The city’s Space Park has been selected as the location for one of three regional bases for the UK Space Agency
By Mark Cantrell
THE Midlands region is evidently becoming quite the centre for the UK’s space sector; continuing this trend, Leicester was recently selected as one of three regional bases for the government-backed agency tasked with nurturing the industry’s growth across the nation.
Leicester, via the city’s university, has form in nurturing space-related industries, and so there was an inevitable draw, there, in terms of locating a regional base of the UK Space Agency.
The Agency has selected Space Park Leicester to set up operations; a venue billed as a pioneering £100-million science and innovation park, that has established a track-record of pulling in private sector firms, and start-ups, to work on the site.
“Space scientists at the University of Leicester have a long history of working with the UK Space Agency on numerous space missions and programmes spanning upstream technology development and downstream science,” said professor Richard Ambrosi, executive director of Space Park Leicester.
“University of Leicester expertise has supported missions with UK Space Agency involvement, such as the European Space Agency’s Bepi Colombo mission to Mercury, the Rosalind Franklin Mission to Mars, the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer mission to launch in 2025, and carbon monitoring mission MicroCarb just to name a few.”
The move is said to be aligned with the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda. The expansion, it’s claimed, will enable the agency to collaborate more closely with the UK’s “thriving space sector”, while “promoting” regional skills and job opportunities. The aim is to deliver “increasingly ambitious missions and capabilities”.
Space Park Leicester was officially opened by British astronaut Tim Peake in March 2022. Since then, it is credited with having established itself as the second largest campus-based cluster with a dedicated space focus in the UK, and generated an estimated £89 million for the economy in its first year.
History of science
Recent projects to receive support from UK Space Agency at Leicester include work on carbon mapping sensors for monitoring greenhouse gas emission management programmes in Bahrain.
Funding has also been awarded for a Midlands space cluster development manager to work with local government, businesses and academia. The incumbent in this role will be expected to coordinate space activity, and encourage collaboration and inward investment in the Midlands, as well as to the Midland Aerospace Alliance’s pivot into Space R&D programme.
At the start of the year, University of Leicester scientists also received funding from the UK Space Agency’s Space Science and Exploration Bilateral Programme to deliver (with other UK and Spanish collaborators) a Raman spectroscopy instrument for commercial lunar rover and lander missions, investigating minerals on the Moon. This is intended to help in understanding whether this is a resource that could be used for longer term lunar exploration.
“We are delighted that the UK Space Agency is joining our dynamic and collaborative community at Space Park Leicester,” said professor Sarah Davis, pro-vice chancellor of the university, and its head of the College of Science & Engineering.
“Space Park draws together colleagues from industry and academia who are working in space, and the space-enabled sectors, and whose activities and objectives are consistent with those outlined in the recently-published Space Industrial Plan.
“Given the value of the UK space sector to our economy, locating [UK Space Agency] offices in places such as Space City Leicester will be crucial to realising the UK’s ambitions in Space and the University of Leicester is committed to supporting that endeavour.”
Science cluster
The UK Space Agency is also opening new headquarters at the Harwell Science Campus’ Space Cluster in Oxfordshire, and regional offices in Scotland, Wales and the Midlands as it works to support the space sector across the UK.
The new structure is expected to create “significant opportunities” to build on high-growth areas, such as Earth observation and satellite broadband. It will also seek to help the UK establish early leadership in emerging markets such as in orbit spacecraft servicing, active space debris removal, and the new lunar economy
“This is a transformational moment for the UK Space Agency, responding directly to the feedback that the agency should be embedded in the sector, said Dr Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency.
“Our new headquarters, located at the UK’s biggest space cluster in Harwell, will connect to new regional offices in Leicester, Edinburgh and Cardiff, and our existing London and Swindon teams, helping us recruit space talent from across the nation and deliver the National Space Strategy.
“Space Park Leicester is a vital part of both Space City Leicester and the broader Midlands Space Cluster, with both a national and international focus. As the city’s hub for space research and innovation, since opening in 2022, it’s crucial we nurture Space Park Leicester’s skills and expertise and connect them with the wider sector to ensure we continue this journey.”
MC
Thanks for taking the time to read this post.
For the price of a cup of coffee you’d not only be showing your appreciation of the writer’s efforts, but also helping to support an indie author in these difficult times.
Drop by Ko-Fi to make a donation.
Thanks in advance for your support. It is gratefully received.
Mark Cantrell, Author 