/// CLIMATIC TESTING\\\
Lift-off for UK space industry
Key players in UK space environmental testing tell Jonathan Newell how the industry is meeting the challenges of future space technology requirements
S
pace travel and exploration is a huge industry with exciting potential for UK technology suppliers. According to fig-
ures released by the UK space agency for 2018, the industry is worth nearly £15 billion and employs almost 42,000 people. However, in 2018, the UK held just a 5 per cent share of the global space economy and so there was clearly potential for a lot of growth. Since then, the gaps in the industry that the
UK could fill have been analysed and Govern- ment funding has been distributed through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) initia- tive to exploit the potential.
UK National Space Laboratory \\\ One of the biggest projects is the UK National
Space Laboratory, which has already been built and the first tests have been carried out. The facility is on schedule for commissioning and entering commercial service in Septem- ber this year. Robert Elliott, the head of business devel- opment at the Rutherford Appleton Labora- tory at STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) RAL Space, explained to me
that after the review of industrial and aca- demic space test facilities by the UK Space Agency, two major gaps were discovered. One was for a single spacecraft-level environ- mental test facility to reduce the need to transport equipment offshore for long peri- ods of time and the other was a sustainable propulsion development and test centre. “The result was the creation of STFC RAL
Space to support the assembly, integration and testing of space payloads and satellites as well as the National Space Propulsion Test Facility at the UK Space Agency, including an open access vacuum facility to allow the sim- ulation of high altitude testing of thrusters,” Elliott tells me. The building at STFC RAL Space is already
From top: Surrey Satellite carries out a number of test operations in Guildford and Portsmouth for a range of satellite sizes; shock testing starts with system level analysis of the satellite structure to understand shock propagation; and the finished building at STFL RAL Space is already home to state of the art vibration test equipment and will soon house other environmental testing capabilities
12 /// Climatic & Vibration Testing \\\ 2021
complete and will house an array of spe- cialised equipment to put spacecraft through their paces before launch. A new vibration capability is an important element of RAL Space but as well as this fa- cility, the NSTF will offer EMC and antenna testing. This requires an electrically neutral space, built into the fabric of the building.
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