Mission Possible: The role of challenge prizes in a revitalised UK Innovation Strategy
Space Energy Prize A £30m prize awarded to the first team to demonstrate safe, scalable and reliable transmission of energy between two orbiting satellites launched from a UK spaceport Why a prize? The Space Energy Prize would give visibility and support to this cutting-edge field of research and development, signalling UK commitment, helping teams
Technology leadership for the UK The UK’s space sector is extremely strong, particularly in satellite design, but the sector is undergoing largescale disruption at present. The Space Energy Prize would establish UK leadership in one of the emerging opportunity areas in space technology while signalling support to the broader UK space sector, including launch.
raise private investment and cementing UK leadership in the fast-changing space and satellite sector. It would provide a key enabling technology for net zero and help develop the regulatory environment to make the UK a leader in this field.
Alignment with the seven technology families of UK strength and opportunity Advanced Materials and Manufacturing AI, Digital and Advanced Computing Bioinformatics and Genomics Engineering Biology Electronics, Photonics and Quantum Energy and Environment Technologies Robotics and Smart Machines
The problem
The impact
The UK’s commitment to net zero emissions will require innovations in how we generate electricity. Spacebased solar power (capturing the power of the sun high above the atmosphere – avoiding both clouds and night time, and generating reliable energy) is a promising longer-term technology in this field. But to do this, we need a reliable and safe way to transmit that power – first, between spacecraft, then from spacecraft down to the Earth’s surface.
Aside from the contribution towards decarbonising the economy, a space based solar power challenge would give welcome backing to the UK’s strategically important space sector. It would complement the roadmap of the Space Energy Initiative by providing incentives that motivate a wide range of engineering teams to participate in this growth opportunity.
The mission The Space Energy Prize would be part of the UK’s mission to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
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