{"id":690719,"date":"2026-01-12T08:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T08:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/690719\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T08:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T08:58:14","slug":"tiny-satellites-take-glasgow-to-the-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/690719\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny satellites take Glasgow to the stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an anonymous office block towering above the trendy bars of Finnieston, engineers delicately stack guidance devices and solar panels around the \u201cCubeSats\u201d that have turned Glasgow into Europe\u2019s manufacturing capital for these small, modular satellites.<\/p>\n

Since its first satellite launched in 2014, AAC Clyde Space has become a leader in the Scottish city\u2019s cluster of manufacturers building them for customers around the world. <\/p>\n

The Swedish-backed group also launches its own satellites, offering services for companies such as tracking maritime vessels or observing changes in forests and farmland.<\/p>\n

The company is seeing more growth in providing data and services than purely manufacturing the satellites<\/a>, according to chief executive Luis Gomes. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe demand is for people to know things,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cOperating satellites is difficult, so many companies don\u2019t want to do that, they want the data.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the company transitions from hardware manufacturer to data provider, from next year it will monitor tree cover for signs of disease, replacing the helicopters and drones used by Scotland\u2019s state forestry manager \u2014 a product that can then be sold on to large timber companies across the US and Europe.<\/p>\n

\"LuisLuis Gomes, AAC Clyde Space chief executive \u00a9 Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert\/FT<\/p>\n

Its latest venture, Inflecion, aims to enhance operations and security in the maritime industry \u2014 even tracking ships that have turned off their transponders by detecting emissions or phone signals. Using technology that is largely the preserve of the military, it will become operational in 2028, with the launch of a constellation of 12 satellites.<\/p>\n

Scotland\u2019s space sector, which has benefited from the country\u2019s strong universities, is on the verge of emerging as an integrated industry \u2014 spanning from the manufacturing of satellites through to launching them and then analysing the data \u2014 placing the nation at the cutting edge of a sector that is central to both defence and commerce.<\/p>\n

Glasgow<\/a>, which builds more satellites than any other city in Europe, is complemented by analytics companies in Edinburgh processing data retrieved from the more than 10,000 active satellites orbiting the Earth. <\/p>\n

They are joined by two rocket companies, Orbex and Skyrora, and SaxaVord Spaceport on the Shetland island of Unst, which has emerged as a leading contender <\/strong>to become Europe\u2019s main domestic spaceport.<\/p>\n

Now, executives are calling for more government support to keep the UK space industry competitive in the face of a huge increase in European spending.<\/p>\n

\"AA computer-generated image of a rocket launching from SaxaVord Spaceport \u00a9 SaxaVord\/PA<\/p>\n

As Europe reviews its military strategies in the wake of the Ukraine war, Germany has allocated<\/a> \u20ac35bn for space capabilities oriented towards security and defence, such as military satellites and orbital awareness systems.<\/p>\n

At last month\u2019s ministerial meeting setting the European Space Agency\u2019s record \u20ac22bn 2026-28 budget, Germany increased its pledge by 45 per cent, Spain by 90 per cent and associate member Canada boosted its funding fivefold. <\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s allocation, meanwhile, was cut by about 10 per cent. <\/p>\n

The ESA, which coordinates intergovernmental space missions, is funded by its 23 members and other associate states. It then aims to provide contracts to member states\u2019 companies and universities in line with national allocations to the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s very, very difficult to compete with this huge capital given to our competitors on the continent, so it is imperative that the UK actually invests more,\u201d said Gomes. Companies such as AAC Clyde Space received frequent requests to open overseas factories to exploit foreign funding streams, he added.<\/p>\n

Richard Lochhead, Scotland\u2019s business minister, said: \u201cLots of governments are throwing significant investments at the space economy, for commercial reasons, defence and security, it\u2019s really important that the UK government does all it can to not fall behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK was investing a \u201crecord amount\u201d in space, with \u00a32.8bn allocated to the UK Space Agency through the spending review, a government spokesperson said. \u201cWe have deliberately invested in areas which deliver maximum value for UK\u2019s taxpayers and our allocations through the ESA form just one part of this funding programme.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ASolar cells are assembled on to a CubeSat at AAC Clyde Space \u00a9 Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert\/FT<\/p>\n

Glasgow emerged as a satellite manufacturing hub thanks to a generation of Scottish space engineers returning home in the early 2000s, who \u2014 along with the universities\u2019 space engineering courses \u2014 built expertise in the production of CubeSats, small and relatively inexpensive satellites generally made up of cube-shaped parts.<\/p>\n

Malcolm Macdonald, a professor at Strathclyde university, urged the UK government to take more risks on longer-term programmes to develop the sector.\u00a0\u201cThey need to move beyond grants to contracts, we could see more in terms of government placing contracts for the delivery of services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edinburgh-based Skyrora, founded by Ukraine-born entrepreneur Volodymyr Levykin, this year became the first British company licensed to launch from SaxaVord.<\/p>\n

\"ASkyrora is the first UK company licensed to launch from SaxaVord \u00a9 Skyrora<\/p>\n

Against the backdrop of the market dominance in the commercial launch sector held by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX, Skyrora says it can be more of a \u201ctaxi service\u201d to SpaceX\u2019s \u201cbus\u201d for space operators.<\/p>\n

Its launch vehicle would act as a \u201cspace tug\u201d for satellites, refuelling, manoeuvring and then removing them from space, said Alan Thompson, head of government affairs. \u201cThat\u2019s the business opportunity we are chasing \u2014 we don\u2019t want to be competing on price per kilogramme with SpaceX, it\u2019s just not sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Near the UK\u2019s most northerly point, SaxaVord Spaceport, located on a former Royal Air Force site, hopes to become the UK\u2019s first vertical-launch spaceport next year with a planned test launch from the German start-up RFA, though some in the industry worry about poor weather conditions hampering regular operations.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Pitching itself as a launch pad for Europe\u2019s growing space ambitions, driven by data services, SaxaVord is in talks with infrastructure funds to raise a further \u00a350mn to construct two more launch pads and hangars required to bring the site to an operational capacity of up to 30 satellite launches a year, said chief executive Scott Hammond.<\/p>\n

Like others in the industry, Hammond argues that government should offer financial assistance to launch companies to help them navigate the perilous first few launches, which commonly end in failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would not take lots of money to kick-start an industry which will create jobs. We are at that stage now, pump primed, to have a real vital industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an anonymous office block towering above the trendy bars of Finnieston, engineers delicately stack guidance devices and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-690719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}