Two nuclear projects are among eleven international space projects selected to receive funding from the U.K. Space Agency. Rolls-Royce's collaboration with BWXT receives one and a half million dollars to further its work on fission nuclear systems for space power missions. An international project led by the University of Leicester receives a million dollars.
A total of sixteen million dollars of funding, the second phase of investment awarded through the Agency's twenty five million dollar International Bilateral Fund (IBF), is being announced today at the 39th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, U.S. This follows a first phase announced last year, which provided funds of up to ninety thousand dollars each for thirty two projects which then entered into a competitive process to receive Phase 2 funding.
The funding provided to Rolls-Royce Submarines and BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC is for a project to “identify the optimum technologies for a fission nuclear system which balances flexibility to a range of space power missions and maximizes performance whilst minimizing program and technical risk.”
The second nuclear project to receive Phase 2 funding is a collaboration between the University of Leicester and partners from the U.K., U.S. and Japan who will collaborate to identify a range of mission opportunities for U.K. space nuclear power technologies. The collaboration also includes the development of hybrid power systems based on existing U.S. conversion technologies.
Paul Bates is the CEO of the U.K. Space Agency. He said, “We want to draw on the best global talent to push the boundaries of new technology such as AI and space nuclear power, enhance our homegrown space capabilities and catalyze investment into the UK economy. The projects supported by our International Bilateral Fund champion the best of British innovation, while strengthening our ties with the wider space community.”
All space missions are dependent on a power source to support systems for communications, life-support and science experiments. Nuclear power systems have the potential to dramatically increase the duration of future space missions and their scientific value. Space micro-reactors are a possible solution to meet these requirements in a sustainable and resilient way, according to Rolls-Royce.
This latest investment follows three million six hundred thousand dollars awarded to Rolls-Royce from the U.K. Space Agency under the Lunar Surface Nuclear Power Contract and Phase 1 of the IBF in 2023. This work culminated in an initial demonstration of a U.K. lunar modular nuclear reactor. Rolls-Royce displayed its Space Micro-Reactor Concept Model to illustrate how nuclear power could be used to support a future Moon base for astronauts last December.
The new funding award is part of a larger collaboration agreement between Rolls-Royce and BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC which facilitates business collaboration and joint developments of new and novel nuclear applications in terrestrial, space and commercial maritime domains. These developments will utilize the core nuclear design and manufacturing strengths of both companies. It will benefit both U.K. and U.S. space nuclear development programs for a range of space power missions and further strengthens U.K. and U.S. collaboration on first-of-a-kind space technology innovation set out under the Atlantic Declaration commitment by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden last year. In the Declaration, both countries pledged to study “opportunities for co-operation on space nuclear power and propulsion.”
Anu Ojha is the director of Championing Space at the U.K. Space Agency. He said, “This exciting research by Rolls-Royce to develop space nuclear power is an opportunity to showcase the UK as a spacefaring nation. “Innovative technologies such as this one could pave the way for continuous human presence on the Moon, whilst enhancing the wider UK space sector, creating jobs and generating further investment.”