Enabling sustainable innovation in space

This is shown by the UK government’s recently announced package of measures designed to “demonstrate the UK’s commitment, ambition and drive to improve the UK’s sustainable use of space”. The package aims to position the UK as a world leader in driving sustainability in space, and includes working with industry to establish a new ‘Space Sustainability Standard’ to incentivise companies to adopt best practices.

Initiatives such as this bring the ecosystem together and help establish some level of accountability, which are important pieces of the puzzle. But, as with most other sectors, it’s technology that can make the real difference when it comes to ensuring that sustainability stretches from Earth to orbit.

Future digital innovation

The space industry has traditionally relied heavily on hardware. And to some extent that will never change – we’ll always need to build physical satellites and the rockets that transport them. But we can use software to significantly reduce our physical space footprint.

One of the most significant contributors to space debris is single-purpose satellites. Instead of launching satellites with a single or limited range of applications, we as an industry should be focusing on taking a software-driven approach which enables new software to be uploaded to reprogrammable satellites that can be used for different purposes while still in orbit. This will help to cut down the number of satellites required, while driving greater value from those that are launched.

This is exactly the approach we’re taking with Azalea, our low Earth orbit satellite cluster launching in 2024. Unlike conventional, single-purpose satellites, the cluster can be fully reconfigured whilst in orbit in the same way a smartphone installs a new app. This ensures it can deliver future customer missions and expands the lifecycle of the satellites.

Azalea will also have the capability to support and inform the sustainability practices that we implement here on Earth. For example, by monitoring the impact of climate change on the planet – such as extreme weather conditions and natural disasters through visual, radar and radio frequency (RF) data – it can provide actionable data and intelligence to inform government sustainability strategies.

This is just one example of how space tech innovation will help us tackle sustainability on earth. Space-based systems are particularly suited to measuring issues like climate change, largely due to their unique global perspective and the fact that some measurements – such as the amount of trace gas in the Earth’s atmosphere – can only be taken from space. Satellites also make it significantly easier to collect data from remote or inhospitable locations while negating the calibration issues associated with ground-based sensors, all highlighting how important it is to build sustainability into the future of space innovation.

An ecosystem approach

Aside from the tech itself, another key way of driving sustainable space innovation is by leveraging expertise from a range of sources and organisations. Tapping into diverse expertise and talent from across the industry will ensure help to solve the industry’s biggest challenges by unlocking innovation.

For example, as well as reducing future space debris, the ability to update Azalea’s payload system from Earth with new applications significantly reduces time, cost and access barriers to market. This essentially opens the market up to greater innovation from a broader ecosystem – providing access to a wider range of technology while giving smaller businesses the opportunity to launch their solutions into orbit quicker than ever before.

Supporting the wider SME ecosystem and enabling collaboration is a big part of the BAE Systems Digital Intelligence space strategy. We’re proud to be running Lot 2 (Space) of the SERAPIS framework agreement on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) – an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The framework is focused on reaching the most diverse expertise available, thereby building partnerships and increasing the presence of SMEs in the marketplace by providing additional opportunities.

Ultimately, the space sector as a whole has a responsibility to make sure space innovations are sustainable for future generations. By taking a software-first approach and enhancing industry collaboration, we can build sustainability into the heart of space innovation – thereby ensuring advantage on earth for many years to come.