The government has published a new UK Space Strategy backed by £7.8 billion until 2030, with more than £3 billion of it directed at defence capabilities in orbit, the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade stated.
The strategy brings government space investment and activity under a single plan covering growth, defence and national security, and formally replaces the National Space Strategy published in 2021.
Wes Streeting, the Defence Secretary, said: “This space strategy recognises that our national security depends on our freedom of action in space and, if necessary, the ability to protect UK and allied space assets. As threats in orbit grow more sophisticated, so must our ability to detect and respond to them, ensuring we protect the interests of the UK and allies while fuelling economic growth along the way.
“Backed by the Defence Investment Plan, we’re investing more than £3 billion to ensure our defence capabilities in space keep pace with the threats we face, supporting reindustrialisation and creating opportunities here in the UK.”
The largest single defence line is £880 million towards space control and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, funding technologies the department says can track military activity on the ground and potential attacks on satellites.
A further £2.8 billion goes towards connectivity, including the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit and SKYNET defence communications programmes, which the department says play a pivotal role in keeping the armed forces connected wherever they are in the world. The same investment is expected to improve rural connectivity and reduce mobile signal dropouts on trains.
Space domain awareness, meaning the monitoring of satellites, rockets and debris in orbit, receives £149 million for the European Space Agency’s Vigil mission and £85 million for the National Space Operations Centre. According to the department, that funding will allow British technology to provide earlier warning of potential satellite collisions, hostile activity and solar storms.
Launch and industry
The strategy commits £148 million to European rocket programmes and £30 million to SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, which the government says will allow Britain and its partners to launch satellites without relying on countries further afield.
Douglas Alexander, the Scottish Secretary, said: “The UK Space Strategy is a huge vote of confidence in Scotland’s Space Sector. Scotland already builds more satellites than anywhere else in Europe, and with a £30 million UK Government investment boost, SaxaVord is now poised to deliver up to three-quarters of the continent’s orbital launch slots.
“This UK Space Strategy has defence, security and economic growth at its heart, creating skilled jobs right across Scotland, showing what we can achieve when government, industry and ambition come together.”
Jonathan Reynolds, the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Secretary, said: “As space becomes a new frontier of economic and military competition, this plan will help keep Britain secure by strengthening our ability to launch satellites, detect threats and protect the services people rely on every day.
“At the same time, this plan will enable our excellent UK industry to seize the boundless opportunities of this new age in space, creating skilled jobs, driving growth and improving connectivity for all of us.”
A further £40 million supports in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing, which the department says will help repair and maintain satellites damaged by debris, solar storms or hostile interference, and clear dangerous objects from orbit. The strategy also allocates £163 million to space science and exploration missions including the Rosalind Franklin Mars Rover built at Stevenage, £190 million from UK Research and Innovation for astronomy and space science research, £57 million from the Department for Transport for rail connectivity and £9 million from the Met Office for space weather forecasting.
For the first time, the department says, government will take a single approach to buying and developing space technology, beginning with satellite communications, which it argues will help British firms win more work and deliver capabilities faster.
Industry response
Kevin Craven, chief executive of the ADS Group, said: “We welcome the publication of the new space strategy, and the sustained effort to bring a cross-government perspective to space capability delivery. It is important that government maintains an open, transparent and ambitious partnership with industry to realise its national security and growth goals.
“Certainty allows the sector to operate at pace and for its industrial base to make long-term strategic and commercial commitments. It is also a vital signal of intent to our international partners for trade and collaboration.”
Doug Liddle, chair of the trade association UKspace, said: “UKspace welcomes the publication of the government’s new UK Space Strategy. It sets out a constructive path towards a refreshed approach to space in the UK, which we hope will result in a stronger emphasis on open, inclusive cross-sector dialogue. The new, focussed strategy offers a valuable opportunity to create a more streamlined framework, strengthen collaboration and deliver greater impact across the UK space sector.”
Professors Anna Hogg and Mark Sims, co-chairs of the Space Academic Network, said: “SPAN welcomes the new cross-Government space strategy and its integrated delivery plan. We look forward to seeing the detail of the strategy and delivery plan, which will be critical in enabling academia and industry to plan, invest and work together to deliver the UK’s ambitions for space. Sustained investment across academia and industry is crucial to creating the cutting-edge technologies, capabilities, talent and growth of the future.”
The department puts the value of the UK space sector at £18.6 billion supporting more than 55,000 skilled jobs. Alongside the strategy, the government is reforming space regulation with the stated aim of reducing costs and rewarding responsible operators.
In the end the UK needs a sovereign orbital booster programme.
If you have an orbital booster programme you can leaver..
1) your own satellite launches
2) your own boosters for launching exo atmospheric kill vehicles for IRBM and above defence and anti satellite systems.
3) a sovereign IRBM programme.
I agree we need our own launcher going out of Saxaford however I don’t think we need a UK government program. Any UK government program will invariably be expensive and open to cancelation.
With Orbex now bankrupt and out of the market that just leaves Skyrora in the mix.
The government either needs to invest in Skyrora or fund something else and not with a few million quid but hundreds of billions or even beyond a billion and it needs to provide guaranteed launch contracts which means a big expansion of ISTARI.
Jonathan,
Ditch the word orbital, wrong kind of boosters.
1) Your own satellite launches.
Orbital boosters require liquid fuel for heavy lifting, it’s messy and très expensive. No need, in peace time launching satellites has become a cheap commercial commodity service. During conflict Micro-rockets are the prefered choice and apparently, our programme of choice ‘Assured Access to Orbit’ is nearing completion. Together with the Borealis Space Awareness System, which is now online and alive to spot threats, the UK is essentially months away from having a complete and independent ability to track orbital threats and launch a micro-satellites to replace lost ones on demand.
2) Your own boosters for launching exo atmospheric kill vehicles for IRBM and above defence and anti satellite systems.
You don’t use a slow orbital satellite liquid fulled booster to launch a missile interceptor, their flight profiles are fundamentally opposites to each other. you need solid fuelled boosters for the punch.
3) A sovereign IRBM programme.
A sovereign solid fuel IRBM programme would be expensive; many other projects canned, CASD already exists.
The really tricky word here is ’sovereign’ … it is unamenable to the idea of low budget. It adds a “Sovereignty Premium” ratio of somewhere between 2:1 and 3.5:1, but in real reports show it’s much closer to 4.1 and the UK debt is curtailing fancy projects.
You’re not going to be able access every orbit from the UK, regardless of how much you throw at it. Imagine it’s really good for some polar orbits, which I would imagine includes SSOs, but for some orbits we’ll always need other providers.
Assured access to launch depends on how much notice it needs and how much you’re willing to pay. The US were talking about responsive launch, having a dedicated production and storage line for buses which could then have a number of payload options and getting them up quickly.