Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what investment has he made in UK companies developing radiation-hard devices for satellites and spacecraft.

The UKSA has invested in a range of protection and mitigation methods that place UK as world-leaders in a number of radiation hardening technologies.

Strategic multi-million investment over a number of years in IQE in Wales alone has enabled the UK to build naturally radiation tolerant Gallium Nitride (GaN) epitaxy for space microchips and wrest the European reliance on single-point foreign market dominance. This is a crucial element of a new, emerging high-value chain for the UK to exploit.

Many other technologies are developing cutting-edge technologies from inductive shielding and novel material development to radiation screening technologies for Commercial-Off-The-Shelf components and exploration of the use of diamond in microchips in space.