UK Space Agency is offering young people a share of £50,000 (~€45,020) for their contribution in the using satellites to improve day to day life on Earth.
The SatelLife Competition is seeking proposals that could use data gathered from space to promote daily life, such as growing new businesses, improving health services or tackling climate change.
Winning ideas from last year’s competition included tracking abandoned shopping trolleys, fighting crime using drones and designing a mobile app to locate public toilets.
Satellites support the economy and everyday life, and this competition gives young people the chance to test their ideas with space experts and perhaps one day become part of one of the UK’s fastest growing industries. The UK space sector is supporting 42,000 jobs and could create a further 30,000 opportunities in the next decade.
Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “The SatelLife Competition will help our next generation of scientists and innovators unleash their imaginations and turn their ideas into real-life proposals that could eventually transform our lives – from saving our planet from climate change, to improving healthcare services.
“UK space is booming, and we are at the forefront of the space industry. I would encourage all young people who are fascinated by space to enter the SatelLife Competition and play a key part in the second space age.
“Last year’s individual winner Lowena Hull, an A-Level student from Portsmouth, has continued to develop her idea to track abandoned supermarket trolleys using satellites and has secured a meeting with a major supermarket chain later this month.”
The competition is open to those aged 11 to 22 and split into three age groups. The aims of this competition are to support the development of science, data handling and technological skills. The judging panel will comprise of experts including industry ambassadors and the UK Space Agency, Satellite Applications Catapult and European Space Agency (ESA).
