UK invests in pioneering Mars and Lunar science with new funding

UK invests in pioneering Mars and Lunar science with new funding
by Sophie Jenkins
London, UK (SPX) Feb 15, 2024

The UK has earmarked a GBP 7.4 million investment for the Space Science and Exploration Bilateral Programme, empowering Royal Holloway and other leading universities to develop cutting-edge technology for lunar and planetary exploration. This funding boost, announced amidst the buzz of the Global Space and Technology Convention (GSTC) in Singapore, underscores the UK's pivotal role in international space missions and its commitment to advancing space science.

Royal Holloway is set to enhance the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-2 orbiter with software capable of detecting subsurface ice at the lunar south pole. This project, pivotal for future lunar exploration, taps into the potential of using water ice as a vital resource.

The University of Leicester spearheads the development of a Raman spectroscopy instrument for iSpace's commercial rover and lander missions aimed at investigating lunar water ice. This initiative is part of a broader effort to assess the Moon's utility in supporting extended human presence.

Other notable projects funded by this initiative include collaborations between the Open University, and the universities of Sussex, Aberdeen, and Cambridge with global giants like NASA, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). These projects highlight the UK's commitment to fostering international partnerships in space exploration, as emphasized by the National Space Strategy.

Andrew Griffith MP, the Minister for Space, highlighted the investment's significance in pushing the boundaries of space discovery. "Our more than GBP 7 million investment is pivotal in exploring water on Mars, understanding galaxy evolution, and positioning the UK at the forefront of global space missions," Griffith remarked.

Dr. Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, lauded these projects for their potential to make critical contributions to groundbreaking global missions, enhancing the UK's reputation in space science. Meanwhile, Marie-Claire Perkinson of UKspace championed the academic and industrial collaboration facilitated by these investments, reinforcing the UK's leadership in space exploration and technology development.

The funded projects cover a wide range of scientific endeavors, from the Chandrayaan programme's lunar resource utilization studies to the development of superconducting detectors and spectroscopy instruments for Martian and lunar missions. These initiatives not only showcase the UK's scientific excellence but also its strategic international collaborations, furthering the understanding of our universe and enhancing capabilities for future space exploration.

The projects
Chandrayaan-2 and Shukrayaan (Royal Holloway and ISRO, India)GBP 306,000
Processing of multi-band radar and developing analysis software for missions to detect lunar south pole sub-surface ice and map surface of Venus.

Star-X (University of Leicester and NASA, USA)GBP 650,000
High-level science data products, accessible via a web portal, and a UK data archive, for the study of Universe formation using the time-domain method and "multi-messenger" astrophysics.

FIR missions (University of Sussex and NASA, USA)GBP 1.1 million
? Provision of superconducting detectors, detector systems, optics, filters and data pipelines for a potential probe mission to investigate formation of planetary systems and the evolution of galaxies.

HABIT (University of Aberdeen and JAXA, Japan)GBP 320,000
Provision of instrument monitoring air and ground temperature, wind, humidity and hydration state of salts, for a Mars rover/lander studying water cycle, chemistry, and habitability

I-MIM (The Open University and CSA, Canada)GBP 2 million
High performance detectors for the Mars multispectral and stereo imager for the International Mars Ice Mapper mission to map accessible water ice deposits on the Martian surface.

Lunar Spectroscopy (University of Leicester and iSpace, Japan)GBP 1.5 million
Lead development of the raman analytical spectroscopy instrument, based on the raman laser spectrometer, for commercial small lunar landers and rovers that will explore the lunar surface for space resource utilisation.

CosmoCube (University of Cambridge and NASA, USA)GBP 1.5 million
Lead for project, payload and science, mission and space platform for a cube-sat that will deploy a precision radiometer to measure spectral distortions in the Universe's cosmic microwave background.