Scotland’s space sector will receive a £4.6m funding boost to accelerate breakthrough technologies, the UK Space Agency has announced.
The funding includes a £3.7m sum from the Agency’s National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP), which will go towards four Scottish universities to advance innovations in the likes of satellites and ways of monitoring pollution from space.
The news comes on the opening day of the biggest space industry event ever held in the country, Space-Comm Expo Scotland.
More than 2,300 delegates, 100 speakers and 80 exhibitors are attending the conference at Glasgow’s SEC campus.
Dr Natasha Nicholson, chief executive of Space Scotland, said the new investment was a vote of confidence in the country’s space sector.
“These projects demonstrate the strength of our research base and the talent driving advancements in secure communications, environmental monitoring, and resilient navigation — technologies that will shape the future of global space infrastructure,” she said.
The four universities receiving funding include the University of Edinburgh, for work developing an instrument to measure pollution from space.
Also benefitting are the University of Strathclyde, to develop a satellite navigation system that doesn’t rely on GPS, and Heriot-Watt University to help build a quantum communication transmitter for small satellites.
Strathclyde will receive further funding as part of a consortium led by the University of Bristol. It is developing a UV-based device to enable secure data transmission between satellites, strengthening cybersecurity in orbit.
Scotland Office Minister Kirsty McNeill, who is giving a keynote speech at the expo, said the Scottish space sector was now “a vitally important industry”.
She said: “With our globally renowned expertise in designing and building satellites and rockets, world-leading universities and research centres analysing and applying space data, a commitment to sustainability and unrivalled geographical launch advantages, Scotland is rightly positioned at the forefront of the ever accelerating space revolution.”
The Scottish government’s Business Minister Richard Lochhead said the funding will help accelerate the industry.
“Scotland’s space sector and wider supply chain is already delivering on its significant economic potential but also helping solve some of the world’s most important challenges from climate change to telecommunications,” he said.
“This funding from the National Space Innovation Programme will help accelerate this work, leveraging our world-class universities to ensure the country’s industry remains at the forefront of space technology development and advancement.”
Further funding includes £350,000 for Space Scotland to strengthen capabilities in Earth Observation and In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing (ISAM) by fostering new partnerships between academia, industry, and government.
Another £410,000 of funding will go towards the OXYGEN project, aimed at making lunar exploration more sustainable. Partners in the project include the University of Glasgow.
The two day Space-Comm Expo will include talks and panels on topics including spaceports, rocket launches, satellite manufacturing, computing, AI and robotics.
Speakers include James ‘JD’ Polk, the chief health and medical officer at Nasa, astronaut and pilot David Mackay and Dr Sian Proctor, the first woman commercial spaceship pilot.
Space Agency statistics show that Scotland accounts for 13% of total UK space sector employment, with about 7,120 people employed, making it the third-largest employer after London (33%) and the South East (17%).