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Britain is to set up its own Nasa-like agency to take it into a new space age, it was disclosed. The new organisation, which has not been named yet but is likely to be called the British Space Agency, will represent the UK in all its dealings with international partners.
The announcement, made by the Science Minister Lord Drayson, follows a 12-week consultation held with academia, industry and government departments. Britain spends about £270m a year on space, most of it via its membership of the European Space Agency (Esa). But it also has a highly successful industry which currently contributes some £6.5bn a year to the UK economy.
"Our space sector hasn't missed a beat during this recession," said Lord Drayson. "This is the classic story of outstanding UK science and entrepreneurship continuing to create jobs and achieve exceptional growth. "The new space agency is about making sure that the UK fully exploits its competitive advantage in satellites, robotics and related technologies."
Whereas Germany, France and Italy have national space agencies that speak with single voices backed up by single budgets, the UK's approach has been to devolve space policy decisions to a club of "users" facilitated by the British National Space Centre (BNSC).
These users are the government departments and research councils that have interests in space science or space-borne services. "In principle, having an agency is excellent news," said Richard Peckham, the chairman of UK Space, an umbrella group representing the British industrial space sector.
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