University of Southampton

Students at the universities of Surrey, Portsmouth and Southampton will have the opportunity to design and launch a satellite mission, thanks to a new programme. The three universities are partners of the Space South Central regional space cluster, which is backed by the UK Space Agency. And their initiative is dubbed JUPITER – the Joint Universities Programme for In-Orbit Training, ...

The UK Space Agency is further funding eleven space projects involving UK work with international partners on innovative technology. The agency’s International Bilateral Fund is being used for Phase 2 backing of a range of companies and organisations – from the Alan Turing Institute using Artificial Intelligence to improve space operations to XCAM working on an X-ray imaging instrument to ...

Space South Central is the portal to Cosmic Capital for space-related SMEs to attract financial backing. The regional space organisation – taking in Surrey and Hampshire – and the SETsquared Partnership have won UK Space Agency funding to run the free initiative, which is called Cosmic Capital. It aims to help “high-potential space and space-related SMEs attract investment” and applications ...

Now in its sixth year of awards, EW BrightSparks sees Electronics Weekly highlight and celebrate some of the brightest and most talented young engineers in the UK today. Here, in our series on the latest EW BrightSparks of 2023, we highlight Nyal Patel, a MEng Mechatronics student at the University of Southampton. Achievements Nyal has shone academically. After gaining four ...

The UK government is providing £2.1 million of funding, through the UK Space Agency (UKSA), to boost UK-based involvement in space technologies such as harnessing solar power for reusable spacecraft and new propulsion systems. The initial nine projects involve work at Lancaster University, the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, Swansea University, University of Strathclyde, Durham University (two ...

SaxaVord Spaceport – based on the Shetland Islands – is collaborating with space engineering safety specialists Plastron UK to develop an advanced satellite payload processing facility (PPF). They are constructing two cleanrooms and an air lock, enabling SaxaVord to host satellites of up to 1,000kg. A capability unique to SaxaVord in the UK, the spaceport highlights. Lamba Ness The launch ...

The UK Space Agency has awarded £1.2 million to the UK’s south-central region, and the funding includes £300,000 for the newly-formed Space South Central, which is described as the UK’s largest ‘space cluster’. The money will support Space South Central’s aims to promote collaboration and champion space-related business and R&D across Hampshire, Surrey and the Isle of Wight. According to ...

Now in its fifth year of awards, EW BrightSparks sees Electronics Weekly partner with RS Grass Roots to highlight the brightest and most talented young engineers in the UK today. Here, in our series on the latest EW BrightSparks of 2022, we highlight Oana Lazar, who was an MEng Electronic Engineering student at the University of Southampton and now works as ...

The shortlist for the UK Government’s Nanosat Design Competition has been announced, with five teams – from apprentices to grammar school and university students – competing for a share of the £600,000 Challenge Fund. It was launched in November 2021, we covered, with aspiring space scientists invited to design a small satellite for launch, with climate change as the theme ...

The University of Southampton is storing data onto glass at a density that would squeeze 500Tbyte onto a substrate the size of a CD. Data is written as miniature shapes through the bulk of silica glass using the three spatial dimensions. The shapes have two separate optical characteristics – adding two more dimensions – making this so-called five-dimensional (‘5d’) data storage. ...