A Dundee space firm has been awarded £2 million funding from the UK Space Agency.
The business designs and manufactures microwave products for antennas and transmit and receive systems.
The firm, which previously traded as TRAK Microwave, is based at Dunsinane Avenue in Dundee.
The business will use the seven-figure funding to enhance its space qualification laboratory at its Dundee site.
The facility simulates the extreme conditions of space – from the extreme vibrations of launch to extreme temperature swings – to ensure the quality and durability of space components.
A key goal for Smiths Interconnect is to reduce both the time-to-market and cost of manufacturing of its components.
This will be enabled by developing new manufacturing capabilities and scaling up production.
Smiths Interconnect president Julian Fagge said: “Ongoing investment in the UK space sector in recent years is helping the country to become a global leader.
“Our work in Dundee aims to create unrivalled design, prototyping and manufacturing capacity coupled with an open-innovation space qualification testing lab.
“We are grateful to the UK Space Agency for supporting us in our mission.”
Through the funding, Smiths Interconnect plans to make its lab available to other UK space companies.
To date, Smiths Interconnect’s laboratory has completed more than 50 space component test and qualification campaigns.
£2m investment in ‘significant’ Dundee space facility
UK Space Agency chief executive Dr Paul Bate said the money would help grow a “significant” facility.
He said: “It’s exciting to see the emergence and growth of vibrant space clusters.
“Smiths Interconnect’s space qualification laboratory in Dundee is a significant facility, capable of simulating the extreme conditions of space.
“It is a brilliant demonstration of the potential of our thriving space sector to develop innovative infrastructure that helps us to deliver increasingly ambitious missions and capabilities.”
Conversation