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'Muscular' UK Space Agency set up | |
(8 minutes later) | |
The new UK Space Agency (UKSA) will take over responsibility for government policy and the key budgets for space, according to ministers. | |
The agency, which comes into being on 1 April, will also represent Britain on space matters in all negotiations with international partners. | |
The UKSA's name, logo and remit were announced at a conference in London. | |
Its establishment should bring more coherence to space policy - something critics say has been missing for years. | |
In particular, it is hoped an executive agency that can champion British interests abroad will help an already successful space industry to grow still further. | |
"The action we're taking today shows that we're really serious about space," said Lord Drayson, the minister for science and innovation. | |
"The UK Space Agency will give the sector the muscle it needs to fulfil its ambition. Britain's space industry has defied the recession. It can grow to £40bn a year and create 100,000 jobs in 20 years. The government's commitments on space will help the sector go from strength to strength." | |
British space policy and budgets have until now been devolved to a partnership of government departments and science funding councils. The UKSA will, step by step, assume control of these partners' monies and their management functions. | |
Ministers want more information on EO and satellite broadband | |
It will start in the areas related to Britain's membership of the European Space Agency (Esa), where most of the civil space budget is spent. | |
It will then extend to areas overseen by the EU, which has begun in recent years to develop major space projects of its own, such as the Galileo satellite-navigation system. | |
In addition to the UKSA announcement, the government says £24m will be put into an International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) at Harwell in Oxfordshire, the site of a new Esa technical facility. This is in addition to £16m from industry. | |
Ministers say the ISIC will help establish hubs of excellence in the UK to: | |
• exploit the data generated by Earth Observation satellites, • use space data to understand and counter climate change and • advise on the security and resilience of space systems and services. | |
The announcements are part of the government's response to a major report produced last month by industry and academia on the future prospects for Britain in space. | |
The Space Innovation and Growth Strategy (Space-IGS) laid out a path it believed could take the UK from a position where it currently claims 6% of the global market in space products and services to 10%, by 2030, creating 100,000 new hi-tech jobs in the process. | |
Astronaut Tim Peake on the UK's new space agency | Astronaut Tim Peake on the UK's new space agency |
The government says it agrees with most of the Space-IGS recommendations, including developing a National Space Technology Strategy. | |
One key area of dissent however is the call to double UK spending on Esa programmes over the next decade. The Space-IGS wanted Britain to try to initiate and lead at least three missions between now and 2030. | |
Ministers say they cannot make such commitments in the current economic climate. | |
"We will require a compelling business case for each proposal or mission," said Lord Drayson. | |
The government says it also wants more information from industry on how satellite broadband services could be expanded, and on the feasibility of establishing a UK-based Earth observation (EO) programme. | |
At the moment, the UK buys Earth imagery taken by foreign spacecraft. The Space-IGS said there was a case for the UK to have its own EO fleet. | |
The creation of a space agency is just the latest in a series of initiatives affecting British space interests. | The creation of a space agency is just the latest in a series of initiatives affecting British space interests. |
In July last year, Esa finally opened a technical centre in Britain - the only one of the agency's senior members not to have such a showcase facility. It also appointed a British national, Major Tim Peake, to its astronaut corps in May. | |
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk | Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk |