British businesses, universities and researchers can now bid for a share of more than £62 million in government funding to develop homegrown satellite communications and space technologies, in a push ministers say is needed to stop the UK becoming dangerously dependent on others for capabilities it cannot do without.
The package, unveiled by Space Minister Liz Lloyd on Monday as a record-breaking Farnborough International Airshow opened its doors, splits into £42 million for new British satellite communications technologies and £20 million for space innovation projects across industry and academia.
“Space is not just a scientific frontier, it is a strategic one,” Lloyd said. “If we do not build national capabilities at home, we become overly dependent on others for technologies we cannot afford to be without.”
For smaller firms, the more significant detail is how the money will be handed out. The £42 million comes through the third funding round of the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (C-LEO) programme, open to UK businesses, universities and research organisations. Projects must focus on at least one of five areas: on-board processing, active antennas, optical links, networking and routing, or user terminals. The round takes total C-LEO funding to UK organisations to up to £77 million.
The commercial appetite is already evident. Reading start-up NewOrbit recently raised £13.8 million to build satellites for very low Earth orbit, luring engineers from SpaceX and Nasa to Berkshire in the process.
The remaining £20 million comes via a new National Space Innovation Programme call, with projects due to begin in April 2027. Funding runs through two routes: Kick Starter, for early-stage ideas, and Major Projects, for businesses looking to grow and commercialise. Up to 40 per cent of the budget is earmarked for Space Domain Awareness and In-Space Assembly and Manufacturing, two areas where domestic capability is considered vital to the UK’s ability to understand and respond to threats in orbit. It is a market British firms are already chasing, as SatVu showed when it secured £30 million including NATO Innovation Fund backing for its thermal imaging constellation.
There is a third strand for the patient. The Space Clusters Infrastructure Fund is inviting organisations to register interest ahead of a funding call launching in the autumn, which will award £37 million in grants by 2030, building on a pilot phase that delivered 13 projects across the UK.
The announcement came with evidence that early-stage support in the sector is paying off. A new report from the UK Space Agency shows its Accelerator programme has backed 289 founders since 2021, helped them raise £102.2 million in investment and created 209 jobs, with 89 per cent of the businesses supported still trading.
Phil Merchant, principal and head of space technologies at intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk, a delivery partner of the Accelerator, said the funding was overdue.
“This news is very welcome for an industry where, in terms of funding, the UK continues to lag behind our European partners. Like AI, space technology is a field with wide utility potential across multiple sectors, including Agritech, cybersecurity, and telecommunications, and will be a driving force of future economic growth.
“By funding homegrown innovators and scientists at an early stage, companies can be provided breathing room to not only develop great science, but to commercialise their inventions. This includes greater focus on their intellectual property, the protection and utilisation of which is essential to providing a strong foundation for continued growth within the UK’s borders.”
For founders eyeing the sector, the message is clear enough: the C-LEO and innovation calls are open now, and the infrastructure fund follows in the autumn. Space, it turns out, is no longer the preserve of governments and billionaires. It is a grants programme with a deadline.
