Meanwhile, Finland’s aerospace firm ICEYE specialises in artificial aperture radar (SAR), satellites, which can produce pictures of the Earth’s floor through cloud and darkness. Macdonald says these have been used in the conflict in Ukraine, where satellite tv for pc imagery can present intelligence – for instance, recognizing a Russian vessel in a Crimean port – when typical optical cameras can not.
In June, ICEYE announced a funding spherical value more than €1bn, valuing the company at more than €10bn. The Finnish state has also elevated its stake and now owns around 12% of the company.
Finland’s Minister for European Affairs, Joakim Strand, said the geopolitical scenario had highlighted the significance of home possession in what he called a “key strategic sector”.
Governments need assured access to satellite tv for pc communications, particularly when their nation is going through a disaster. Some need the satellites – and the capability to construct them – within their own borders.
That can have penalties for Glasgow.
“The recent increases in space spending elsewhere in Europe matter,” says Gabriele Piazza, an economist at the London School of Economics who researches authorities procurement of superior technology.
Space is not a regular market. Where the contracts go can help decide where firms invest, where engineers work and where experience builds.
“Since capabilities build on themselves, firms with a large customer at home gain an advantage that lasts,” Piazza provides.
Meanwhile, as properly as Clyde Space’s 2018 acquisition by AAC Microtec, Glasgow-founded Alba Orbital has moved its headquarters to the US, while retaining a Scottish base and staff. Spire has expanded its manufacturing operation into Munich.
The Scottish authorities maintains that Glasgow still builds more small satellites than anywhere else in Europe. So, this is not an industry in decline.
But the larger problem, Smith says, is serving to firms that begin in Scotland to scale here.
“I wouldn’t want it to be overly negative,” says Macdonald. “It’s more just like there are warning lights flashing that other parts of Europe are investing much more aggressively, and moving much more quickly, than we have.”
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