The project lead by Rolls-Royce – with £249,000 of funding – involves developing a power station, for use in space, that could power the generation of water, breathable oxygen and fuels for solar exploration.
Another project – lead by Open University, with funding of £91,000 – will develop imaging technology that can withstand the high radiation levels on Mars.
A third – lead by GMV, at the Harwell Space Cluster, with funding of £222,000 – is dubbed Moon-RISE (Moon Robotic Inspection). It involves proving the concept of autonomous prospecting for water using a mobile robot, robot arm and instrumentation suitable for prospecting and mapping.
