Notice

Announcement of Opportunity: Call for Incubator Studies for Small Satellite and Cube Satellite Mission Concepts

Published 29 June 2026

1. Introduction

The UK Space Agency’s Science and Exploration Bilateral Programme (SEBP) supports the development of international space science collaborations, in areas of strategic importance for the UK. In recent years, SEBP funding opportunities have demonstrated the value of investing in early-stage concept maturation, to position the UK strongly for future national and international opportunities.

Building on this success, the SEBP is now looking to support a new set of early-stage, science-led mission concept studies, to help create a pipeline of emerging innovative opportunities. The UK Space Agency SEBP is therefore announcing a targeted grant funding call, designed to support a small number of short-duration Incubator Studies for either Small Satellite or Cube Satellite mission concepts.

Such platforms represent an increasingly important mechanism through which high-impact science can be delivered relatively quickly and affordably, with greater potential for UK leadership. They provide an effective route for incubating novel ideas, mission architectures and partnerships, with the potential to evolve into broader international mission proposals and contributions.

Proposals to this funding call will be expected to demonstrate:

• science excellence and strong science value to the UK
• both strong international and industry project partnerships
• potential to mature into a future UK-led / co-led mission opportunity

 Proposals must focus on at least one of:

• heliophysics / space weather
• artificial intelligence
• quantum

While not mandatory, where appropriate the funding may be used to support concepts through a Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) study process, making use of facilities such as those at the University of Portsmouth or Space Park Leicester (or any other suitable facility in the UK). This approach, bringing together complementary expertise and organisations within a CDF environment, has proved highly successful at rapidly maturing early-stage concepts, and enabling robust studies that can confidently be used to secure future funding and development opportunities. We are therefore keen to see this approach applied more in the future.

Please note that this funding call is designed as an incubator mechanism to explore a range of concepts, and therefore while the intent is to best position projects for future development, there is no implied commitment for ongoing UK Space Agency support.

2. Call details

The UK Space Agency can now put forward this grant funding call following approval of SEBP’s budget for financial year 2026/27. Submissions will undergo an initial UK Space Agency sift to ensure alignment with the call requirements set out above. Proposals passing this initial sift stage will then proceed to a more detailed assessment, by independent external experts, against both the call requirements and the accompanying Assessment Citeria document.  

Following this independent review of proposals, the UK Space Agency will then invite successful bidders to submit their applications for funding via the UKRI Research Grants system (The Funding Service, TFS). This will enable the grant to be processed under the UK Space Agency/UKRI service level agreement, analogous to the process used for grants in support of ESA missions.

The total budget available for the call in this financial year is £750,000 with a maximum individual award of £150,000 per project. Funded studies are expected to run for a 6-month period from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027 and all funds awarded will need to be spent before the end of March 2027. Funded project teams will be expected to provide a monthly update to the UK Space Agency on their progress and deliver a final study report to the UK Space Agency by 31 March 2027.

Please note that only UK national organisations that are eligible for UKRI grants can receive funding through this call. The grant lead must be a UK academic institution. We also expect international partners to provide their own funding for joint studies of this kind. You should bear in mind the impact of current political issues, potential difficulties with export licenses and travel when selecting partners. Bids cannot be led by industry, but industry must be included within the project and may be included as a subcontractor where appropriate.

Grant funds will be paid to the academic lead only. Please also note that the UKRI grant regulations specify that for any award made, the UK Space Agency contribution will be 80% Full Economic Costs (FEC), and the academic institution must cover the remaining 20%. We will not seek match funding in addition to this, and overheads are calculated according to UKRI’s standard grant regulations. The UK Space Agency and UKRI will only award grants to proposals judged to be of sufficient quality and the UK Space Agency reserves the right to re-issue the call in a revised form if required.

We welcome enquiries from potential bidders for clarification of any aspect of the call. Please send these to UKSA.ScienceBilaterals@dsit.gov.uk and note that answers provided by the Agency may be published on the UK Space Agency website where appropriate to ensure fairness and transparency for all applicants. We will ensure commercial confidentiality by removing any specific details and publish details on call processes only.

3. Submitting your proposal

Bidders should complete and submit the proposal template provided alongside this Announcement of Opportunity. Please note that only the lead institution should submit an application and proposals should be submitted to the Science & Exploration Bilateral Programme mailbox – UKSA.ScienceBilaterals@dsit.gov.uk

Bidders must also provide a statement of acceptance of the standard UKRI Terms and Conditions (T&Cs). Note that these T&Cs are not open to negotiation and that in submitting this statement, you are accepting the T&Cs on behalf of your organisation.

Proposals should be contained in a single PDF file, which must include your statement of acceptance of UK Space Agency/UKRI T&Cs. You will receive an email acknowledging receipt. Submitted proposals will be treated in strict confidence and only shared within the UK Space Agency Space Science & Exploration teams and with designated proposal reviewers (including external experts and UK Space Agency’s engineering office).

The UK Space Agency will conduct an initial sift of submitted proposals to ensure alignment with the key requirements of the call. Projects which pass this initial sift will proceed to independent external expert review. The deadline for proposal submission is 5pm, 31 July 2026 with final funding decisions expected by 31 August 2026. The full expected timeline is summarised below.

3.1 Summary timeline

Submit proposal

Submit your proposal using the template provided no later than 5pm, 31 July 2026 to UKSA.ScienceBilaterals@dsit.gov.uk.

Proposal review

The UK Space Agency will complete an initial sift of proposals followed by a more detailed assessment by independent external experts. We will conclude this review and notify applicants of the outcome by 31 August 2026.

Funding application

Successful bidders will then be invited to submit their applications for funding via the UKRI Research Grants system (The Funding Service, TFS) – applicants must do this by 4 September 2026.

Funding provided

UKRI will process applications and provide the agreed funding to successful applicants to begin their Small Sat / Cube Sat Mission Incubator Studies from 1 October 2026.

3.2 Reference documents

The following contain useful information relevant to this call:

RD1 – UKRI T&C & Guidance for FECs for academic partners

3.3 Key contacts

Key contacts include:

• Science & Exploration Bilateral Programme mailbox
  UKSA.ScienceBilaterals@dsit.gov.uk  
• University of Portsmouth CDF
  mission-incubator@port.ac.uk
• Space Park Leicester CDF
  psr8@le.ac.uk