The Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC) and the Satellite Applications Catapult have partnered in an effort to expand the UK’s influence in the space industry. The UK government aims to capture 10% of the sector by 2030, and this new partnership will help to establish a national space supply chain for advanced manufacturing.
The collaboration between DMC and the Catapult is an attempt to kickstart the ambitions to become a bigger part of the global space industry. DMC provides commercial advanced manufacturing production facilities, including 3D printing, and supplies to multiple industries including space, aerospace, defence, motorsport, automotive, energy and MedTech.
One of the challenges the Catapult is aiming to provide a solution to is manufacturing in space, which could be revolutionised by additive manufacturing. Teams on the ground will design and engineer parts and spares that are then transmitted to spacecraft and stations in orbit using on-board additive manufacturing.
Kieron Salter, CEO of the DMC, commented: “The UK space sector is expected to undergo significant growth over the next decade. Integral to these ambitions is a highly-capable supply chain that understands the unique challenges of the industry.”
Commenting on the joint ambition of DMC and catapult, Salter added: “In addition to support manufacturing for the space industry on Earth, our joint ambition is to have a DMC-led AM capability in space, either in orbit, on the moon or on another planet entirely.”
The UK believes it already has the manufacturing capabilities to become a major player on the world stage in the space industry, and the partners believe this collaboration will be essential in achieving this goal. Mike Curtis-Rouse Head of Access to Space at the Satellite Applications Catapult, commented: “It follows closely from the announcement of our partnership with the Manufacturing Technology Centre earlier this year, and will further strengthen the development of the next generation of technology for the space sector.”
This development of a comprehensive and advanced supply chain is needed for the government to reach its goal, specialising in high-performance composites and AM. The UK space sector is said to currently generate around 16.5 billion GBP per annum, and provides 47,000 jobs across 1,293 different organisations, but this is still a relatively small part of the space industry as a whole, which is estimated to be worth over 400 billion USD in total.
