The government is set to spend hundreds of millions of pounds in a part-purchase deal for struggling US satellite firm OneWeb, it has been reported.
The UK had found itself in need of access to a satellite navigation system after Brexit barred the nation from utilising elements of the European Union’s Galileo project.
Now, the nation is expected to put forward £500m towards OneWeb, a low level satellite company that filed for bankruptcy in March due to the impact of the coronavirus, the Financial Times reports.
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Plans had initially been floated for the UK to develop its own sovereign satellite system – a measure likely to have cost the taxpayer between £4bn and £5bn.
Instead, if its bid is successful, the UK is expected to have a stake of 20 per cent in the London-based, US founded firm as part of a wider private sector consortium bid, which is yet to be formally accepted. Bid are due in by Friday, with other offers also understood to be lined up.
1/9 Soap bubble structures showing light interference colours and patterning
Bubbles want to optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This unique phenomenon makes them a reliable, useful tool in many areas of research. In particular, materials science and ‘packing’ – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom and interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst! – Kym Cox
Kym Cox/RPS
2/9 Upside down Jelly fish, Cassiopea xamachana
Instead of swimming, this species spends its time pulsing up and down in the water. Their diet is sea plankton and their coloration comes from the uptake of algae in the water. Some jellyfish species have been documented eating plastics in the ocean. One theory suggests that algae grows on the plastic. As it breaks down, the algae creates the odor of dimethyl sulfide that attracts hungry animals. – Mary Anne Chilton
Mary Anne Chilton/RPS
3/9 Tribolium confusum. Confused flour beetle.
This small beetle is a pest in stored grain and flour products. Scanning electron micrograph, coloured in Photoshop. – David Spears
David Spears/RPS
4/9 NGC7000 North American Nebula
The North America Nebula, NGC7000, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb. The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. The Cygnus Wall, a term for the “Mexico and Central America part” of the North America Nebula, exhibits the most concentrated star formations in the nebula. – Dave Watson
Dave Watson/RPS
5/9 Safety Corona
A safety pin is connected to a high tension AC generator. The pin ionizes the air around it. When the electrons fall back on an atom, the excess energy is emitted as a photon, which generate the corona glow around the pin. The fuzziness of the pin is because the camera did not actually capture light reflected on the pin but rather the light emitted by the ionized light around it. – Richard Germain
Richard Germain/RPS
6/9 Calmness of Eternity
Himalayas mountains, Nepal. Gosaikunda high-mountain lake. Point of shooting – 4400m. The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter between 150,000 and 200,000 light-years. It is estimated to contain 100‚ 400 billion stars
Yevhen Samuchenko
Yevhen Samuchenko/RPS
7/9 Stag beetle
Stag beetle. Light microscopy. Magnification 5x. – Viktor Sykora
Viktor Sykora/RPS
8/9 Mapping1_OxygenIb_PEM
Final Major Project for an MA Photography Falmouth University. Project: Mapping 1, Post Exertional Malaise. Mapping 1, focuses on discovering the research behind Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Through exploration of perspective, complexities, and scientific multidisciplinary collaborations, I create imagery that explains, reveals and connects us consciously to the ambiguous and unknown. – Yasmin Crawford
Yasmin Crawford/RPS
9/9 Lovell Telescope Series 1c
I have always been fascinated with the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank since I went on a school trip as a child. Here, I wanted to take a series of closer, more detailed and more honest shots than we often see. Exploring the multitude of shapes and exposing the wear of the telescope, each photo in the series stands alone or can be viewed collectively, either way, they present a powerful portrayal of machine that helps humankind in their endeavours to understand space and time. – Marge Bradshaw
Marge Bradshaw/RPS
1/9 Soap bubble structures showing light interference colours and patterning
Bubbles want to optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This unique phenomenon makes them a reliable, useful tool in many areas of research. In particular, materials science and ‘packing’ – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom and interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst! – Kym Cox
Kym Cox/RPS
2/9 Upside down Jelly fish, Cassiopea xamachana
Instead of swimming, this species spends its time pulsing up and down in the water. Their diet is sea plankton and their coloration comes from the uptake of algae in the water. Some jellyfish species have been documented eating plastics in the ocean. One theory suggests that algae grows on the plastic. As it breaks down, the algae creates the odor of dimethyl sulfide that attracts hungry animals. – Mary Anne Chilton
Mary Anne Chilton/RPS
3/9 Tribolium confusum. Confused flour beetle.
This small beetle is a pest in stored grain and flour products. Scanning electron micrograph, coloured in Photoshop. – David Spears
David Spears/RPS
4/9 NGC7000 North American Nebula
The North America Nebula, NGC7000, is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to Deneb. The remarkable shape of the nebula resembles that of the continent of North America, complete with a prominent Gulf of Mexico. The Cygnus Wall, a term for the “Mexico and Central America part” of the North America Nebula, exhibits the most concentrated star formations in the nebula. – Dave Watson
Dave Watson/RPS
5/9 Safety Corona
A safety pin is connected to a high tension AC generator. The pin ionizes the air around it. When the electrons fall back on an atom, the excess energy is emitted as a photon, which generate the corona glow around the pin. The fuzziness of the pin is because the camera did not actually capture light reflected on the pin but rather the light emitted by the ionized light around it. – Richard Germain
Richard Germain/RPS
6/9 Calmness of Eternity
Himalayas mountains, Nepal. Gosaikunda high-mountain lake. Point of shooting – 4400m. The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter between 150,000 and 200,000 light-years. It is estimated to contain 100‚ 400 billion stars
Yevhen Samuchenko
Yevhen Samuchenko/RPS
7/9 Stag beetle
Stag beetle. Light microscopy. Magnification 5x. – Viktor Sykora
Viktor Sykora/RPS
8/9 Mapping1_OxygenIb_PEM
Final Major Project for an MA Photography Falmouth University. Project: Mapping 1, Post Exertional Malaise. Mapping 1, focuses on discovering the research behind Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Through exploration of perspective, complexities, and scientific multidisciplinary collaborations, I create imagery that explains, reveals and connects us consciously to the ambiguous and unknown. – Yasmin Crawford
Yasmin Crawford/RPS
9/9 Lovell Telescope Series 1c
I have always been fascinated with the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank since I went on a school trip as a child. Here, I wanted to take a series of closer, more detailed and more honest shots than we often see. Exploring the multitude of shapes and exposing the wear of the telescope, each photo in the series stands alone or can be viewed collectively, either way, they present a powerful portrayal of machine that helps humankind in their endeavours to understand space and time. – Marge Bradshaw
Marge Bradshaw/RPS
The decision to invest is understood to have taken place after a lengthy meeting between the prime minister and chancellor Rishi Sunak – who just last month was warning of a “severe recession, the likes of which we had not seen” due to the impact of the coronavirus lockdown.
The company has so far launched 74 of its planned 650 satellites to build up global broadband offerings. The plan had initially been to have its entire low-flying network in space by the end of the next financial year.
The investment could see the UK in direct competition with some of the biggest names in global business and technology.
Elon Musk, the engineer and entrepreneur founder of SpaceX, is due to launch 60 satellites for his Starlink system by the end of the week.
Meanwhile Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and world’s richest man, has put forward his own system – Kuiper. His proposal, which would see 3,200 low orbit satellites launched, would also seek to provide global broadband services.
However states are also heavily invested in the race to develop the systems – with China, the US, EU and Russia all launching their own equivalents.
