Since the EU won't share all its toys, UK Space Agency fires up fund to support more international collaboration
- Reference: 1601560558
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/10/01/uk_space_international_collaboration_fund/
- Source link:
Some £5m of taxpayer's cash is available for the project, which the agency hopes will support UK outfits seeking to buddy up with some of the world's major space players, such as the US, Japan, and France.
The agency pointed to space robotics, debris, and disaster relief as potential areas for linking arms with others, and has offered the fund to both business and academia. Interested parties have until 29 October to make an application.
A spokesperson for the agency told The Register that grants are expected to be issued from December.
They will range from £250k to £2.5m, although those hoping for free cash will be disappointed. The grants, the spokesperson told us, "are subject to the Agency's match funding terms".
The themes of the proposals will vary depending on the international partners involved. Linking up with Canada (supplier of the Space Shuttle and International Space Station's robot arms) could mean robotics; getting friendly with France (one of the winners in ESA's recent Copernicus awards) might lean things toward Earth observation and climate science; and so on. Alternative areas include general space science and safety.
It follows an earlier call for a [1]National Space Innovation Programme aimed at using space technology to tackle climate change or increase connectivity. £10m was allocated back in July in an effort to make Britain a more competitive prospect.
The UK remains a part of ESA, but its withdrawal from the EU club has meant the local space sector has had its snout forcibly removed from the trough regarding some of the more mouthwatering contracts. The [2]Galileo project springs effortlessly to mind, as does the [3]snub delivered over Copernicus .
While a drop in the ocean compared to what the UK space sector has already missed out on as a result of the Brexit adventure, the international goals of the fund are perhaps laudable.
The UK has already [4]signed deals with Australia, and building more relationships on top of the UK's ESA membership will go some way to maintaining the country's status on the world stage, at least as far as space technology is concerned. ®
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[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-space-innovation-programme-launches-with-fund-for-climate-change-and-communications-projects
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2018/05/24/ongoing_game_of_galileo_chicken_taken_up_a_notch_as_uk_talks_refunds/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/02/uk_copernicus_loser/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2018/10/04/uk_space_australia/
[5] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
That's nearly 0.01% of a SpaceX
Re: £5M
Enough to send a politician to New Zealand, put him in a space suit and launch him into sun synchronous orbit. The return journey would take a few hundred years but there would be a free cremation bundled with the service.
I used to think voting on a politician to send into orbit would motivate them all to act in the country's best interests. Now I think it would result all of them blaming each other for their own mistakes.
£5 million?
Well that's the swoopy logo and jingle sorted...
An Application for Smashing Applications
The UK Space Agency is awash in a highly competitive and fabulously aggressive field that generates funding.
Outed there, in the following enthusiastic text, be an early bird pioneer .... and virtual sputnik in the works of autocratic western technocracies ..... utilising chronically poor performing satellites of universal administration for Global Operating Devices.
If you're dealing in Spaces, first come first, servered and serviced by Immaculately Resourced Assets of a Universal Vital Force for an Almighty Overwhelming Lead Delivered Practically Immediately and Virtually Instantly. And as such does it constitutes a Double Whammy of Incredibly Outrageous Great Fortune, which is most definitely something to be celebrated and invested in. :-) I Kid U Not.
Dr Maj, meanwhile, reminded entrants to brush up on their presentation skills. “Visualise what you want to present, especially if it’s complex,” he said. “[You must have] data. I’m waiting for a concept, and I want to be able to see it.” ...... [1]https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/01/huawei_appsup/
What cost for [2]all here reported online , already done and up and running free to air and prepared for sharing/trafficking? ..... and succinctly summed up in the quite short sentence displayed with the following few words released with ideas to engage with and present ....
A Novel See in/for a Vast Expanding Picture Program Engaging Live Operational Virtual Environments Presenting a New System of Universal Command and Control, aided and abetted by simple direct messages like these .... which are certainly surely addressed to Dr Maj, with it being clearly enough posted now from here?
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/01/huawei_appsup/
[2] https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2020/09/29/huawei_us_germany_pressure/#c_4119358
£5m? That should be enough to pay for the meetings, lunches and paperworks. To have something useful produced, not that sure.