"The curing characteristics of the TC275-1 resin system will be investigated using state of the art thermal and chemical analysis techniques at NPL. A new method will be established to assess the degree of cure of this composite resin system that will be reliable and consistent.
The ability to measure the degree of cure will allow Airbus to use a new resin in the manufacture of the lightweight composite structure of its telecommunication satellites. This will enable Airbus to develop new out-of-autoclave manufacturing processes that will provide significant cost savings by simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing build-times. The cost advantage will offer a significant commercial advantage over non UK competitors. In financial terms, if this enables us to win just one new contract for a satellite, it would be worth over £10 million to the UK economy. The use of this new resin will also increase the British content of our satellites, replacing an overseas resin supplier with a UK based manufacturer. This will secure jobs not only at Airbus in Stevenage, but also within the supply chain."
The maturation of space robotics has paved the way for new capabilities for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM). These capabilities offersignificant business opportunities and promise to increase the efficiency and resilience of the orbital infrastructure. It will open a completely new market with the potential to shape a new ecosystem in space. In order to seize this opportunity and prevent US companies from monopolizing the market, a European ISAM capacity must be built up. The project has two distinct goals: First, to undertake a market analysis of in-space services, in-space assembly and manufacturing, and related domains, and develop two reference scenarios that will be further analysed and used to define an end-to-end demonstration scenario. Second, to use the demonstration scenario to mature the building blocks and relevant robotic elements that have been started to be developed in Europe during the last years and to establish an open-source process for the continuing maturation of these building blocks. The establishment of a European ISMA capacity and defining the future space ecosystem will have a significant impact on Europe. By developing and implementing these new capabilities, Europe can maintain its competitiveness on the global stage, create new jobs, and drive economic growth through increased investment in the space industry. Furthermore, the development of a sustainable space ecosystem will have a positive impact on the environment, reducing the amount of waste and pollution in space and contributing to a more sustainable and cleaner space environment. Overall, the project's impact on Europe is multifaceted and far-reaching, including economic growth, job creation, technological innovation, and environmental sustainability. By creating a European ISAM capacity and defining the future space ecosystem, Europe can position itself as a leader in the global space industry and pave the way for a more sustainable and prosperous future.
In this project advanced robotics and automation are used to unlock an innovative manufacturing process. Ultima Forma has a patented technology using electro-deposition to manufacture metallic engineering components to net-shape, in a low energy, low waste process. The process allows microscopic layers of dissimilar metals to be deposited sequentially. The design of this multi-layered structure can control the properties of material across a wide range, accessing properties that are not available in conventional materials. Furthermore, the properties can be varied from place to place within a part to form a multi-functional component as a single entity. This disruptive technology is unique in the UK and presents a completely new approach to the design and manufacture of advanced engineering components.
Airbus Defence and Space, in collaboration with Ultima Forma have developed a multi-functional component that combines 6 existing components into a single entity. This component reduces the number of parts, saves weight and space and reduces assembly time, providing competitive advantage to Airbus in the US$2.14bn satellite waveguide market.
Ultima Forma have already established a small proof-of-concept robotic cell to demonstrate the concept. This project will build an advanced robotic cell at out new factory site in Basingstoke to automate the production of functionally graded waveguides in batches to the quality standards required by Airbus. The entire robotic electrodeposition process will be controlled using advanced automation to ensure repeatability and quality assurance of every part is attained throughout the production process.
The automated production process can be applied to other engineering problems, where the advantage of functionally grade materials can provide new solutions. For example, composite materials are increasingly used for light-weight structures (such as the wings on the A380 aircraft, and blades for off-shore wind farms). However, these composite materials are vulnerable to erosion damage from the environment. Metallic coatings on these composite materials can provide protection and extend the operating lifetime of these structures with significant reduction of carbon footprint. Examples to demonstrate the technology will be produced during the project and be promoted to our existing network and displayed at relevant trade shows as well as through a range of media channels.
Major organisations rely on strong encryption, including the process of encryption key agreement. Future quantum computers have the potential to compromise key agreement schemes based on asymmetric encryption and widely deployed Public Key Infrastructure.
Over long distances and without quantum repeaters, Business Continuity (BC) can be maintained if commercially and technically viable Satellite Quantum Key Distribution (SatQKD) becomes available in time. Current free space optical approaches are not considered commercially viable because they can only operate at night time and in clear sky conditions; and by waiting for overhead satellites in Low Earth Orbit.
The future BC market, anticipated to be worth billions of pounds, will be addressed by this project through accelerated commercialisation of the SatQKD technologies necessary for operation during daylight hours, cloudy skies and other weather conditions. The project will combine and align technical developments from UK SME's within a system context from Airbus: a major provider of UK-developed secure satellite communication systems.
The objective of this project is to prepare new modular flexible system architectures, technology landscape surveys and technology development roadmaps for lower cost, longer range, free space optical quantum communications directed towards institutional and commercial customers.
The primary focus of Innovation in this project is to extend the envelope of Satellite-to-Ground QKD operations beyond the current state of the art: to enable daytime operation, cloud tolerance and reach key distribution rates several orders of magnitude faster than existing demonstrators.
The project will influence and enhance the coherence of academic research, SME developments, and prime system integration readiness for operational quantum secured communications.
3D printing or additive manufacture (AM) of metals has the potential to revolutionise someareas of industry such as aerospace and energy. This particularly applies if it can be used for theproduction of large parts at low cost and with high quality for critical engineering applications.It has been demonstrated on a laboratory scale that 3D printing based on conventional weldingmethods using an electric arc and wire feed to deposit weld beads in a layer wise fashion hasthe potential for this. However there are currently no commercial systems available to enablethis to be exploited on an industrial scale. The objective of the RoboWAAM project is to developa 3D metal printing system based on large scale flexible robotics and welding technology.The developed system will be adaptable so that other process such as inspection can beincorporated during the printing of the part. This will ensure that the printed parts have therequired high quality. The system will be suitable for subsequent commercialisation. Adoptionof the system by industrial users will lead to significant cost savings in a range of industrialsectors including aerospace, construction and energy.The project is a collaboration between KUKA, Airbus Defence and Space, FMCTechnologies, Cranfield University and the University of Strathclyde (including theAdvanced Forming Research Centre, which is one of the High Value Manufacturing Catapults).
In the next decade, both government and commercial entities will increasingly rely on robotic in-space assembly, manufacturing and servicing for the setup and maintenance of future space assets for civil and commercial missions. Intelsat published an analysis (AIAA Sep 2014) that calculated that on-orbit servicing could save commercial telecomunications companies alone $28M per year per spacecraft. While fields of autonomy, robotics, and space engineering are all making progress, true representative in-space manufacturing and assembly as an end-to-end process has not been widely demonstrated, despite the UK having a strong knowledge base in all these three areas. This project will assess the feasibility of combining the Lightweight Advanced Robotic Arm Demonstrator (LARAD) technologies, including its metallic-composite structure, to robotically demonstrate the construction of representative space structures in a laboratory environment. The Phase-2 demonstration will be a major stepping stone in providing our end-user with the means to fly an actual in-space manufacturing spacecraft in the early 2020's. Both phase-1 and phase-2 of this demonstrator will enhance the UK's momentum in the robotic, autonomous and space technology sectors.
Sustainable agriculture is continually being pushed to deliver higher yield with the need to feed 9.6 billion people by 2050. UK wheat farming currently produces c.9 tonnes per hectare. Researchers believe 20 tonnes per hectare is achievable. Reaching this will increase the competitiveness of UK agriculture and meet a societal need. High resolution soil and crop condition data can help achieve this increase in yield. Currently around 5 samples per field are acquired once every two years. Technology developed for autonomous planetary rovers can significantly increase the spatial and temporal resolution of these samples. An autonomous rover will traverse across the field and collect samples at multiple locations. These will then be analysed locally. The use of autonomous systems will significantly reduce the cost of soil sampling. More samples will be able to be analysed and fertiliser deployed in a more targeted fashion. The AgriRover project will assess the market for the product and set requirements for it. The technical feasibility of the system will then be assessed. The critical elements will be demonstrated in a field trial at the end of the project. The results will then be used to demonstrate the business case.
This project will develop an autonomous scout rover system, for scanning and mapping of a nuclear environment as a part of decommissioning effort. The scout rover is an intelligent autonomous machine capable of conducting operations without human interaction, with the long term goal of making decommissioning of nuclear sites safer and quicker. The innovative robotic system will map otherwise inaccessible, cluttered nuclear environments providing vital information for subsequent safety-critical operations. It's autonomy will allow it to perform frequent, repeat inspections of a hazardous environment inaccessible to a human operator allowing hazardous areas to be routinely monitored - reducing the risk caused by nuclear plants awaiting decommissioning. This project combines OC Robotics' demonstrated experience in accessing and operating in confined and hazardous environments with Airbus Defence and Space's cutting-edge expertise in autonomous navigation, originally developed for the European Space Agency's ExoMars 2020 Rover Mission.
The world-record breaking, unmanned, solar-electric, stratospheric aircraft, Airbus Zephyr, was developed as a
High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) flying at up to 70kft, carrying payloads that provide services (e.g.
surveillance) to the defence sector. Airbus is developing the next generation of Zephyr to address the
substantially larger civilian markets in remote sensing & internet connectivity services. This requires
improvements in flight performance to expand operations to higher latitudes all year-round, cost reduction &
design for higher volume manufacturing. ZIP will develop key technologies in aerostructures, energy storage &
propulsion to address these challenges ahead of international competition & strengthen the UK supply chain in
time for WRC2020.
Airbus defence and Space, in conjunction with Cranfield University and the AMRC catapult centre in Sheffield, are developing satellite propulsion components using a new additive manufacturing process. The process can use various materials such as aluminium, titanium , steels and variety of other alloys.
The aim is to reduce lead times and costs for it's Telecommunication and Science mission spacecraft. This novel development will maintain a UK capability for these high value components that otherwise would have to be imported.
Galileo Enhanced Robust Time Server (GERTS) is a study to prototype a robust time server. It investigates the suitability of using Field Programmable RFs (FPRF) for GNSS. The processing will use a new innovative real-time FFT based block processing algorithm. This enables fast, high quality robust GNSS signal tracking. Robustness is realised in a number of ways including jamming, interference and multipath immunity. The bandwidths are such that PRS snippets could be included to ensure the signals are authentic.
This project applies UK developed silicon technology and UK developed processing algorithms to the problem of using Galileo Satellite signals to provide a high availability and un-corruptible time source, where loss of an accurate time source would cause serious problems for productivity, utility provision and safety: for example in public utility distribution networks, manufacturing systems and some defence applications.
The monitoring of tropical forest degradation has a major contribution to make to the global challenge of climate change and the wellbeing of those who live in these environments. Compared to tropical deforestation, the monitoring of forest degradation has not received the same level of research and significant challenges remain. Astrium Geo-Information Division, University of Edinburgh and the Gabon Ministry of the Environment have created a partnership to develop a system that uses satellite radar data to deliver annual maps of tropical forest degradation. The launch of the Sentinel-1 satellite by the European Space Agency in 2014 will provide substantial amounts of radar data over the tropics and the project will develop techniques that will integrate those images with other datasets to produce the required maps. This will take place within a system capable of processing the large amounts of data involved and providing an efficient means of distribution. A prototype system using currently available radar data will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed service.
Awaiting Public Project Summary
Awaiting Public Project Summary
Computers are used in a variety of space-borne equipments for numerous on-board applications and Central Processing Units (CPU) are at the core of these. However, the existing space solutions are not suitable for the next generation of Telecommunications Processor because they are too big, not scalable and not power-efficient. This fast track proposal aims to define what CPU functionality will be needed for the next generation of Telecoms Processors.
Endocrine based algorithms which mimic biological processes have been shown to have applications in the area of autonomous power management on robotic vehicles. This project intends to adapt the work carried out in the UK for use by robot rovers on the surface of Mars. The highly dynamic power generation and load profiles in this environment mean that the currently used simple operational schedules have significant margins built in, such that the rover will stop all activities if one criterion is not met. The proposed technique will enable a more intelligent autonomous assessment of the power available, and will allow the rover to carry out low risk, low power activities that can significantly improve the science return. These activities could include imaging and other surface or atmospheric sensing. It is anticipated that there will be other space based opportunities for this technique where autonomy will add to the science or commercial return from a mission or product.
This collaborative project between SSTL Ltd, Astrium Ltd and Spur Electron Ltd will accelerate the technology development of an innovative S-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument. This low cost, yet extremely capable instrument is the key enabler for a SAR satellite (NovaSAR) that completely changes the economics of the radar remote sensing market and SAR satellite ownership. Once developed and proven, SSTL and Astrium aim to bring this product to market ahead of potential competitors and achieve a '1st mover' position. This would place the UK at the forefront of a new and exploitable global market generating income through export sales, service provision and applications development. Economic benefit in the UK is expected from jobs in upstream space infrastructure industry and supply chain and also from the creation of business opportunities in downstream service sectors and employment in the wider economy.
The evaluation and development of UK low toxicity ("green") propellants, thruster, tank and propulsion architectures for future spacecraft and satellite missions.
This project is the first stage of the development of the mechanical platform for European telecommunications satellites in the 3 to 6 tonne range. The mechanical platform comprises the satellite structure, propulsion and thermal control system. The project will study and trade-off new architectures for the mechanical platform which better address the requirements of the communications payload and optimise the propulsive efficiency. The project is a collaborative venture between Astrium and a number of industrial and academic partners that is intended to encourage technological innovation and enhace the competitiveness of the UK supply chain.
This project forms part of the wider European development of the Next Generation Platform.
This project addresses the Quasi-Optical design, analysis and test of a 183/229 GHz breadboard receiver system for the proposed MetOp-SG MWS instrument. The work develops new analysis techniques for microwave radiometer systems using non-sequential ray tracing techniques and Beam Propagation Synthesis, inviting improved radiometer design and performance. In addition, the new instrument scan requirements for MWS are reviewed and the opportunities for torque and momentum compensation investigated.
This project draws together experts in the UK Space Industry, mm-wave research, development and Manufacturing to address the design challenges in the MetOp-SG Microwave Sounder Instrument.
A new web service (ORTHOWEB) is proposed for CEMS providing a wide user community with low-cost, easy-to-use access to satellite image orthorectification methods. It is ideally suited to low-cost high-resolution imagers with low-accuracy ground processing. An image taken by a low-cost satellite platform at 1m resolution is of no use if the accuracy of the geolocation is 100m or worse. ORTHOWEB corrects for imprecise pointing information. The service fully preserves the confidentiality of the data communication, as only a low semantic content, 1% statistical subsample ("essential image") is transferred. All the geometric processing is performed from the subsample on the server side. ORTHOWEB is intended to be one of the first commercial, innovative Earth Observation data services operated on CEMS infrastructure, offering low-cost methods for image processing. It will be a major factor in reducing the total cost of operation of a satellite platform.
This project will specify, design, build and test an innovative form of position & speed encoder for space applications. The aim is to take an emerging terrestrial technology and develop it for space. Position & speed encoders are common but critical elements in space equipment but the requirements for high reliability in harsh environments are extremely challenging for traditional technologies. Traditional solutions – such as potentiometers, resolvers & linear transformers – are either insufficiently reliable or too bulky and heavy for space applications. The LIMPPET concept offers a high precision, lightweight, miniaturized solution with the potential for ultra-reliable operation in space’s extreme environments. LIMPPET uses an innovative non-contact, resonant, radio-frequency sensing technique whose main components are arrays of printed conductors on thin, flexible, laminar substrates.
Clocks power the global positioning system (GPS) – a constellation of satellites orbiting the earth, each satellite having an ensemble of atomic clocks on-board. A Sat. Nav. handset receives timing signals from these clocks enabling it to pinpoint your position. Currently, the "ticks" of atomic clocks are governed by microwave oscillators. The next generation of atomic clocks will be governed by optical oscillators. Light-waves oscillate 100,000 times faster than micro-waves. With so many more ticks per second, an optical clock will be more accurate and will deliver its timing signal faster. We have invented a "rugged" optical oscillator for operation in space that can be shaken, turned upside-down and still keep time! UK and International patent applications have been made for this world-leading technology. Support from the Technology Strategy Board will pave the way for major investment from the European Space Agency leading to manufacture in the UK.
The aim of this project is to design a simple, accurate and affordable system to detect and locate sources of RF interference which affect commercial satellite services. A space based detector will be developed which can directly measure ground-based sources of radiation in any commercial band and the ground-based processing to localize the source of interference on Earth and inform commercial operators.