Our Airbus Space Accelerator has begun, starting a shared mission to help startups, SMEs and academics enter and expand across the space industry. Plexal has partnered with Airbus Defence and Space to deliver the programme, which is part of the wider Airbus Community for Space Prosperity (CUSP) initiative to develop the UK’s space ecosystem.
We encouraged submissions from existing spacetech companies and any businesses working on hardware and software technologies, welcoming applications from innovators developing solutions with potential use cases in space, such as in-orbit application, ground-based technologies, engineering tools or data analytics.
Our support throughout the Airbus Space Accelerator will enable our selected candidates to benefit from the longstanding space and technical expertise at Airbus Defence and Space – the division of the organisation sitting at the heart of the UK’s space ecosystem, with over 3,000 UK employees across multiple sites.
We aim to help businesses gain knowledge of how the commercial space sector operates while building out their network to move their technology forward.
The nine companies to form our first Airbus Space Accelerator cohort are:
ANGOKA develops cyber security solutions for smart systems that offer secure end-to-end, machine-to-machine communication over any data link. Founded by four serial entrepreneurs, who between them have five exits, including two IPOs, ANGOKA is a 34-employee SME with headquarters in Belfast and offices in London and The Hague.
Applied Atomics is building the world’s first rapid response network in space to provide rapid response services to any location on Earth within minutes, not months. Its network of vehicles is propelled by an innovative propulsion system that utilises one of the universe’s most ubiquitous resources, water, as fuel.
Aquark Technologies is a startup focusing on improving the size, weight, power and cost of quantum systems based on cold matter to accelerate the development and the adoption of sensors built on this platform.
BioOrbit is building a pharmaceuticals factory in space to revolutionise cancer treatment and disrupt the antibody market. Through hardware for large-scale crystallisation of proteins, BioOrbit can provide a transition from intravenous (injecting into a vein) to subcutaneous (injecting under the skin) administration of cancer treatments.
Calnex Solutions is a UK company, which designs, produces and markets test and measurement instrumentation and solutions for the telecoms and cloud computing industries. The company’s portfolio enables research and development (R&D), pre-deployment and in-service testing for network technologies and networked applications.
D-RisQ exploits automatic proof to improve the time and cost for the development of safety and security critical aerospace control software by up to 80%. From system requirements, through software requirements, design, source code and the binary, D-RisQ has developed tools that improve productivity.
LIA Aerospace is a green propulsion company that designs and manufactures novel propulsion systems utilising non-toxic fuels for purposes including satellite manoeuvring, enhancing versatility of satellite deployment by boosting launch vehicles capacity, descent manoeuvres for lunar and Mars landers and responsive defence applications.
Magdrive is developing high power electric plasma thrusters for satellites in low earth orbit today, for deep space and beyond tomorrow. It provides a magnitude improvement in manoeuvrability at low mass and low volume for entirely new missions and business models.
Yondar has a vision is to maximise the number of students choosing STEM, staying in STEM and graduating in STEM. It engages students with exciting STEM activities, including space technologies and provides nano satellite design courses, international competition and satellite launching services for a complete space science solution.