Our latest developments, achievements, and industry insights
Latest News.
10 February 2026
Plastron is growing
Last year we established PlastronCRO, a Contract Research Organisation exclusively focused on microgravity life sciences. Rather than address the need for bespoke mission hardware or systems, we consider this new economy as an emerging ecosystem.
17 May 2024
The Days are Just Packed #2!
Space industry Centre for Excellence (SiC4E) funded by the UK Space Agency to develop Groundbreaking & Innovative Engineering Test training programme for Space Engineering. The UK space sector is booming, but its continued success hinges on a skilled workforce.
12 April 2023
Test and test until you can’t get things wrong!
Zoe Ashford is a PhD student at Cranfield University, specialising in propulsion for hypersonic flight, having recently completed her Master’s degree in Astronautics and Space Engineering at Cranfield.
29 March 2023
The Days are Just Packed!
There is lots happening in the UK Space Industry and for once we are (collectively) in the news a lot – not always positively, mind. And at Plastron, we are seeing a clear ramping up of activity. Recently we were present at the UKSA Ignite conference in the Skills Zone to promote our unique skills development expertise in the UK space sector.
16 March 2023
Space in the UK – Amina Zien, Graduate Aerospace Design Engineer
Amina Zien is a master’s student at Kingston University, specialising in Aerospace Engineering with Astronautics and Space Technology. She has recently been offered a graduate scheme working for Ura Thrusters, a propulsion company in Westcott Venture Park.
30 January 2023
The wheels on the bus…
The UK space industry has been in the news lately. The Virgin Orbit launch in Cornwall last week was hailed a great step forward for the industry – the first such launch from a UK location. Of course, it didn’t go quite to plan and the launch was not a complete success, but it also wasn’t the disaster you’d think from reading some of the media coverage. This is, after all, rocket science.
08 November 2022
Advanced Engineering at Birmingham NEC 2/3 November
Plastron took to the lights of NEC last week as a first step to bringing our ESA BIC project to wider audiences. In collaboration with co-BIC peers, GravitiLab Aerospace and key partners, European Astrotech and Argenta, Plastron set up a stand, courtesy of the Advanced Engineering team, to promote the role and importance of space hardware R&D, test and qualification.
04 October 2022
Propellant Pollution: what is the price for access to space?
During 2021 and early 2022, Plastron benefitted from the UK Space Agency SPIN programme, securing the involvement of a university student to investigate the environmental Cradle-to-Grave impact of launcher propellants.
26 September 2022
2022 undergraduate skills press release
During this summer, students from 10 UK universities participated in an interactive learning programme on propulsion test skills. Delivered remotely by Chris Smith and Charlie Young, under the auspices of the Plastron Space Industry Centre for Excellence, (a collaboration between Plastron and European Astrotech), the modular course taught sequentially how propulsion engineers test components, design system-level testing and then report on the outcomes.
22 September 2022
Space Start-ups and Scale-ups
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Entrepreneurship recently published a briefing paper on Space Sector Start-ups and Scale-ups. Authored by Philip Salter and Katherine Courtney, the report assesses the landscape for the space sector, the current pitfalls and challenges facing Space NewCo’s and a raft of recommendations and suggestions on how to resolve them.
13 July 2022
Ensuring the success of UK Launch in 2022
To ensure the UK Launch sector gets off to a safe, as well as economically viable, flying start later this year, an intensive course on space centre and launch campaign operations was recently organised by the Westcott-based, Space industry Centre for Excellence (SiC4E).
13 July 2022
The price for access-to-space
With the space industry undergoing transformative growth globally, the number of rocket launches per year has been steadily increasing1 — a trajectory likely to increase over coming decades. Despite the hazardous implications of spaceflight, earth-to-orbit traffic has been too insignificant to command much support for significant regulations2.
13 July 2022