UK Space Agency funds £1.6m deep-space travel research projects

It has announced £1.6 million funding for eight projects through its Enabling Space Exploration fund.

Mars reconnaissance

The projects range from microwave heating and oxygen extraction experiments, and a novel infrared technology for exploring Mars and advance reconnaissance, to a Mars in-situ resource utilisation system using non-thermal plasma…

For example, one project lead by by the Open University will investigate the potential of microwave heating for lunar construction and resource extraction. Or, one lead by the University of Southampton will explore the feasibility of using non-thermal plasmas to remove biological and chemical contaminants in extracted water from Mars. Basically, generating oxygen and rocket fuel from the Martian atmosphere.

“The concept of exploring deeper into space – whether that means returning to the lunar surface through the Artemis programme, or working out how we could travel to, and survive on, Mars and beyond – is a global ambition that has been growing since humanity’s first forays into space in the 1950s,” said Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the agency.

“Supporting technologies that make that ambition a reality will help raise the international profile of UK space skills and expertise. Not only does this naturally unlock business opportunities all along the supply chain, but it helps inspire young people to consider the possibility of a career in space without having to leave the UK.”

Funding

The wider context is that the UK government has previously pledged £1.84 billion for important space programmes at the European Space Agency Council of Ministers meeting, back in November in 2022. This includes a commitment to the UK-built Rosalind Franklin Mars Rover (pictured above), set to launch to Mars in 2028.

The UKSA outlines the spending as follows for the projects that will receive a share of the funding (in its own words):

Fluorescent deep space petri-pod (FDSPP) flight readiness programme
Lead: University of Exeter, Devon

Funding: £363,000

This project aims to support future planetary exploration by addressing the harmful impact of the space environment on human health. It will establish innovative, miniaturised equipment that will enable scientists to perform biology experiments in deep space, remotely. Designed to give important readouts of health in model systems (cells, microbes, microscopic animals), this equipment will help understand the biological effects of space and the effectiveness of different therapies, to help develop medical treatments for astronauts.

All-in-one Mars in-situ resource utilisation system using non-thermal plasma
Lead: University of Southampton, Hampshire

Funding: £200,000

This project will develop an all-in-one in-situ resource utilisation system for future crewed Mars exploration missions and explore the feasibility of using non-thermal plasmas for removing biological and chemical contaminants in extracted water from Mars and generating oxygen and rocket fuel from the Martian atmosphere.

Novel infrared technology for exploring Mars and advance reconnaissance
Lead: Open University, Buckinghamshire

Funding: £200,000

Infrared observations are a key measurement in space exploration, and high-performance infrared detectors are a crucial element in spaceflight instrumentation. This project will build on previous work developing a new technology for use of IR detectors in space, by exposing a new form of detector to radiation levels that would be encountered in a typical Mars mission and assessing the effect on performance.

Microwave heating and oxygen extraction experiment
Lead: Open University, Buckinghamshire

Funding: £200,000

This project extends the development of the microwave heating demonstrator payload that investigated the potential of microwave heating for lunar construction and resource extraction, such as oxygen and water from lunar soil, to support sustainable surface exploration on the Moon.

Reactors for off-planet life support systems and Martian in-situ resource utilisation
Lead: MAC SciTech, South Shields

Funding: £68,000

This project will optimise the design and function of the various components of reactor systems designed to recycle breathing gases (carbon dioxide and hydrogen) in off-planet environments such as low Earth orbit, lunar or on Mars. The technology offers efficient, catalyst-free, low maintenance gas processing designed to improve upon and replace existing gas processing systems.

Nuclear thermal fuel system and thermal-based characterisation
Lead: Bangor University, Wales

Funding: £200,000

Without stable nuclear fuel systems, deep space missions would not be successful. Additive manufacturing presents a state-of-the-art demonstration technique for nuclear-based fuels for space propulsion. The process allows the development and manufacture of various fuel configurations and designs that cannot be easily realised by conventional manufacturing methods. This project will demonstrate the additive manufacturing of metallic and ceramic zirconium-containing nuclear fuels and assess their performance.

In-situ resource utilisation production DISRUPT-2
Lead: Thales Alenia Space, Oxfordshire

Funding: £169,000

This project will allow more efficient selection of Moon rock for oxygen extraction as well as extraction of other resources such as metal. It will improve a technique for use on the Moon’s surface called X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence where the Moon rock is illuminated with X-rays and the rock type is identified by the way that the X-rays are diffracted or by the way the X-rays cause the rock to fluoresce.

Integrated fission-based power systems for electric propulsion
Lead: University of Southampton, Hampshire

Funding: £195,000

This project will develop a coherent design concept of a nuclear fission power system to drive space exploration to be integrated with a high-power electric propulsion technology. Substantial high power electric propulsion systems are needed to make large-scale activity near and further from the Earth feasible and nuclear fission reactors are required to power them.

See also: UK Space Agency funds growth in UK regions

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