Glasgow University team wins government funding for space tech project

The University of Glasgow has received one of 10 grants from the UK Government aimed at developing technology that could be used in future space missions.

In total the government has awarded £455,000, with the Glasgow project receiving a £50,000 cash injection.

The project it has gone towards aims to overcome the challenges low gravity causes for drilling below the ground on other planets. It will use ultrasonic vibration to find a faster and cheaper way of exploring planetary subsurfaces.

Science minister George Freeman said the money had been awarded to the 10 projects so they could help transform the UK into a “global science superpower”.

In addition to the Glasgow project, the government has made grants to a University of Cambridge initiative that aims to build a prototype receiver for cosmology observations from the far side of the moon – the quietest location in the solar system – and a Queen’s University, Belfast project that will investigate whether micro-mirrors can be used in space telescopes.

“The UK’s space and satellite technology sector is already worth over £16 billion and growing fast,” Freeman said.

“As well as our ground-breaking leadership on projects like the James Webb Telescope and Solar Orbiter missions, our UK Space Agency is supporting hundreds of SMEs developing cutting edge technology.

“From miniature atomic clocks and tiny digitally controlled mirrors that help channel light into moving spacecraft, to new space weather detectors to help warn of devastating solar storms, these new projects will ensure the UK continues to grow as a global science superpower.”