The UK space industry is thriving. It is innovative, ambitious and commercially successful. A combination of world-class academic capabilities, dynamic private-sector companies and strong government support is helping our space industry grow while securing the UK’s reputation as a leading space nation. Worth £14.8bn today, a clear strategy exists to raise the UK space industry’s revenue to £40bn by 2030. As a government priority sector with broad capabilities and growth momentum our space industry currently represents an attractive opportunity for businesses looking to locate and build their organisations in the UK.
The value of the UK space economy, and its importance to the many sectors of the UK economy, has been recognised by the UK government. They have ambitions to make the UK a global player in the new space economy and have backed these ambitions with actions including:
- Partnering with industry to form the Space Growth Partnership
- Increased UK investment in the European Space Agency
- Funding and support programmes for R&D
- The creation of the Satellite Applications Catapult to drive innovation and knowledge transfer
- Removing barriers for exporting
- New legislation to develop commercial launch services