British representatives travel to Singapore for space conference

Air February 6, 2020

Over 30 representatives from British industry, government, and academia have travelled to Singapore for a space conference at Nanyang Technology University.

British attendees at the space conference aim to forge closer ties with Singapore as part of the ‘Partnership for the Future’ project launched last year. More than 30 representatives from the UK space industry, universities and government will visit GeoWorks, ST Engineering, the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University, before attending the Global Space and Technology Convention on 6-7 February.

The mission aims to deepen understanding of the growing space landscape and develop long-lasting partnerships. The UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme funds projects in the Asia-Pacific region to support sustainable development goals, from using satellite communications to respond effectively to natural disasters, to monitoring fishing activity using satellite positioning.

Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, Dr Graham Turnock, said: “We have high ambitions to grow the UK space sector and must develop new, and strengthen existing, global partnerships to succeed. The UK Space Agency has already established strong relationships in the Asia-Pacific region through its International Partnership Programme, supporting sustainable development through space technology, and we continue to raise the priority of this fast growing and exciting region more widely.”

“We hope to continue this journey and strengthen our trade and technology partnerships, emulating the UK’s historic relationships in other sectors such as science and finance.”

The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s RAL Space in the UK and the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) has already established a programme to develop new quantum space technologies. They are working together to build a small satellite to test secure communications based on the exchange of cryptographic keys across the globe, known as Quantum Key Distribution.

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