What is the UK doing?

The UK has not contributed to the cost of building the International Space Station (ISS), although the UK has won contracts for manufacturing some component parts.

Now that the ISS is in orbit, the government considers that it is timely to consider what opportunities it may offer to UK academics and industry.

The principle use of the ISS is to offer a microgravity environment to researchers and, in the long term, to industry. A large range of applications are envisaged from advanced materials and fluid sciences, through biological and physiological research, to environmental science and fundamental physics.

Some areas of research will make use of the ISS for other reasons than microgravity (e.g. because of its radiation environment or its vantage point above the Earth). The European Microgravity Research Programme makes use of other platforms in addition to the ISS (e.g. drop towers, parabolic flights, Russian spacecraft). For convenience, these are all included under the 'microgravity' banner (and for these reasons, the term 'microgravity' is being replaced by 'life and physical sciences in space').

Three International Announcements of Opportunity have been made in the field of microgravity so far. These have resulted in proposals from 102 UK researchers from 33 universities, 5 research institutes and 13 industrial companies.

The UK has now conducted a review of this research

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