UK Space Companies Strike Deal at Bletchley Park to Deliver Sovereign Space Capability

An artistic impression of the CLEAR mission. © ClearSpace

With threats to UK and allied satellites growing, orbital defence company Shield Space has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with active debris removal and in-orbit servicing company ClearSpace. The deal marks the first step towards a deeper collaboration between UK SMEs that focuses on protecting  the country’s access to space.

At Bletchley Park, known as the centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War, the two companies signed the MoU, committing to providing end-to-end sovereign space capability for vulnerable UK satellites at a time when adversarial states in-orbit  activity is intensifying.

Founded by operators and engineers with more than 80 years of military experience, Shield Space develops systems that protect critical satellites and keep them operating even when communication between the satellites and Earth is denied or degraded. At present, satellites rely on human control to operate and defend themselves, which means that if communication is denied, they effectively become increasingly vulnerable. What Shield Space and ClearSpace are aware of and acting to counter is the threat to military forces which rely on space services. Without this sort of industry-led activity, the UK’s and allied forces remain vulnerable.  

ClearSpace, which delivers precision in-orbit servicing to maintain performance and increase satellite longevity, enables defence customers to inspect, protect, refuel, extend the life of, and safely dispose of critical satellites in contested and congested environments. ClearSpace is currently leading a number of European flagship in-orbit servicing missions, including ClearSpace-1, Europe’s first active debris removal mission, and Phoenix, a Luxembourg Space Agency and ESA-backed GEO life-extension mission aimed at the extension of satellite lifetimes.

Together, Shield Space and ClearSpace can provide end-to-end sovereign space capability. They will also be able to move faster than the traditional primes, pulling mature or near-mature technology through their development faster. By acting in this way Shield Space and ClearSpace seek to combine their benefits with those of the primes, combining speed with the scale and the institutional strength of the more established defence companies.

Graeme Ritchie, the co-founder and CEO of Shield Space, said that Bletchley Park had gone from a place for ‘code-breakers’ to one for ‘code-makers’: “Bletchley Park has huge historic and military significance. This is where Allied code-breakers like Alan Turing cracked the enigma code, helping the Allies counter the German U-boat threat, defeat the Luftwaffe and turn the tide in the Second World War.

“The threats the UK and its allies face today look different. But they’re real and serious. This MoU represents a major step towards protecting our critical space infrastructure, which is exposed and increasingly threatened by our adversaries.

“Our armed forces and every critical civilian service depend on uninterrupted access to space. Building those capabilities from the ground up by companies like us, who understand the stakes, is critical to the UK's and NATO’s ability to project power. Likewise, Bletchley Park built those capabilities in the dark and without them, the war was unwinnable. Space is that domain today. If we lose it, everything else fails, and quickly.”

Rob Atchison, Managing Director of ClearSpace, said: “This is the start of the next generation of space capability for the UK, and its allies. ClearSpace and Shield Space are focussed on ensuring that space remains open and free to all.

“To achieve this, we also understand that there must be the space infrastructure and services in place to support military operations that protect and defend assets and access.

“Industrial leadership, coupled with the best minds that the UK and its allies have to offer, will ensure that we are able to build and maintain our advantage in space and hold those who seek to do harm accountable for their actions.”

Defence analysts have warned repeatedly that Russian and Chinese spacecraft are stalking UK and NATO satellites. Four Russian satellites recently targeted the strategically crucial ICEYE-X36, which has been used to support Ukrainian forces.

Last year, the head of the UK Space Command, Maj. Paul Tedman, said Russian satellites were stalking British spacecraft on a ‘weekly’ basis.

In February this year, European security officials said they believed two Russian space vehicles had intercepted the communications of at least a dozen key satellites across the continent.