Muscular' UK Space Agency launched

The UKSA will speak for Britain on space matters

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

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.
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.