UK Space Agency to be deorbited

 

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is to become part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

The change is scheduled to take place by April 2026, aimed at streamlining government support for the UK’s space industry.

It follows the agency’s recent announcement that it will provide over £2.5 million for five projects aimed at using satellite data to support public services, and its launch of Europe’s first satellite dedicated to carbon dioxide monitoring.

Space Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “Bringing things in house means we can bring much greater integration and focus to everything we are doing while maintaining the scientific expertise and the immense ambition of the sector."

UKSA was founded in 2010 and currently operates as an executive agency of DSIT. It catalysed investment and revenue of at least £2.2 billion for the UK space sector in 2024-25.

Despite the BBC's attention-grabbing and not strictly true headline "UK independent space agency scrapped to cut costs" this seems like a sensible decision.

UKSA has mostly punched below expectations and has essentially been a quango (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation) with little real clout.

Today's announcement follows a commitment from Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reduce costs and cut the number of arms length government bodies.

The agency, its budget and activities will now be absorbed into DSIT which will also coordinate/oversee other space-related activities for the country.

Overall, the UKSA "brand" will continue - just without the extra layer of bureaucracy.

Former CEO of the UKSA, Katherine Courtney said she could understand why the government had taken this decision but didn't believe the change will achieve the stated aims.

"My time in Whitehall taught me that restructuring doesn’t drive efficiency and effectiveness in pubic sector organisations," she added.

"In my experience, ever administration hopes they can reduce costs through restructuring - but what really would make public sector organisations leaner and more effective are clear strategic priorities and greater continuity of ministerial leadership.

"UKSA hasn’t had either of those for over a decade and until the current government recognises the vital strategic role space plays for UK economic growth and national security, that’s unlikely to change."

The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), a long-time advocate of a UK space agency, welcomed the commitment to retain the UKSA’s identity and scientific expertise. 

In a statement issued on social media it said: "We believe efficient and accountable public structures are essential to ensure that British excellence in space continues to flourish. 

"A unified approach is vital to making rapid progress on national space goals - from innovation in small satellites and in-orbit servicing to leadership in space sustainability.

"The BIS is confident that this transition, when implemented consultatively, can preserve the dynamic, pioneering spirit that has characterised the UK’s space endeavours since the 1930s. 

"We urge government and industry to work together in ensuring that the UK’s visionary projects - supporting an £18.6 billion sector and 55,000 highly skilled jobs - continue to receive the focus and clarity they deserve."

Watch this space!

Post-Brexit UK faces up to EU Space Act

 

The European Commission’s long-awaited unveiling of the EU Space Act on 25 June 2025 marked a pivotal step towards harmonised space governance across the bloc.

Framed around safety, resilience and sustainability, the proposed regulation aims to streamline market access, strengthen cybersecurity and mitigate orbital debris – all while boosting the EU’s strategic autonomy in space.

Yet for those operating outside the EU’s regulatory orbit – notably post-Brexit UK – the Act presents new uncertainties.

These tensions surfaced during this week’s European Space Forum, held in Brussels on 3-4 July, where 450 delegates gathered to discuss the future of Europe’s space ambitions.

During a panel discussion on ‘Delivering Autonomy’, I asked UK government representative William Smith, how the Act might affect UK space operators, now classed as part of a “third country” under EU law.

“I think it's very early days to comment,” he replied. “The UK Government don't have a formal position yet. We acknowledge what [the Act] is trying to do and support any endeavour that is looking to make the orbital environment and space in general more secure, more resilient and safer. That is a collective good, undoubtedly.”

He went on to emphasise the UK’s own regulatory framework: “The UK's regulatory regime is an outcomes-based, agile regime, which works. It's not perfect but we get good feedback from international stakeholders.”

The EU Space Act, still in draft form, outlines the possibility of recognising third-country regulatory regimes as equivalent – but offers no detail yet on how such equivalence would be determined or negotiated.

This leaves UK-based companies potentially facing a dual compliance burden or limitations on market access unless formal agreements are reached.

Without clarity on equivalence, UK firms hoping to provide services within the EU may face fresh licensing or oversight hurdles. The EU’s detailed rules on debris mitigation, cybersecurity and environmental impact may also diverge from UK approaches.

Still, with the proposed implementation date set for 1 January 2030, a transitional window provides space – and time – for dialogue and potential alignment.

While the UK government assesses the fine print, industry voices are likely to press for early engagement to avoid regulatory friction. If managed well, the situation could still evolve into a constructive regulatory partnership that enables innovation and access on both sides.

But Smith’s response, while diplomatic, underscored a recurring theme of constructive ambiguity that characterised much of the European Space Forum.

With no formal UK stance yet, industry remains in a holding pattern, awaiting clarity on whether the country’s agile, outcomes-based regime will be deemed sufficiently compatible.

In the meantime, the EU’s move should be seen as a positive step. It signals a firm commitment to space sustainability, safety and long-term governance – and a timely reminder that access to orbit increasingly comes with strings attached.

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Links: European Space Forum & EU Space Act

Milestone in space reproduction

 

In a pioneering move toward enabling independent life beyond Earth, Dutch biotech-aerospace company SpaceBorn United has confirmed the successful launch and data return from the world’s first IVF minilab prototype designed specifically for human reproduction research in space.

The mission – launched 21 April 2025 on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-3 – marks the first time a system engineered to support early stages of human reproduction has been deployed in orbit.

Spaceborn says this marks an important step toward realising ARTIS (Assisted Reproductive Technology In Space), a fully automated IVF minilab designed to safely enable conception and early embryonic development in space. It also lays critical groundwork for independent future human settlements beyond Earth, and advancements in fertility treatments on Earth.

Telemetry confirmed that ARTIS’ core systems – including its custom-designed microfluidic device and life-support systems – survived the stresses of launch and orbital deployment intact.

Onboard yeast cultures (in subsequent missions, mouse embryos will be used) survived successfully, validating key life support mechanisms with onboard sensors and images confirming all internal components remained secured and operational despite partial visual degradation.

“This is a milestone for SpaceBorn United and has opened a new chapter in reproductive space science,” said Dr Egbert Edelbroek, CEO of SpaceBorn United. “For the first time, hardware built specifically to enable stages of human reproduction in space has been tested in space."

Although no human biological material was included in this inaugural flight, the ARTIS minilab has been designed to provide the pressure, temperature and microfluidic processes essential for IVF and early embryo development.

The minilab was developed in collaboration with UK-based Frontier Space Technologies, using subsystems from its autonomous ‘lab-in-a-box’ technology.

Dr Angelo Vermeulen, CTO at SpaceBorn, stated: “This first systems test in space is the start of our aim to reshape the future of human reproduction, both in space and on Earth. It shows that our approach is technically feasible and ready to take the next steps.”

The next mission, expected in early 2026, is now in full development and will focus on sending mouse embryos to space to validate a further matured ARTIS prototype.

Eventually the ARTIS minilab will enable conception in space – once in orbit around Earth, micro pumps will reallocate sperm cells to oocytes to cause fertilisation.

The goal, according to Spaceborn, is to enable early embryo development up to the blastocyst stage and identify beneficial processes that improve IVF on Earth.

In these upcoming missions – currently in preparation with new commercial space launchers, including Sidereus in Italy and Skyroot in India – critical data on both the embryos and the technical system will be collected in real-time and analysed again after their return to Earth.

About SpaceBorn United SpaceBorn United is the first organisation dedicated to enabling human conception and subsequent stages of reproduction in space.

Founded in the Netherlands, the company merges biotech, reproductive medicine, aerospace engineering and ethical oversight to develop the world’s first Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) designed for off-Earth environments.

Its work also accelerates innovation in IVF practices for use on Earth, offering hope and new options for families everywhere.

SpaceBorn United closely collaborates with various research and industry partners in Europe, the US and Asia. The company is supported by an international team of leading experts.

Feminism at the final frontier

There’s been no shortage of opinion – and vitriol – surrounding Blue Origin’s recent suborbital spaceflight, which carried an all-female civilian crew: Kerianne Flynn, Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Gayle King, and Amanda Nguyễn.

Much of the media and social commentary has focused on the optics of the mission, questioning its framing as a feminist milestone or as a meaningful step forward for gender equity in space.

One article that particularly caught my attention – as I imagine it did for many others working in or adjacent to the space sector – appeared in the Guardian newspaper, provocatively titled ‘Blue Origin’s space flight is a giant leap – for Jeff Bezos’s ego, not feminism’.

As a journalist covering the international space scene for several decades, I am committed to a broad, international discourse on space and I believe this kind of cultural commentary deserves engagement, not dismissal.

One of the questions it raises – about symbolism, access and power – matters, especially at this juncture in the evolution of human spaceflight.

At its core, the Guardian article critiques the framing of the latest Blue Origin suborbital mission as a feminist milestone, particularly through the participation of Lauren Sánchez, journalist, private space executive and partner of Jeff Bezos. 

The writer challenges the idea that this spectacle – a high-profile flight on a privately-owned rocket – should be viewed as a triumph of gender progress. And she is right to point out the risk of conflating elite participation with systemic change.

But space, like society, is complicated. The symbols and milestones we project onto it carry weight, even when imperfect. Maybe we should ask: what does it mean to celebrate progress in space – and for whom is it progress?

Yes, there is a performative element to space tourism, especially when conducted by billionaires. But there’s also a very real and rapid shift in who has access to space – not just physically, but through influence, investment and imagination.

The presence of women on a mission like this is worth noting, even as we remain sharply aware of the broader inequities and exclusions in both space exploration and society.

It is no longer just about astronauts from elite military or science backgrounds. The emergence of private crewed spaceflight, for all its awkward growing pains and PR gloss, is undeniably reshaping public perceptions.

The fact that people are now debating whether or not a flight was feminist enough is in itself a sign that space has entered the cultural mainstream in ways we couldn’t have imagined a generation ago.

We can – and should – celebrate the long-overdue recognition of trailblazers like Wally Funk (on a previous Blue Origin flight), without pretending these moments represent full equality in spaceflight. We can acknowledge Lauren Sánchez’s visibility as a woman in the private space sector, without anointing her a feminist icon.

These stories sit on a spectrum, not of “success” or “failure” but of progress and evolution. Representation alone is not the end of the journey but it is a signpost on the road.

It is important to explore issues around gender, identity, power and access in space. True inclusion goes beyond seat assignments – it’s about who builds, who decides, who funds and who dreams.

It’s also about the stories we tell and who gets to tell them. If anything, the Blue Origin flight should remind us to keep pushing for deeper, more structural inclusion in space – for women, for underrepresented communities, for voices outside the billionaires’ club.

In this broader context, current US leadership under the Trump administration is playing a significant role – and may potentially end up with much to answer for. His return to power coincided with a critical juncture in space governance, where commercial ambition is surging ahead of public policy and global cooperation is giving way to renewed nationalism.

If space is to remain a shared domain – one that reflects collective human progress rather than elite ambition or geopolitical dominance – then leadership matters. Decisions made now about regulation, funding, international partnerships and orbital stewardship will shape who has access to space for decades to come – and under what terms.

As we look ahead to a decade that will likely include permanent lunar infrastructure, space-based manufacturing, and the rise of private space stations, we must keep asking hard questions.

Not just about who’s on board, but who’s left behind – and how we build a spacefaring future that reflects the full diversity of humanity.

Space is not neutral. It reflects the values of those who shape it. Let’s make sure those values are expansive, thoughtful and rooted in something bigger than marketing gloss or curated photo ops.

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Article: Blue Origin’s space flight is a giant leap – for JeffBezos’s ego, not feminism

Caption: NS-31 astronauts celebrate after a successful flight to space (from left): Kerianne Flynn, Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Gayle King and Amanda Nguyễn. (14 April 2025). 

Photo: Blue Origin

Shaping space for the future

THE world has changed – or perhaps it is more accurate to say it is constantly changing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of space exploration. As we venture further into 2025, the global landscape continues to shift, reshaping the ambitions and dynamics of the space industry in unexpected ways.

Geopolitics has always played a role in space, but recent developments have heightened its influence. Alliances are being rewritten, national priorities realigned and commercial players are navigating a complex and often turbulent environment.

The repercussions of these tectonic shifts are still unfolding, and the impact on the future of space exploration remains an open question. Will we see a new era of international cooperation, or will space become the next great theatre of geopolitical rivalry? Perhaps, as history suggests, both will coexist in an uneasy balance.

Against this backdrop, ROOM Space Journal remains committed to exploring the ideas and innovations shaping our shared future beyond Earth. In this issue, we take a provocative look ahead, challenging assumptions and pushing the boundaries of imagination.

Our cover image – a pregnant woman in space – is deliberately symbolic, designed to spark discussion rather than declare an imminent reality. Yet, as our lead articles demonstrate, the concept of human reproduction in space, whilst facing many challenges, is not a mere flight of fancy.

It is a serious topic, actively being researched and debated by visionaries, including Asgardia the space nation, whose mission statement includes facilitating the birth of the first human beyond Earth’s gravity. While such an event may still be years – if not decades – away, the implications are profound and demand our attention today.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, we are reminded that space is not just about human aspirations but also about the very real challenges that come with our increasing dependence on satellites and space-related infrastructure.

As we look to the future, agility and specialisation may well define success more than sheer size. One of the more underappreciated yet potentially devastating threats to modern civilisation is the impact of severe space weather, a subject I explore in ‘Life in the Sun’s atmosphere’. Solar storms have the potential to cripple global communication networks, disrupt power grids, and send shock waves through financial markets. How prepared are we? The answers may be unsettling.

On the commercial front, the space industry continues to expand, but not necessarily in ways we might have predicted. The business of space is no longer the exclusive domain of traditional aerospace giants and new players are emerging, seizing opportunities once thought beyond their reach.

Whilst attending the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan last October, I was interested to learn how South Korea’s INNOSPACE is carving out a niche in the small rocket market, and discuss with Bruno Carvalho how Portugal is positioning the Azores as a hub for orbital launches.

At the same time, industries far removed from space exploration are finding unexpected synergies. Sabelt, for example, a company best known for its expertise in high-performance racing harnesses, now applies its technology to astronaut safety systems. These cross-sector collaborations highlight how space is no longer a standalone industry but an integral part of a much larger technological ecosystem.

Yet, for all this expansion, a sense of saturation is creeping in. With space conferences and networking events proliferating at an almost unsustainable rate, one has to wonder whether the industry is spreading itself too thin. Increasingly, the most impactful gatherings are the smaller, more focused forums where real conversations happen, deals are struck and innovation thrives. It is a reminder that in an industry often obsessed with scale, sometimes less is more.

There is an old adage about the advantages of being a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a vast ocean. Progressively, the space sector is proving this point. As we look to the future, agility and specialisation may well define success more than sheer size. Those who can adapt, pivot and carve out their own corner of the cosmos will be the ones who endure and thrive.

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Editor's note: this post is an edited version of my Foreword ‘Shaping space through innovation, geopolitics and the future’ for the Spring 2025 issue of ROOM Space Journal.

Politicians dither as climate crisis builds

 

GLOBAL heating appears to have entered a new and fast-moving trajectory. Amid record-breaking temperatures, melting ice and a sharp increase in North Atlantic sea surface temperatures during the month of July, veteran climate scientists are now becoming increasingly alarmed about the pace of change.

“A few decades ago some people might have thought climate change was a relatively slow-moving phenomenon but we are now witnessing things happening at a terrifying rate,” said Prof Peter Stott, leader of the UK Met Office’s climate monitoring and attribution team.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has also warned of record temperatures and extreme heat in the near future after confirming the latest climate-heating El Niño event had “arrived”.

The last major El Niño was in 2016 – which to date remains the hottest year on record. But for 2023, it comes on top of increasing global heat driven by human-caused carbon emissions, an effect described by the WMO as a “double whammy”. Its officials say urgent preparations for extreme weather events are now vital to save lives and livelihoods.

“As El Niño builds through the rest of this year, adding an extra oomph to the damaging effects of human-induced global heating, many millions of people across the planet and many diverse ecosystems are going to face extraordinary challenges – and unfortunately suffer great damage,” added Stott.

The WMO estimates there is now a 90 percent probability of the latest El Niño continuing to the end of 2023 at a moderate strength or higher, with the added risk of it supercharging extreme weather.

New records for high temperature have been broken almost daily on every continent in recent months whilst in the UK, the average temperature for June was beaten by nearly a full degree with an unprecedented heatwave also affecting the country’s coastal waters.

Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, admits that he doesn’t fully understand what’s going on with this summer’s crazy climate data.

“It feels to me like the climate may have shifted into some sort of new regime of global heating that scientists don’t yet understand. And yet the media and everyone keep acting like things are basically fine and leaders keep expanding fossil fuels,” he says.

Cambridge University’s Prof Emily Shuckburgh, a leading climate scientist and director of Cambridge Zero, says that after the UK’s record-breaking month of high temperatures, it looks likely the rest of the summer will be warmer than normal too as global temperatures continue to rise.

“We’ve been warning of these changes for 30 years and warning that the planet is overheating,” she told listeners on BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme (3 July 2023).

“We’ve got record melting in Greenland occurring right at this moment, we’ve got record low levels of sea ice in Antarctica. From pole to pole we are seeing dramatic changes and it is nature as well as humans that is witnessing the impact.

“Those extreme temperatures of 40 degrees that we saw in the UK last summer had a dramatic impact on our wildlife and a dramatic impact on us. Across Europe thousands of people died prematurely in that heatwave.

“Sadly the UK used to be a global leader in terms of climate change and it was only two years ago that we hosted the big international climate conference COP-26. We’ve now relinquished that leadership.”

Prof Shuckburgh says the recent progress report from the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) on how the UK is doing against its own decarbonisation plans was “covered with red” because goals and targets were not being met.

“We should be responding to the cost of living and energy crisis by investing in insulation, in solar, in wind, offshore and onshore,” she suggested.

Prof Shuckburgh urged people to accept the global scale of what is at risk. “We know that if we don’t respond to climate change as a country and as a world then the risks are enormous,” she said.

“They are potentially catastrophic in terms of our food supplies, the global spread of disease, the risk from migration by communities that have been impacted by climate change, the risk of conflicts and, most importantly of all, the risk of passing catastrophic tipping points.

“This is what’s at stake. The really frustrating thing from my perspective is that we know what the solutions are. We have them at our fingertips and what we need are stable policies in support of them.”

Such stark warnings are echoed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who also described addressing climate change as a “human rights” issue.

Evoking a “dystopian future” if urgent action isn’t taken, he said: “Our environment is burning. It’s melting. It’s flooding. It’s depleting. It’s drying. It’s dying. We, the generation with the most powerful technological tools in history, have the capacity to change it.”

He accused world leaders of performing “the choreography of promising to act” before getting stuck in a rut dominated by short-term political expediency. Turk called for an immediate end to “senseless subsidies” of the fossil fuel industry and said the Dubai COP28 (2023 UN Climate Change Conference) climate summit in November and December needs to be a “decisive game-changer”.

At the end of June, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was accused by a resigning government minister and environment campaigner, Zac Goldsmith, of being “simply uninterested” in the environment and climate emergency.

Lame political leadership – mirrored by many of those in power and supported by the fossil fuel industry and elements of the right-wing media – along with a cost-of-living crisis and war in Ukraine, have all contributed to a prevailing laissez faire attitude.

At the start of 2023, when Sunak introduced his five key policy pledges, the climate and environment were noticeable by their absence, a clear indication that the country’s third prime minister in as many years does not view them as a priority.

Nothing has changed and, despite mounting climate relasted emergencies around the world this summer, Sunak, who favours flying about the country on short-haul private jets and helicopters, also shunned a recent Paris summit on the climate, debt and poverty hosted by the French President Emmanuel Macron.

If there can be a final thought and persepctive (for now) on this challenging issue then perhaps, somewhat surprisingly, it might go to the actor William Shatner.

As Captain James T Kirk of Star Trek’s Enterprise spaceship he explored the universe, espousing a vision of the future where humanity had not only survived but overcome many of the Earthly problems we face today.

Last year, 90-year-old Shatner had what he described as a “life-changing experience” when he physically travelled into space for the first time, expecting to experience “a deep connection with the immensity around us” and “a deep call” for endless exploration.

“The strongest feeling I had, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief I have ever experienced. I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death,” he said.

“I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.

“This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realised that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside.

“I did my share in popularising the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. It is the final and only frontier, and we have been ravaging it relentlessly, destroying it at an unprecedented rate and making it uninhabitable.” 

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This article by Clive Simpson was first published by Central Bylines under the title, 'Politicians drag their heels as the climate crisis intensifies'.

Spotting leaky pipes from orbit

PRIVATE utility Anglian Water, which supplies water services to around seven million people across eastern England and is under pressure to cut back on excessive wastage from leaky pipes, is turning to out-of-this-world technology for help.

The Huntingdon-based company is using space age technology, originally developed to detect water lying below the surface of Mars, the red planet, to locate hard to find underground leaks. Information gathered by the latest Earth-orbiting satellites is crunched by specialist computer algorithms and then turned into images as a way of helping engineers solve the costly environmental problem.

The system was first created to detect water on Mars and pioneering space firm Asterra is now redeploying its space know-how to help utility companies like Anglian Water solve a long-standing problem.

“It’s not just water that is wasted by leaking pipes – every drop also represents a substantial emission of carbon,” says founder and chief technology officer of the London and Tel Aviv-based company, Lauren Guy.

Anglian Water admits it loses 182 million litres of water per day across its network, an equivalent leakage of approximately 16-18 percent when compared to the amount of water running through the network each day.

“We recently used the Asterra technology to pinpoint some significant leaks that would never have been identified due to the relatively low percentage loss”, a company spokesperson said.

“These non-visible, underground leaks were in remote areas and would never have been reported by a customer, or indeed found using traditional detection sweeps.

“They often run through agricultural and rural farmland where traditional detection, or even smart distribution leakage technology, is difficult to use due to the lack of fittings and the sheer geographical size of an area.”

The water firm says the Asterra expertise allows it to use satellite data to detect leaks from otherwise difficult-to-inspect transfer pipes and trunk mains right across its system.

Before space technology stepped in, staff from water utility companies had to ‘walk the line’ in search of leaks, often manually inspecting mile upon mile of pipes each day in the hope of catching the sound of trickling water.

More modern techniques, such as installing acoustic sensors to listen automatically for leaking pipes are effective but can only cover limited areas before becoming cost prohibitive. Planetary scientists searching for the holy grail of Martian water then realised that orbiting spacecraft with special radar sensors could be used to spy out water lying below the red planet’s surface.

Asterra’s adaptation of this space-based solution for terrestrial use came after Guy realised that if satellite technology could locate water under the surface of Mars it could also be used to help track down water leakages closer to home. His discovery was made possible by sensors known in the space business as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which are used on many of the latest low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and can peer through cloud and below Earth’s surface.

L-band SAR uses the motion of a radio antenna to build up images which typically cover areas of around 3,500 square km at a time. It works by transmitting radio frequency waves and recording what is reflected to the receiver, revealing details on the nature of the reflective material, including the moisture content of soil.

Asterra’s breakthrough relies on sophisticated data processing using proprietary geophysical modelling and analysis. “It allows us to pick up the signature of leaking water in densely populated urban areas packed with interferences to SAR imaging”, explains Guy. “The observations are much more than high-quality images and, since perfecting the art of extracting a signal from the noise, we can provide game-changing insights to the water industry.”

All this means city and county-wide systems for transporting drinking water and wastewater can be more easily analysed to identify subsurface leaks that otherwise go undetected. (See satellite image from JAXA at top of article with blue lines showing water pipes and yellow dots “points of interest” where satellite data indicates a leak).

“It goes without saying that if leaks can be plugged, then the volume of water saved can amount to an entirely new water source and the requirement to drill new wells, raise dams or invest in expensive desalination plants is significantly reduced,” says Guy.

“Cleaning, treating, pumping and distributing water is an energy-intensive process, and any water going to waste represents unnecessary greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere. Our mission is to help water infrastructure companies improve the distribution of clean water and cut back on waste.”

 Editor's note: an original version of this article was published on Central Bylines.

Satellites lost in UK launch failure

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after an attempt to make space history by launching satellites from British soil for the first time has ended in failure due to an anomaly in the second stage of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket.

After successfully taking off from the runway at Spaceport Cornwall and travelling to the designated drop zone, Cosmic Girl, the customized 747 Jumbo Jet that serves as the LauncherOne system's carrier aircraft, successfully released the rocket.

The rocket ignited its first stage engines, quickly going hypersonic and successfully reaching space. The flight then continued through successful stage separation and ignition of the second stage but at some point during the firing of the rocket's second stage engine, and with the rocket travelling at a speed of more than 11,000 miles per hour, the system experienced an anomaly which prematurely ended the mission.

The first stage burns for around three minutes before reaching main engine cutoff (MECO) and stage separation occurs some three seconds later. The second stage’s NewtonFour engine ignites four seconds after separation to begin the first of two planned burns.

The payload fairing separates from the nose of LauncherOne about 20-30 seconds after second stage ignition. The first burn was to last about five and a half minutes, ending with second stage engine cutoff 1 (SECO-1). With this complete, the second stage would enter a coast phase, performing a barbecue roll to help manage thermal conditions.

Around the D+47 minute mark in the mission, the second stage was planned to begin to reorient itself to make its second burn. This burn would have commenced about six and a quarter minutes later, with the burn lasting a few seconds to circularise the orbit. Payload deployments were expected to begin about a minute after the end of the second burn.

A Virgin Orbit spokesperson said: “Though the mission did not achieve its final orbit by reaching space and achieving numerous significant first-time achievements, it represents an important step forward.

“The effort behind the flight brought together new partnerships and integrated collaboration from a wide range of partners, including the UK Space Agency, the Royal Air Force, the Civil Aviation Authority, the US Federal Aviation Administration, the National Reconnaissance Office, and more, and demonstrated that space launch is achievable from UK soil.”

The company said that out of five LauncherOne missions carrying payloads for private companies and governmental agencies, this is the first to fall short of delivering its payloads to their precise target orbit.

Earlier in the evening the Start Me Up mission had got off to a seemingly perfect start as Cosmic Girl - which had previously only been launched from its Calfornia base the Mojave Air & Space Port - took off from Newquay Airport in Cornwall on the south west coast of England.

On a cold and windy night, it was cheered on by around 2000 spectators who had been lucky enough to receive tickets to witness the start of the mission from special viewing areas at the airport and on giant screens. The plane took off precisely on time at 1701 EST (2201 GMT) Monday (January 9, 2023).

Piloted by Sqn Ldr Matthew Stannard, a Royal Air Force test pilot, it headed out over the Atlantic to the south west of Ireland to reach a height of 35,000 ft (10,700 m) where it performed a ‘race track’ manoeuver before releasing LauncherOne.

The two-stage, expendable launch vehicle is designed to place small satellites of up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) into a wide range of low Earth orbits (LEO). Rather than launching from the ground like a conventional rocket, it is carried to launch altitude by the 747 aircraft which has its own mission control room in the plane's former Premium & Economy cabin.

Among the nine satellites onboard were the UK's Ministry of Defence, the sultanate of Oman, the US National Reconnaissance Office and British startups including the Welsh company Space Forge, which is developing reusable satellites. All were lost before reaching orbit and are likely to have burnt up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit CEO, said: "While we are very proud of the many things that we successfully achieved as part of this mission, we are mindful that we failed to provide our customers with the launch service they deserve.

“The first-time nature of this mission added layers of complexity that our team professionally managed through; however, in the end a technical failure appears to have prevented us from delivering the final orbit. We will work tirelessly to understand the nature of the failure, make corrective actions, and return to orbit as soon as we have completed a full investigation and mission assurance process."

The UK-launched mission - titled Start Me Up in honor of the Rolling Stones' 1981 hit - brought timely publicity to the emergence of a competitive small-launch sector, just as Europe grapples with reduced launch capability due to the Ukraine war, which has cut access to Russian Soyuz vehicles, as well as Ariane 6 delays and the grounding of Vega rockets after a failed launch last month.

Matt Archer, director of commercial spaceflight at the UK Space Agency (UKSA), said he was hugely disappointed that the mission had not been successful but still pleased that the first launch of satellites from Europe had taken place from British soil.

“We don’t know what caused the anomaly but we achieved a launch,” he added. “A lot of positives have been achieved but space is hard and we knew that this had a risk of failure because launches don’t always work. But we’ve created the conditions for launch here. We’ve shown we can do it and we’ll look to do it again.”

Spaceport Cornwall received the United Kingdom’s first-ever spaceport license from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in November and in late December Virgin Orbit was issued launch and range control licenses, which ensured all regulatory, safety and environmental requirements had been met.

Expressing her own disappointment, Melissa Thorpe, head of Spaceport Cornwall, said: “We put our hearts and soul into this and it is absolutely devastating. But this isn’t the first time we’ve been knocked but this is definitely the biggest definitely. We’re a resilient team and we’ll get up and we’ll go again.”

Virgin Orbit’s previous four operational launches, which all lifted off from California, were all successful and had deployed a total of 33 small satellites. Despite its latest failure to orbit satellites on Monday night, the mission notched up a number of space firsts including the first orbital launch from the United Kingdom, the first international launch for Virgin Orbit, and the first commercial launch from western Europe.

The idea of releasing a rocket from a converted jetliner was pioneered by Orbital Sciences in the 1990s as a novel way of offering a flexible and low-cost route to orbit as the demand for sending small satellites into low Earth orbit grows exponentially.

Chris Larmour, CEO of UK-based rocket company Orbex, said: “Space is never easy, so we were sorry to learn that Virgin Orbit's first horizontal orbital space launch from the UK did not go as planned. We know how much time, effort and energy must have been invested to deliver that launch attempt, and we wish them well for their next mission.

“The Orbex team is fully focused on introducing the UK to vertical orbital launches with the debut of our UK-built environmentally-friendly rocket, Prime. We will be launching from our own pad at Sutherland Spaceport in Scotland in the near future.”  

Editor's note: Original versions of this article were published by Spaceflight Now and ROOM Space Journal.

A whiter shade of pale

MOST Europeans live under light-polluted skies and the first colour map of Europe at night, created with images from the International Space Station (ISS), shows a sharp increase in light pollution. The resulting picture is not a pretty one for the environment.

Over the last two decades, astronauts on the Space Station have witnessed how cities shine whiter at night as new street lighting technologies were introduced.

When ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti gazed at Earth from orbit during her recent Minerva mission, cities glowed brighter than the stars. Since 2003, Samantha and other European astronauts have taken over a million pictures of Earth at night with digital cameras to demonstrate the true extent of light pollution.

A team of European researchers processed the pictures and compared them over time, showing a clear increase of lighting pollution in urban areas, and a shift towards whiter and bluer emissions. This is due to the widespread introduction of light-emitting diode lamps, or LED technology.

“As seen from space, the resulting image looks like a cancer scan or a fluorescent spider’s web that keeps growing,” says Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel, research fellow at the UK’s University of Exeter. Their recent paper highlights how invasive night lights are and their negative effects for the environment.

As Europe turns lights down in an urge to save energy, scientists warn that it should not only be about reducing bills – brighter nights are disrupting the night cycle for humans, animals and plants.

Colour pictures taken from the Space Station are the best source for scientists to map artificial light at night. Current satellite images are not fit for purpose because their colour sensitivity does not show low wavelength emissions with enough quality.

“Without the images taken by the astronauts, we would be driving blind into the environmental impact of the LED transition,” says Alejandro. “Astronaut photos have always been – and will always be – the baseline for night time Earth observations.”

The composite nighttime colour maps created before and after the spread of LED streetlight technology show a pronounced whitening of artificial light. See view of London from ISS at top of page - the images were taken 400 km above Earth by André Kuipers in 2012 (left) and by Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022.

The changes vary per country, and reflect different systems and policies when it comes to light the streets. Whereas there has been a marked increase in light pollution in Italy and the United Kingdom, countries like Germany and Austria show a less dramatic change in spectral emissions.

Milan was the first city in Europe to do a total conversion of its street lighting to white LEDs, and more than half of all the public street lighting in the UK was converted by early 2019.

Germany’s glow is whitening, and the country has a lot of fluorescent and mercury vapour lights still in use.

“By the end of this decade, all Europe could look white from space,” says Alejandro.

On the warmer side of the spectrum, Belgium shines in deep orange due to the widespread use of low-pressure sodium lights. High-pressure sodium lights make the Netherlands emit a golden glow.

According to the scientists, the transition towards white and blue-rich light radiation is eroding the natural nighttime cycles across the continent. It disturbs the circadian day-and-night rhythm of living organisms, including humans, with negative health effects on species and whole ecosystems.

The study focuses on three major negative impacts: the suppression of melatonin, the phototaxic response of insects and bats, and the visibility of stars in the night sky.

“When we turn the streetlights on, we deprive our body of the hormone melatonin and disrupt our natural sleep pattern,” explains Alejandro.

Most insects and nocturnal animals are extremely sensitive to light. Not only moths, but almost all the bat species that bread in Europe live in regions where the spectral composition of nighttime lighting has become whiter. Scientists claim that this has a direct impact in their ability to move and react to a light source, also called phototaxic response.

Along with other animals, humans have long used the stars for navigation. In modern times, a worsening in the visibility of stars goes beyond geolocation and astronomical observations. Scientists are concerned that not seeing the night sky may have negative impacts on people’s sense of ‘nature’ and their place in the universe.

While the LED lighting revolution promised to reduce energy consumption and improve human vision at night – and with it, a sense of safety –, the study shows that overall emissions have increased. Paradoxically, the cheaper and better the lighting, the higher is society’s addiction to light.

The paper speculates with the existence of a ‘rebound effect’ in outdoor lighting, where power efficiency and associated cost reduction increases the demand for lighting and diminishes any efficiency gains.

Urban nights in Europe are growing a little darker though. Pushed by a looming energy crisis, wasted light is financially more painful. Several European cities are switching off the lights – from Madrid to Paris and via Berlin, hundreds of monuments and public buildings are no longer illuminated at night.

These initiatives are all part of efforts to reduce energy consumption by 15 percent, following plans laid out by the European Commission last month. The objective is two-fold: to foster a resilient and more autonomous economy ahead of the winter, and to responsibly reduce carbon emissions.

Conceived in space

DUTCH-based space research firm SpaceBorn United is targeting a ground-breaking space mission in the first half of 2023 that will see the fertilisation of rodent embryos in artificial gravity followed by a pregnancy and birth in a laboratory back on Earth.

Using SpaceBorn’s new ‘Space-Embryo-Incubator’ flying in low Earth orbit (LEO), several mice will become the first animals in history to be conceived and born in this way.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed by SpaceBorn United CEO Egbert Edelbroek and Izmir Yamin, CEO of Malaysian re-entry capsule manufacturer Independence-X Aerospace (IDXA), at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris, France.

The agreement paves the way for an initial flight next year of the ARTIS (Assisted Reproduction Technology in Space) mission which will use Independence-X’s low-cost launch service and re-entry capsule.

“Our ARTIS prototype is in full development to prepare for the first test flight. Our goal to enable safe embryo development in space starts with testing the prototype in space with mouse sperm and oocytes,” said Dr Edelbroek.

“A series of ARTIS missions in the coming years will enable research on partial gravity effects on embryo development and help us move towards the ultimate goal of human reproduction and childbirth in space.”

The payload contains male and female reproduction cells and, once deployed in LEO, the embryos are automatically impregnated and start developing in an artificial, Earth-like level of gravity. After five days the incubator is returned to Earth via the Independence-X re-entry vehicle, known as MERCAP (Microgravity Experiment Re-entry Capsule).

In laboratory conditions back on Earth, the embryos will be placed in healthy mouse pups for gestation and birth to occur, their development monitored and compared to control samples.

Independence-X is a Malaysian space company that has developed a small launch vehicle called DNLV (Dedicated Nano Launch Vehicle) with a maximum payload of 200 kg and capable of putting satellites into LEO.

“The signing of the MoA between Independence-X Aerospace and SpaceBorn United marks a historic moment in the space industry,” says Mohd Izmir bin Yamin, Founder, CEO & CTO.

“For the first time an unmanned orbital laboratory with re-entry capabilities is being flown for bio tech research and we see this as a key to unlock potential for the human expansion into the deep space.

“Independence-X will provide the re-entry vehicle and the on board support system, SpaceBorn United will provide the precious microfluidic payload to carry out the experiment in space,” he added.

“This MOA will mark the beginning of human reproduction in Space and the next step for humanity to become a multi-planetary species.”

IDXA is a company of industry professionals and academics based at Sendayan Metropark in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. As well as serving the global space industry, it aims to create a Malaysian space hub and contribute to socio-economic development of the region through space-related technologies.

SpaceBorn United, based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, describes itself as the first bio-tech and mission development company working to make human conception and embryo development in space feasible, eventually enabling human pregnancy and birth in space.

Dr Edelbroek, who is also an MP of the space nation Asgardia which was formed in 2016 and has the stated goal of facilitating the first human birth in space, added: “If humanity wants to become a multi-planetary species we also need to learn how to reproduce in space. This is what we are working towards.”

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In the photo above: MOA signing ceremony in Paris. Pictured are (standing from left): Nor Azila Wirda binti Mohd Din (Deputy Director, MIDA Paris), Abdullah Ma'amor bin Ibrahim, Minister Counsellor (Malaysian Embassy, France), Mohd Fadeli bin Md Halid (Product Engineer, Independence-X Aerospace), Afiq bin Mohd Rashdi (Control Systems Engineer, Independence-X Aerospace), Dr Aqeel Shamsul (CEO, Frontier Space Technologies Ltd) and Mat Zalasiewicz (CTO, Frontier Space Technologies Ltd). Sitting: Mohd Izmir bin Yamin (Founder, CEO & CTO, Independence-X Aerospace) and Dr Egbert Edelbroek (Founder & CEO, SpaceBorn United).

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Editor's note: given the somewhat controversial nature of engineering conceptions in space and its long-term implications, I am suprised this story, from the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris, did not get more traction and/or star billing in some of the tabloid press. A plan to conceive mice in Earth orbit and then have them born in a laboratory back on Earth would write its own headlines!