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The UK government has announced £15m in funding to support research and development for space instruments in order to advance Earth Observation (EO) technologies in the country. This funding will play a crucial role in potential satellite deployment in the upcoming years.

The funding allocation includes three categories of projects: Pathfinder projects with budgets of up to £75,000, Fast Track projects with budgets of up to £250,000, and Flagship projects with budgets of up to £3m. Pathfinder and Fast Track projects focus on developing technological concepts through initial-stage research and experiments in laboratory settings. On the other hand, Flagship projects aim to advance technology development by conducting trials of instruments in vacuum chambers and demonstrations aboard airborne flights.

George Freeman, the Minister for Science, Innovation, and Technology, highlighted the importance of EO technology in addressing critical challenges such as monitoring climate change and responding to humanitarian disasters. He emphasized harnessing the UK’s world-leading skills in this field to secure the future of the planet.

The funding for the EO technology program is administered by the Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI) as part of a £400m package unveiled in November 2022 to support the UK’s EO sector. Since 2016, the EO technology program has already provided £20m for 57 projects.

The CEOI’s director, Chris Brownsword, commended the previous impacts of CEOI calls in bringing together academia and industry to develop UK-owned technologies in the EO community. He expressed excitement for the potential successes that this new funding call can enable.

In addition to this funding, the UK Space Agency has already allocated £3.7m between 2020 and 2022 for the development of new technology focused on Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) and debris removal. Currently, the Earth’s orbit is cluttered with over 25,000 fragments of space debris exceeding ten centimeters in size, resulting from satellite launches, collisions, explosions, and natural degradation.

The commitment of the UK government to funding EO technology development underscores the country’s dedication to staying at the forefront of this critical sector.

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