Space Age Scotland

When Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth in 1961 and Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon in 1969, the night sky began to glow with infinite possibilities.

Since then, giant steps have been made in how humans view the galaxy above. From Google satellite mapping to advanced weather forecasting and satellite television, industries have grown from what was once seen as untouchable. Now Scottish thinkers are helping define where the space industry will be in the decades to come.

The UKube-1

Recently, a company in Glasgow, Clyde Space, was awarded the rights by the new UK Space Agency to design a tiny, cube-shaped satellite that will allow British Space experts to explore some of the questions about the solar system.

Smaller than a home computer, UKube-1 will be launched in mid 2011. Possible future uses could be space weather and atmospheric studies, particle science or even early detection for bush fires or Tsunamis.

"Previously, as a company, we only built sub-systems. Now we will be able to build a complete satellite," says Ritchie Logan, Business Development expert at Clyde Space, sited at the West of Scotland Science Park.

"Companies like ourselves are now moving away from cube-sats as merely educational tools to exploring new uses. The technology has been shrunk so much, it is now much more economical. What we are doing proves this type of highly-skilled activity can be done in Scotland. Clyde Space is now a world leader, for example, in power systems for cube-sats."

Supporting space missions

The awarding of the contract to a Scottish firm by the UK Space Agency is only one example of the mark the country is leaving upon a dynamic industry supporting 68,000 UK jobs and generating £6 billion for the British economy.

The standard equipment now used by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), ESA (European Space Agency) and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) for communications on board spacecraft was conceived in Dundee.

STAR-Dundee Ltd are the global leading developer and supporter of SpaceWire technology, a computer network used to connect elements like sensors or telescopes on board spacecraft.

Constantly enhancing this revolutionary technology, STAR-Dundee has sold SpaceWire to over 20 countries to date. NASA's acclaimed Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, currently surveying the Moon, is charting the surface with the help of STAR-Dundee's SpaceWire systems.

Beating a path to Glasgow

It is not only in the development of SpaceWire or micro satellites that Scotland is setting standards, the country is rapidly becoming a benchmark in space science and research.

In June 2010, the first Scottish Space Systems Symposium was held at The Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, University of Strathclyde, in conjunction with Scottish Enterprise. Designed to bring core elements of the national industry together, the Symposium was also attended by Martin Ditter, Director of the new ESA centre in Harwell, Oxfordshire.

"People are starting to come here because they are realising that what Scotland is doing is quite distinct," says Professor Colin McInnes, Director of The Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory.

"In Scotland, the concentration is on micro-spacecraft rather than large, production-line output."

Enlightened thinking

At the laboratory at Strathclyde University, companies such as Astrium, the third biggest space enterprise on the planet, are working with the academic team. Astrium was the main contractor for ESA's Columbus Laboratory and cargo vessel on the International Space Station. ESA also collaborates with Professor McInnes and his team on formulating progressive space concepts.

"We are getting large companies like Astrium here, not for short-term problems, but fresh thinking on what space can do in the future. It fits well with Scotland as the home of the Enlightenment. There has always been unconventional thinking coming out of Scotland and I think this is what is happening with space as well. We are trying to develop the powerhouse of knowledge and innovation and spin that off into the commercial industry."

The future of space

Scotland's presence in space is not wholly new. Raytheon, has been developing space components from its base in Glenrothes, Fife, since the 1960s. In the eighties, Edinburgh firm Ferranti built the initial navigation platform used for the Ariane launch vehicle.

However, it is in shaping the future of the industry that Scottish minds are now focused. In Space science the stakes are high but Scotland's reach can be astral, according to McInnes.

"There has been a big growth in the commercial Scottish space industry to a point where the country is going to be a world leader in micro or nano satellites. As the UK industry grows, it is a tremendous opportunity for the industry in Scotland to do likewise."