venture capital funds dedicated to British space firms, with financial support also coming from the likes of the European and UK Space Agencies. It anticipates Series B fundraising in early of 2017.

Once again, the best description comes from Space Mission UK, which explained: “Market pressure drives satellites to be ever more mass and volume efficient. This means deployable structures such as antennas, solar panels and booms are under constant pressure to be as light and as stowage efficient as possible. OSS uses its flight proven proprietary materials, such as flexible composites, to deliver structures that are lighter, more stowage efficient and lower cost than those in current demand.”

REALsafe Technologies

Of all the British space firms on the list, this one is quite unique. It is an app designed to detect if a motorcyclist has crashed and will immediately notify emergency services of a rider’s location. The company has a partnership with the NHS, and was created in response to statistics which claim UK motorcyclists represent one per cent of traffic on the road yet account for up to 20 per cent of fatalities.

Embedded within REALRIDER – the name of the app itself – REALsafe monitors a smartphone’s accelerometer together with satellite positioning data. Key sensors in the smartphone look for changes such as rapid deceleration, a tumbling motion, followed by a period of non-movement.

SEN

Similarly, moving away from the trend of satellite manufacturing, is Sen, which is creating – wait for it – space television. It sells high resolution video data and analytics to customers, it claimed, which will include government organisations and businesses monitoring change on Earth. It also has educational purposes up its sleeve: it wants to change the way humans see Earth and space.

“Sen plans to deploy constellations of its spacecraft around the Moon and eventually Mars, commercialising space exploration data,” it explained. “The firm will also be generating original video content for consumers which it will market through news and social media. Governments, businesses and people need to know what is happening on Earth, and eventually on and around the Moon and Mars as the space economy expands to these locations.”

Sky and Space Global

“Sky and Space Global, a UK company incorporated with the help of European and Israeli centers of aerospace, satellite and software, will deploy a nano-satellite’s constellation in orbit and provide global narrowband communication infrastructure and services,” Space Mission UK has said.

“The company is now funded beyond the Q2 2017 launch of its first three satellites with the Indian Space Research Organisation, following the completion of its recent oversubscribed $4.5m fund raising. Sky and Space Global aims to provide low cost, nano-satellite narrowband communication coverage on an anywhere to everywhere base with relatively low maintenance costs.”

TISICS

Last, but not least, is TISICS. Since a management buyout in 2005, it has developed lightweight high performance metal matrix composites (MMC) reinforced with its proprietary ceramic fibre. And the company has been cited as being the only European supplier of MMC.

TISICS owns the fibre to composite design and manufacturing technology and is working with Airbus Defence and Space, TAS UK, SSTL, Reaction Engines and ESA, while focusing on spacecraft propellant tanks as customers seek a UK supply chain.