Scottish manufacturer exports Scotland’s first satellite to space

Clyde Space, the Glasgow-based manufacturer of small and micro spacecraft systems, has built Scotland’s first satellite. The nanosatellite will be launched this June inside a Russian rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The nanosatellite forms the basis for the UK Space Agency’s science and technology focused UKube-1 mission, which aims to perform a number of tasks during its time in space.

Clyde Space has significantly grown its business by focusing on global export sales in the emerging space market and innovating cutting-edge technology products. This success was celebrated today as First Minister Alex Salmond and Scottish Enterprise chief executive Lena Wilson visited the company as part of the Scottish Government’s Science Week.

Over 95 per cent of the company’s products are exported to outside of the UK, and Scottish Enterprise is supporting the company to further its innovation through product development and increase its overseas trading. The company aims to build on its success to date and significantly grow over the next five years, expanding further into the US market in particular.

Founded in 2005 by Craig Clark, an entrepreneurial Scot with a passion to put Scotland at the forefront of space innovation, the company now employs 22 staff and has a turnover of around £1 million. Its customers include the European Space Agency, NASA, the US Air Force, international universities, commercial companies and government organisations.

Craig Clark, Clyde Space CEO, said: “Clyde Space is a product focused company operating in a traditionally service based market. This has allowed the company to clearly differentiate itself to supply to the emerging, fast growing, nanosatellite sector.

“The size of spacecraft that we mostly work with weigh less than 5kg and are about the size of a loaf of bread. Through our innovation and understanding of this market, Clyde Space has positioned itself as a world leader in the supply of subsystems, especially to organisations in the USA such as NASA, USAF and MIT.

“With the development of our latest product, a complete satellite, Clyde Space aims to significantly grow the company over the next five years and expand further into the US market in particular.

“Ukube-1 is the first spacecraft to be design and built in Scotland – if we are successful in our business plan, it will be the first of many more Scottish satellites.”

As an account managed company, Clyde Space has worked with Scottish Enterprise over the last seven years to support its growth ambitions and help develop specific growth strategies. This support has focused on helping the company to streamline production, innovate new products and expand overseas, through:

  • Three SMART: SCOTLAND feasibility grants for three separate projects, with a contribution of £185,000 towards total project investment costs of £269,000 to test feasibility of the company’s CubeSat product, an intelligent plug project and a spacecraft applications layer project.
  • £30,000 of R&D grant funding towards a total project investment of £85,500 to develop the company’s CubeSat product,
  • a Regional Selective Assistance Grant of £220,000 towards a capital expenditure by the company of £1.1 million to construct the company’s clean room manufacturing facility and create 18 new jobs as a result of the project.
  • support to formalise manufacturing processes and systems through the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service and help to improve inventory and production.

Lena Wilson, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said, “The global space industry is forecast to be worth £400 billion by 2030, so there’s huge opportunity for innovative companies like Clyde Space to grab a share of this international market.

“Exporting is still one of the key routes to business growth and economic recovery. The recent Global Connections Survey highlighted the international growth opportunities which exist for Scottish companies in both emerging markets and more traditional economies.

“When companies couple product innovation tailored to meet customer needs with targeting of new markets and geographies, it’s a powerful recipe for business success and continuing, sustainable growth.”

First Minister Alex Salmond said, “From James Clerk Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory that paved the way for deep-space telescopes, to Professor Higgs work at the University of Edinburgh into the building blocks of all matter, Scottish science has helped humankind better understand our universe. By pioneering a cost-effective way of supporting more space research, the Clyde Space team is building on a strong heritage of engineering, ingenuity and innovation. I’m delighted that, through Scottish Enterprise, we’ve been able to support this exciting company as it has built the business globally, to a point, now, where it is planning a new base in the US.

“It is great to see up close Scotland’s first space satellite - representing another successful Scottish export drive, but not as we know it. After years of hard work Craig and his stellar team have shown they have the right stuff to achieve a space mission and they’re ready to make it so. I’m delighted that the mission not only supports several research projects but will engage young people online and can help inspire the next generation of space scientists and engineers. We cannot change the laws of physics but it’s important that we continue to study and understand them better. It’s one small satellite for Clyde and a giant leap for their extraterrestrial export business and a new hope for space science in Scotland!”

Hugh Stewart OBE, chairman of Clyde Space and Managing Partner of private equity company Coralinn LLP, a financial backer of the company, said it was “a fantastic Scottish example of how a small company can compete globally in leading edge manufacturing.”

“Its strategy is for continued growth and we hope to open in the USA in the next year,” he added.

Coralinn invests in high growth Scottish companies wanting to compete in a global market and Mr Stewart said Clyde Space was “a classic example of how Scottish companies of all sizes can succeed at that level.”

He added: “Scotland has the people, support networks and capacity to grow more businesses like Clyde Space.”

Clyde Space products are bespoke manufactured at its high-tech facility at the West of Scotland Science Park, and include high performance power subsystems, lithium polymer batteries and high efficiency solar panels for small and micro spacecrafts.

The nanosatellite is one of the most advanced of its kind with the complexity of the spacecraft illustrated by the six independent, advanced activities known as ‘payloads’ being flown by the mission. The Ukube-1 mission is the pilot for a collaborative national CubeSat programme bringing together UK industry and academia to fly educational packages, test new technology and carry out space research quickly and efficiently.

The payload equipment carried by the nanosatellite for this particular mission includes:
  • the first GPS device aimed at measuring plasmaspheric space weather
  • a camera that will take images of the Earth and test the effect of radiation on space hardware
  • an experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of using cosmic radiation to improve security of communications satellites and to flight test lower-cost electronic systems
  • an advanced mission interface computer to enable serious number crunching on tiny spacecraft
  • a high rate S-Band transmitter and patch antenna, and
  • an additional payload is made up of five experiments that UK students and the public can interact with while in space.
Notes to editors

UKube-1 is a UK Space Agency mission. The mission has been funded jointly by Clyde Space (mission prime) and a number of funding partners including UK Space Agency, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Technology Strategy Board.

As well as the platform and payload elements of the mission, UKube-1 is being supported by three UK Ground Stations. Led by the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory's Ground Segment, these crucial elements will provide the link to the orbiting spacecraft, as well as full planning of the operations. The supporting ground stations are provided by the Universities of Dundee and Strathclyde. The university of Strathclyde Ground Station was installed by Clyde Space during an earlier phase of the spacecraft development.

Global Connections Survey
Announced on 23 January 2013, the Global Connections Survey showed that USA remains Scotland’s top export destination with an estimated £3.5 billion of exports in 2011. This is followed the Netherlands (£2.7 billion), France (£1.9 billion) and Germany (£1.4 billion).

Exports to the rest of the UK in 2011 are estimated at £45.5 billion with £24.5 billion attributable to service sector companies and £11.6 billion to manufacturing sector companies.

The continuing engagement of the Scottish Government and its enterprise agencies with other countries is driven by its overarching purpose of increasing sustainable economic growth. The Government Economic Strategy has set a target to deliver a 50 per cent increase in the value of international exports by 2017.

Contact Information

Ruth Andrew

Ruth.Andrew@scotent.co.uk