Government Invests £6.9m in Next Gen UK Satellite Optical Links and 5G NTN

The Government’s UK Space Agency has announced a £6.9 million investment in next generation satellite communications technology, which will be distributed between five UK-led projects through the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ARTES (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) programme.

The projects themselves represent a mix of different technologies, some of which relate to satellite refuelling and others of which delve more into developing 5G based Non-Terrestrial Networks or advancing optical (laser) links for data transfer.

The relatively small funding boost comes ahead of the ESA Ministerial Council in Bremen on 26-27th November, where the Government will negotiate the UK’s investment into the future of Europe’s space ambitions, with a focus on economic growth and national security. Evaluation shows that every £1 invested in ESA returns £7.49 in direct benefits to the UK economy.

Space Minister, Liz Lloyd, said:

“Space technology and especially satellites, are essential to our daily lives. From the sat nav in your car to your mobile phone, from weather forecasts to your online banking – space is where it all happens.

By backing our UK sector, we’re not only cementing our position as a European space leader – we’re creating high-skilled jobs, attracting investment, and ensuring space technologies can connect communities to the space-enabled services they need.”

The government has previously allocated the UK Space Agency a budget of £2.8 billion up to 2029/30.

The Five Projects

➤ Orbit Fab will deliver the Advancing Satcom Technology with Refuelling and Logistics (ASTRAL) project with a total UK funding of up to £2.9 million. The contract for the first stage of the mission, worth £1.3 million, has now been awarded by ESA. This mission will prove the capability to refuel electric propulsion satellites using UK-developed technology, ensuring satellites can remain in orbit for longer or can manoeuvre away from threats.

➤ Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall will lead the AGILE: Antenna Ground Interface and LunaNet Equipment project, supported by £1.6 million in funding. Amidst the growing number of lunar missions, this project will produce an interface unit that can be installed in global antennas to communicate with spacecraft using the internationally recognised LunaNet specification. This will allow missions to seamlessly connect to ground infrastructure, improving mission success rates.

➤ Vicinity Technologies will receive £1.19 million for its 5G NTN-based Satellite Access Networks project. The team will design and develop a versatile 5G Non-Terrestrial Network regenerative payload system and user terminals, including the entire software stack for both space and ground segments. This technology will support uninterrupted and scalable internet services globally, from hard-to-reach areas to smart cities.

➤ Archangel Lightworks, working with the support of Eutelsat will advance optical communications through the Space Optical Link Integration Study (SOLIS) project, funded with £356,000. This study, delivered under ESA’s Sunrise programme, will investigate use cases for deploying Free Space Optical Communications technology within Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO global network.

➤ Inmarsat Navigation Ventures Ltd (Viasat UK) will receive £881,000 for the International Virtual Satellite Operators Network (Phase 2) project. This initiative will develop a service that enables governments to plan, procure, manage and monitor satellite communications services from Viasat and other providers, ensuring secure and coherent management of critical communications.