Investment

Scotland’s competitive advantage

Scottish companies and research organisations have made exceptional strides in space technology and development over the years.

Projects include STAR-Dundee [LINK], which developed Space Wire – the language which allows different systems on spacecraft to communicate with each other.

Scotland is also a world leader in space thermal batteries - lightweight, long life and reliable batteries that function under extreme conditions.

Glasgow-based ClydeSpace is presently working for the UK Space Agency to design a mini-satellite for the UK’s first ever cube-sat launch.

The tiny, cube-shaped satellite – UKube-1 – will allow British space experts to explore some of the questions about the solar system. Weighing less than 5Kg, UKube-1 will be launched in mid-2011.

As risk and cost reduction is important to major satellite organisations, Scotland’s satellite component manufacturers, which can operate at a lower cost than competing locations, while delivering highly reliable products have proven successful.

Scotland has a number of satellite ground tracking stations which are ideally positioned to track objects in polar orbits and receive information from Space across major areas of Europe and the Atlantic.

Opportunities and growth

The space technology sector in Scotland is dynamic – the industry continues to innovate and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.

A number of Scottish companies and research groups are working at the forefront of space technology and collaborating with space divisions and agencies around the world.

With the entry of emerging countries such as China and India into the nations of space nations, there could be greater opportunities as increased spending is focused on placing people and objects in to space.

Due to the continued increase in demand for bandwidth and data communication, military nations will continue to put satellites into space, with a focus on the opportunities that can be generated for reducing both risk and cost.

Developing nations will increasingly seek to use space based data communications rather than traditional infrastructure, creating large demand for satellites.