UK £40 billion space race might never take off, warns report

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-space-race-worth-40-billion-might-never-take-off-report-warns-a6739266.html

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The UK’s space sector is booming. 

The industry’s value grew to £11.8 billion by 13, according to the Government,  and there are plans to progress towards the aim of expanding the sector to a £40 billion industry by 2030. But a report has warned that the UK’s cosmic dreams could be curbed by its own restrictive regulations.

The UK wants to seize as much as 10 per cent of the global space market by 2030, up from 6.5 per cent today. 

But the sector is being held up by outdated licence regimes and expensive third-party liability insurance, according to the Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE).

The Earth Observation satellites gather data about the planet’s physical and biological systems, bring disaster relief and monitor urban growth.

“Small Satellites are not only transforming sectors such as agriculture, conservation, energy production and disaster relief, but also have the potential to be a huge business opportunity for the UK,” said Helen Meese, head of Engineering in Society at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

But regulations are holding back the creation of new small satellites over fears of increasing “space junk”. In 2014, the International Space Station had to move three times to avoid lethal chunks of space debris, according to the BBC.

An Inmarsat spokesperson told City A.M.: “Inmarsat focuses on larger satellites and though the rise in the smaller satellite industry is well known, we have to deal with the problem of space junk before that becomes viable.”

The IMechE wants more investment to be put into research and boost the number of people taking placements in the space industry to 1,000 a year over the next five years, in order for the sector to grow.

“Much more that needs to be done by Government to increase the number of undergraduates, graduates and professional engineers taking up jobs in UK space industry. In order to enable the sector to flourish, Government also needs to look to increase the amount of money made available to SMEs through the Satellite Finance Network from £20 million to £70 million over the next five years,” said Ms Meese.