New horizons

The UK Space Agency or UKSA launched on 1st April, but many have questioned - is it just the British National Space Centre rebranded? Laboratory News investigates

The new UK Space Agency launched on April Fool’s Day and is charged with representing Britain on all things space, bringing more coherency to the country’s space policy and championing our interests abroad.

The space industry contributes £5.8 billion to the economy and employs over 68,000 skilled individuals, but until now Britain has been the only country without a national space agency. When you consider that the UK has a 6% share of the global market and is second only to America – that seems slightly strange.

Announcing UKSA, former Minister of Science and Innovation, Lord Paul Drayson said “We’re really serious about space. 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.”

 The Space Innovation and Growth Team (IGT) suggested the creation of UKSA in the Space IGS (Innovation and Growth Strategy) at the beginning of the year and recommended an increase in R&D spending and the doubling of the annual civil space budget over the next ten years. The report indicates the UK space industry could have a 10% share of the global market – worth £40bn a year – by 2030.

UKSA will receive advice on how to put the recommendations into practice from the Space Leadership Council – chaired by new Minister of Universities and Science David Willetts, and the chairman of the Space IGT, Andy Green. A change in government could have been detrimental to the new space agency, but Willetts has enthusiastically endorsed it: “I do think we’ve got something there that’s incredibly important, and one of the conversations I’ve had is about ways – including non-financial – in which we can make more of this success.”

But what will UKSA actually have to do in order to succeed?

British space policy and budgets were previously devolved into a partnership of government departments and science funding councils – all overseen by the British National Space Centre (BNSC). UKSA’s first task is to unify these bodies. UKSA will assume responsibility for the separate bodies’ budgets, and has inherited the existing £230m a year budget allocated to the BNSC. It also assumes responsibility for BIS policies and other key Government budgets for space.

Unfortunately, a single-pot fund is easier said than done. In May, Willetts said it was an excellent idea to throw all the money from various government departments and research councils into one pot, but that this has yet to happen. “Having a British space agency is a great advance,” he said, “But the crucial challenge of having the financial underpinnings does not seem to have been resolved.”

Willetts told the BBC: “The agency is at the moment essentially a shell and it needs proper single funding pot.” He said the space agency is vital to the economy and that the new coalition will pick up where the previous government left off.

UKSA – an executive agency of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) – will also take responsibility for technology and instruments, previously carried out by research councils. They will manage UK interests in EU projects such as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) and Galileo – a new satellite navigation system.

In an attempt to focus the fragmented space sector, an International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) will be established at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus – home of the Diamond Light Source and ISIS. The government will provide £24m towards the centre – which will be sited with the European Space Agency facility opened in July 2009 – while industry stumps up £16m. The centre will provide a new environment for government, universities and industry to make the most of the scientific opportunities and create new technologies. ISIC aims to establish hubs of excellence in the UK to exploit data generated by Earth Observation satellites; use space data to understand and counter climate change, and advise on security and resilience of space systems and services.

While this sounds great, the question everyone wants to ask is when will the UK be sending a manned mission into space? It doesn’t look like it’ll be any time soon – UKSA won’t have the resources to reverse the decision taken by the Thatcher government in the 1980s to focus government spending on scientific research and commercial space activities. There will be a UK presence on manned space flights – last year the ESA chose Major Timothy Peake to be part of a team who will visit the international space station. Major Peake – who previously flew Apache helicopters in the Army Air Corps – is the first ‘home-grown’ UK astronaut.

The UK will, however, enjoy a full role in unmanned flights and robotic missions like Aurora – an ESA mission aiming to land the ExoMars rover on Mars in 2019. UKSA – or rather its predecessor BNSC – were involved in CryoSat-2 which launched early April. CryoSat-2 will monitor the thickness of ice at the Earth’s poles in an attempt to understand the impact of climate change.

So UKSA has inherited the budgets from the BNSC, has unified the parties previously overseen by the BNSC, and will continue to represent the UK in projects the BNSC were involved in: is UKSA just a re-branded BNSC?

The BNSC was described on one of the Government’s own websites as ‘Britain’s space agency’ – so did we already have a space agency before UKAS was created? The BNSC was ‘at the heart of the UKs efforts to explore and exploit space’ and consisted of six government departments, two research councils, the Technology Strategy Board and the Met Office.

The BNSC was tasked with coordinating UK civil space activity, supporting academic research and nurturing the UK space industry. It aimed to increase understanding of space science and the practical benefits – such as high speed broadband, high definition television, GPS and weather forecasting – that this has led to. A bit of rewording, and this is essentially what UKSA is now tasked with, along with inspiring the next generation of UK scientists and engineers.

They had three long-term objectives: to enhance UK standing in astronomy and planetary and environmental science; to stimulate increased productivity by promoting space in the government, science and commerce; and to develop space systems and deliver sustainable improvements in quality of life – sound familiar?

The ‘new’ UK Space Agency is essentially a rebranded British National Space Centre. They are assigned almost identical tasks, and consist of the same parties, but maybe this rebranding is exactly what was needed. A swanky new logo, a refreshed website, and a few new faces in amongst the familiar old ones will hopefully provide a plethora of new ideas and boost the UK’s presence in space.