STAR-Dundee (www.star-dundee.com), which designs electronic components and test equipment for the space industry, has completed its transition to employee ownership to secure its long-term future in Scotland.

The company, which was spun out from the University of Dundee in 2002, originated devices that are now being used on more than 100 spacecraft — to monitor the Earth, explore nearby planets and asteroids, map the galaxy and sense distant parts of the solar system.

It works with NASA, the European Space Agency, Japan’s space agency and others.

Founder — and former majority owner — Steve Parkes said: “Having formed STAR-Dundee and forged it over 15 years into a company with a world-wide reputation, I realised that I was not going to be around to see it through the next 15 years.

“It became clear that the future was about the people in the company, who had helped make it a success, and the culture that we had developed to support that success.

"Selling the company to another organisation, which would inevitably change the culture and might even move it from its Dundee base, was not a very attractive idea.”