Lockheed Martin to develop UK space industry

He added that he hoped to use a British base to “springboard” off into other markets, such as Europe.

Lockheed Martin will set up the office at the UK Space Gateway in Harwell Oxford, with the aim of working with British space companies and universities doing work in the sector. The US company has already met with more than 30 businesses, universities and government agencies about setting up partnership programmes.

“Britain is a good pool of talent, especially with the concentration on small satellites and small satellite payloads,” said Mr Ambrose. “It’s been very innovative there.”

Small satellites are technically classed as weighing in at less than 1,000kg but can be as small as just a few kilograms and be the “size of a toaster”, Mr Ambrose said.

Their small size and weight means they are cheaper to launch into space, making them one of the most attractive areas in space research.

He added that the UK space companies had been active in areas of satellite research and development including remote sensing, climate monitoring, space weather and global security and global security communications.

Another area that Lockheed Martin is keen to work with UK companies is 3D printing of components for satellites. Mr Ambrose said the company was keen to work “cleverly” with UK businesses on this, pointing out that it currently takes 18 months to precision machine an entire propulsion system for large satellite. However, by using 3D printers the company has been able to produce major components such as fuel and oxygen tanks in as little adjust three hours.

Using 3D manufacturing in smaller satellites could mean they could be produced even faster.

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