Open University researchers have received £1 million from the UK Space Agency to contribute to the design of new sensors to study space weather.
A team of researchers in the OU’s Centre for Electronic Imaging, led by Dr Matthew Soman, Space Instrumentation Research Fellow, has secured continued support from the UK Space Agency (UKSA) to test and calibrate the sensors for an instrument on-board the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) spacecraft. Read more here.
Previous Page |08 September 2026
We shared yesterday the news that the Government has published the new UK Space Strategy, alongside its Technical Delivery Annex. Ahead of publication, SPAN was invited to provide a response from our Co-Chairs, Professors Anna Hogg and Mark Sims. Their statement has been included in the Government's announcement:
10 August 2026
Over the summer Anushka Sharma had the privilege of moderating discussions and speaking on panels across the UK space sector, from security and defence at Farnborough International Airshow, to running a session on SPAN at the National Astronomy Meeting in Birmingham, and most recently joining a panel on DWC Resilience forum hosted at Fieldfisher
24 June 2026
SPAN Town Hall reinforced SPAN's role as the national voice of the UK space academic community and highlighted the growing recognition across government that academia is central to delivering the UK's ambitions in space through research excellence, innovation and strategic collaboration.
