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The awards form part of the agency’s Unlocking Space for Business programme and aim to demonstrate how Earth observation and AI can be combined into various tools for sectors including transport, finance and insurance. The programme’s backers say the work is intended to speed adoption of space-enabled services and help British companies commercialise exportable products.

The six projects and their aims:

• Ether Capital will develop a real‑time carbon risk dashboard for the shipping sector. By combining vessel tracking from satellites with AI analytics, the platform is intended to give banks, insurers and operators near‑real‑time visibility of emissions and compliance with tightening maritime regulations. Ether Capital is partnering with AAC Clyde Space and Morphing.ai.
• Furrer+Frey, with Airbus Defence & Space, will produce a satellite‑powered planning tool to identify railway assets and produce optimised electrification designs. The company says the system should reduce planning times and costs and support faster roll‑out of electrified rail infrastructure.
• MakeSense Technology, in partnership with GIS Navigator, will apply Earth observation data to generate walking routes tailored for people who are blind or have visual impairments. The firm says the tool will enable more spontaneous travel decisions and boost independence.
• Howden’s project, developed by the Howden Resilience Laboratory with CATALYST Earth, will build a satellite‑based system to improve biodiversity and land‑use risk assessments for insurers and businesses, helping monitor landscape change and meet emerging nature‑related reporting requirements.
• Rebalance Earth, together with Treeconomy, will create ALAN (Accelerated Landscape Assessment for Nature Investments), a satellite‑driven service designed to support investment decisions in nature‑based carbon projects such as reforestation.
• Foresight Group, working with Frontierra, will develop tools that turn satellite data into financial insights so investors can better assess climate and nature‑related risks across portfolios.

Project partners and the UK Space Agency argue that some market gaps are hard to fill using ground‑based data alone where as satellite observations can deliver frequent and standardised coverage that is difficult or costly to replicate on the ground. Proponents say combining that coverage with AI can produce automated outputs useful for planning, regulatory compliance and investment decisions.

The awards sit within a wider government push to widen commercial uses of space technology while supporting decarbonisation and nature‑related risk assessment. The UK Space Agency says the sector already employs around 56,000 people and that its Unlocking Space Programme helped catalyse at least £2.2bn of investment and revenue for the UK space sector in 2024/25.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology minister Ian Murray said: “These innovative projects showcase the transformative power of Britain’s space sector.

“From reducing emissions to making our streets more accessible, we’re backing the satellite technology and AI solutions that really make a difference to people’s lives.”

UK Space Agency investment director Craig Brown said: “These projects show how the UK’s space sector is delivering real-world impact, using satellite data and AI to tackle climate change, decarbonise transport, and improve accessibility.

“By supporting innovation in sectors that haven’t traditionally used space technology, we’re unlocking new economic opportunities and helping to build a more sustainable, inclusive future.”

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