A FEW MILES north of Midleton, past the East Cork Golf Club, a gigantic satellite dish points to the sky.
The iconic ‘Big Dish’ – 32 metres across – isn’t in use any more, but the company has around 30 more modern antennas, looked after by a dozen staff.As well as talking to and directing satellites, they also help crunch the resulting Earth observation data, which can be used to keep tabs on everything from forest fires to migrant boats.
But space exploration as such isn’t a government priority. “To get any kind of blue-skies funding from Science Foundation Ireland for astrophysics and that kind of thing is difficult because it doesn’t align with any of the national research priorities”, Devaney says.The state is more interested in what Professor Louis Brennan of Trinity College Dublin calls “the business of space”.
They include Galway-based optics firm mBryonics, which is looking at how to talk to satellites using lasers, and ENBIO, which makes “sunscreen for satellites” in Clonmel. A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment reels off an impressive list of technologies being pursued: “avionics, electronics, propulsion subsystems, antennae, opto-electronics, structures, advanced materials, software data systems, data analytics, geo-science and astrophysics”.
Start-ups get some initial support from Enterprise Ireland, but the crucial next step tends to be a contract from the European Space Agency. The 22-member organisation, which is separate from the EU, placed €11.5 million worth of contracts with 28 Irish firms last year. Of those, a record 13 were securing one for the first time. McCarville, who helps companies with the ESA tendering process, says the majority of his clients are newcomers.
The National Space Strategy measures success not only in the number of ESA contracts won, but in turnover and employment at “space-active” Irish companies. The goal is for both to double by 2025. The first report on progress against the strategy is due to be considered later this year by a cross-departmental Space Enterprise Coordination Group, which met for the first time in May.
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