Space race!

We examine the future of the UK space industry.

that money is actually being sent to places now,” he said. “The only bad thing about this initiative is it’s a bit late, and a bit small-scale. If they really want to do it seriously, they should be investing more and going at a much faster pace.”

Finding new friends

This may not be a problem money can solve, argues Professor Smith. Space is an international club, and we need membership. “Going it alone, even with resources, isn’t the same as being part of a club where you can cherry-pick around Europe for the best people and the best in industry to do particular jobs,” he said. “That’s a worry, in particular for space science. We’re not big enough to be out there in the cold; we need to be collaborating with our European partners.”

There are, of course, other markets, notably the US. But that comes with challenges of its own, said Bleddyn. “If Britain is going to get close to the military-industrial complex of the US, with companies like Boeing, the ITAR regime might cause problems for British space industry.” ITAR is the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which limit where products developed for military use can be sold or bought.

“If the UK is going to be doing more with Lockheed Martin and other US satellite companies, that might put more restrictions on what Britain can do,” he explained. “ITAR means a lot of American satellite components and systems can’t be sold on the market, because they’re classed as munitions or weapons-grade systems. That might cause problems with how much Britain could open up its spaceports… if it keeps getting close to the American military-industrial complex.”

Micro success

While spaceports alone might not be enough to prop up the British space industry, there’s plenty we are good at — and there are areas where the Scottish and Cornish launch pads could help.

It may come as a surprise, but Britain specialises and leads at building small satellites. “The rest of the EU and US are behind Britain at small satellites and manufacturing, but they have the resources to catch up in the next ten or 15 years,” warned Bleddyn. “Britain needs to stay ahead of that curve, and keep its niche strengths, as that’s the only way small space economies maintain their position.”

Orbex was one of the beneficiaries of government funds, alongside Lockheed Martin. It was handed £5.5 million to boost its plans to use cheap and efficient rockets to send small satellites into space from the Sutherland port. By 2021, it aims to launch its Prime rocket, which the company claims emits 90% less carbon than rivals and won’t leave orbital debris behind. CEO Chris Larmour said in a government-issued statement that it hopes to “transform the UK into an important hub for commercial space launch operations”.

While we face what Smith describes as an “uncertain future”, Britain at least has a good starting point. “At the end of the day, the UK is extremely well placed in space – we play far above our place in space, and we just need to play this carefully.”

Space is, by its nature, international — so Brexit has some in the industry worried. It’s already sparked disputes between British negotiators and those on the continent around the Galileo satellite, and whether the UK will have access to the secure feed after Brexit — under current rules, the answer would be no, potentially leaving our security services out in the cold. And Airbus has warned that a “no-deal” version of Brexit could force the manufacturing giant to move its plants to Europe – a serious concern, as it employs more than 14,000 Brits.As we don’t yet have a Brexit deal, the full impact of departing the EU on our space industry isn’t known. “To some extent, we all know that it depends on the deal,” said Professor Alan Smith, director of space domain at University College London. “I think at the moment, a lot of industry – particularly Airbus – is waiting to decide what to do.”He added: “The situation with EU-dominated projects means we’ll be marginalised… that’s going to be pretty bad for the companies involved in terms of access.”There’s a glimmer of hope with the long-awaited arrival of spaceports. The government has shelled out £2 million to develop a trio of horizontal launch sites in Cornwall, Snowdonia and Glasgow, and £23 million for a vertical launch project in Scotland with Lockheed Martin.That initial funding is small, but the payout could be astronomical. If successful, the Cornwall project alone could create 480 jobs and boost the local economy by £25 million a year, and the wider economy by £1 billion by 2030, according to predictions by Spaceport Cornwall. The British government predicts that spaceports will be worth £3.8 billion to the UK economy over the next decade. In other words, winning this race could come with serious rewards — right at a time when the industry needs it most.Are spaceports enough to fill the post-Brexit gap? Dr Bowen Bleddyn, lecturer in international relations at the University of Leicester, agrees that the pace has been too slow and the funding too small. Such launches, if they happen, are small beans compared to the European work the UK stands to lose post-Brexit.“It’s something the government and the space sector in the UK have been talking about for the best part of a decade, so in general it’s good news“The British government predicts that spaceports will be worth £3.8 billion to the UK economy over the next decade”

LEFT Orbex aims to launch its cheap and efficient Prime rocket from Scotland by 2021

ABOVE US firm Lockheed Martin is developing a Scottish spaceport to launch orbital rockets