Rising defence technology company joins Leicester’s space community

A rising defence technology company has joined the community of world-leading experts based at Space Park Leicester.

Shield Space hit the headlines earlier this year when it secured £2 million in funding to further its mission to protect satellites from jamming, interference and targeted attacks. 

It has gone on to launch a partnership with Bulgarian satellite maker EnduroSat to deploy rapid space defence missions and has now joined the University of Leicester’s £100m space research, innovation and teaching hub where it staged a launch event on Wednesday, May 13.

Shield Space Co-Founder and CEO Graeme Ritchie, who served as an RAF Officer for more than 20 years, said: “We’re delighted to be joining Space Park Leicester at an exciting time for Shield Space.

“We’re committed to developing space control and counterspace capabilities for NATO and its allies by designing and delivering systems for military and commercial users that protect the space infrastructure that we all depend on.  

“We partnered with EnduroSat in April and are working on plans to deploy a small satellite, known as a CubeSat, in 2027 which will be able to manoeuvre near other satellites for inspection. We’re also working on plans to develop a mothership that could house dozens of them for on-demand missions.”

Space Park Leicester Head of Commercial and Innovation, Vinay Patel, said: “At Space Park Leicester, we seek to push the boundaries of space exploration, satellite technology and Earth observation to benefit society and the economy.

“We’re pleased to welcome Shield Space to our collaborative community which is at the forefront of the UK space sector.”

Shield Space is also developing a National Space Security Centre to support the secure integration, testing and validation of space systems with high security requirements within the UK. The centre is intended to provide a controlled environment for organisations developing Space Control and space defence capabilities, including system integration, autonomy validation, mission rehearsal, and verification of space-to-space sensing and analytics prior to operational deployment.

The team at Shield Space also includes Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Dr Daniel Molland, a spacecraft systems and defence AI specialist who has been involved in multiple space missions, including SpaceX CRS-20, CRS-26 and Cygnus NG-18.