An exciting milestone for UK Space and portfolio company D-Orbit as the Government announces new funding for space sustainability projects.

D-Orbit, through its British branch is among the 13 projects funded by the UK Space Agency to support sustainable space operations.

The 13 new projects will help track and remove dangerous debris in space. They include an AI-based tool which can take autonomous action to avoid a collision and another which will see multiple small spacecraft fired at debris before taking it into the atmosphere to dispose of it.

The projects, which will receive an overall £1.7 million funding, will focus on the development of underlying tech or data processing capabilities for space surveillance and tracking to support the removal of orbital debris.  

D-Orbit will lead the “Extended Exploration of Census Program” project offering an unprecedented opportunity to observe debris both passively and actively through its ION Satellite Carrier.

D-Orbit will also be a partner of two consortia, the “Artificial Intelligence for Space Surveillance and Tracking (AI4SST)” and the “Fast determination of satellite re-entry and fragmentation”, along with the University of Strathclyde and the Imperial College London.