UK Space Agency: Additive manufacture for space - what's going on? - TCT Magazine

The UK Space Agency is an interesting organisation. As well as engineers and scientists, we have a wide range of programme managers, policy specialists and strategic operators who can leverage government to work for our sector.

We are a modern space agency and part of a diverse UK space sector including companies, universities and public bodies. We recognise that to thrive in the commercial space age, we need to empower those actually ‘doing space’ to have a strong say in the direction the community takes. My colleagues and I work hard to support this community, using our different skillsets to leverage funding, scan the horizon for the big challenges, and drive growth.

Many of you may not be aware of how we fund developments in space technology (in which I include the application of manufacturing methods to our sector). There are national routes and there are European Space Agency (ESA) programmes. The UK Space Agency wants to be ambitious in both.

The UK Space Agency funds primarily through ESA, with around 75% of our budget delivered this way – programmes such as the General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) have delivered millions (£) over the last few years directly to technology projects. But we also have the National Space Technology Programme (NSTP), Spaceflight programme, Innovate UK, and various other government funding streams which deliver significant improvements to UK capabilities.

The UK Space Agency has spent hundreds of thousands as part of AM projects, funding various primes and SMEs, all leading to a number of innovative outcomes that will be driving the future of this technology in the UK space sector. There are a number of strands to the work of the UK Space Agency that may make use of AM.

Our exploration, telecoms, regulation and space science teams all have interest in specific applications for the technology. This could be anything from using AM in conjunction with in-situ resource utilisation to construct habitats on the moon or mars, to working through how government will regulate manufacturing processes taking place in space, including in relation to potential asteroid mining.

As a result, there is an obvious interest to consider how we fund development and encourage a continuation of the UK’s hugely successful commercial model.

The UK’s strategic approach to space technology development has always been to raise technology readiness levels across a broad range of domains without picking winners, thus ensuring that we allow the sector and community to drive developments based on their expertise.

There are of course notable exceptions, one of which is the propulsion tank market – one of several opportunities for AM in space. Currently the UK Space Agency is assessing what support we might make available for the tank market, and new technologies that can drive cost reduction will be a big part of that consideration.

The UK’s Spaceflight programme has begun to consider how it will foster and develop the UK’s launch supply chain in the coming years to support existing grants and developments in place with Lockheed Martin and Orbex.

There are numerous missions on the horizon with ESA in which the UK will participate that will have components in which AM could play a key part. Beyond these institutional missions, there are increasing plans for mega constellations which would make space manufacture closer to high-value automobiles in regard to volume.

As I inferred at the start, I’m not a space expert. The model on which the UK Space Agency is built relies on the expertise within our community and sector, combined with our approach to technology, to drive the direction of UK space.

My key point is that those working closely on AM are best placed to know the benefits it can offer to space, a sector currently dominated by the need to heavily qualify, reduce weight, reduce cost, and make use of low production volumes. I would encourage anyone with an idea for how AM can play a bigger part to get in touch with one of the UK’s space primes to explore the opportunities.

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