UK.gov presents its National Space Strategy: Space is worth billions to us. Just don't mention Brexit, OK?
- Reference: 1633084033
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/10/01/uk_national_space_strategy/
- Source link:
A cynic might wonder if the document has more in common with the Green strategies trumpeted by the regime of current Prime Minister Boris Johnson, such is the amount of recycling contained within.
There's no new spending so the ambitions for 'leadership' may remain ambitions
Taking aside the puffery of Johnson, pictured standing in front of one of US-based Virgin Orbit's rockets – and no, we're not entirely sure what "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1 under British space businesses" actually means either – the document once again lays out how much space is worth to the UK's economy and the billions due to be spent by the British government taxpayer over the next decade.
For those that haven't been following the UK's adventures in the space sector over the last few years, the strategy is more a catch-up for where Blighty stands and where the UK government would like it to go, space-wise. In 2018/2019, the space sector is "worth" over £16.4bn per year, according to the document, and supported more than 45,000 jobs across the nation. Space technologies also underpinned over £360bn per annum in terms of UK economic activity.
Also present in the document is the estimate of the potential growth of the global sector, from £270bn in 2019 to £490bn in 2030. The UK would like a chunk of that and, being strong in the fields of satellite and payload manufacture and integration, the strategy lays out where Britain could take a lead, from debris removal through in-orbit servicing tech.
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Front and centre in the document is international cooperation, with the European Space Agency (ESA) getting a hat tip and a promise that Blighty will be "maintaining our role in the European Space Agency." Hmm.
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Absent from the cheerleading is the impact of Brexit on the UK's space industry. "The UK has agreed to participate in the Horizon Europe and Copernicus EU programmes under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement," the strategy boasts, while omitting to mention [5]UK space firms losing out on Copernicus contracts last year , something the UK Space Agency told The Register it was understandably "disappointed" about.
Still, putting the recognition of the importance of international partnerships in black and white is an important step. However, while the document highlights Position, Navigation and Timing services it neglects to mention the likes of Galileo, other than as a footnote regarding "consistently high growth rates" in the UK space sector. It also fails to mention decisions taken by the UK government that have resulted in the exclusion of UK companies from future generations of that project.
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That said, in the same breath as that boast of high growth rates came the surprising admission that "the UK lags behind our international peers."
"As a result," the strategy goes on, "whilst the UK sector has continued [to] grow, it is not currently increasing its share of the global space economy."
Back in 2019, then Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency (and now Senior Advisor to ESA) Graham Turnock [7]said the ambition was for the UK to nab 10 per cent of the global market. The strategy appears to suggest that that goal is looking ever more distant.
It's UK government just 'hoping' the private sector can do things
Space Policy/Warfare Expert and Lecturer in International Relations, Dr Bleddyn Bowen, told The Register the admission was a refreshing one, although he noted that "the UK gov thinks it can change that without a hike in public spending. Instead it 'hopes' private sector can do things."
He also called out the highlighting of ESA: "UK space industry, universities, commerce are deeply integrated in the European Space Agency and the wider European space system," he explained, "so seeing this so emphatically recognised is really important given that loads of political elites and civil servants new to the brief of space policy will read the NSS [National Space Strategy].
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"As a primer for new people, the NSS is a good recap of genuine successes in the UK space sector in the last 5-6 years or so. But for those of us in this field the NSS doesn't say anything new."
Indeed. Bowen also remarked "there's no new spending so the ambitions for 'leadership' may remain ambitions."
Also missing is much in the way of detail on the UK's Defence Space Strategy (DSS). Approximately £5bn is due to be invested over the next decade on the UK's Skynet satellite communications system and another £1.4bn on "the acquisition and development of new technologies" but the devil will be in the detail, and that detail is unlikely to put in an appearance until the DSS turns up.
Unsurprisingly, UK space companies were swift to trumpet their support for the strategy. NanoAvionics business development manager for UK government programmes, Edward F Jamieson, told The Register : "The importance of small satellite technology, in furthering the development of the UK space industry as recognised in the Strategy, should not be underestimated. We are seeing more emphasis on collaboration in space, both with commercial space and non-space companies, as well as institutions.
"We are looking forward to the outcome of the Spending Review 2021 and subsequent 'Ignition Phase' of the Strategy which will set the already strong foundations for a world-leading and prosperous space industry in the UK."
As well he might. There is currently quite the void between rhetoric and actual spending commitments in this document, making what actually gets committed to in the "Ignition Phase" all the more important.
[9]We're not getting back with Galileo, UK govt tells The Reg, as question marks sprout above its BS*
[10]America's democracy on the brink, Brexit looming, climate crashing... when better to get the first fast radio burst from our own galaxy?
[11]UK Space Agency will pay a new CEO £125,000 to run non-existent space programme
[12]NASA hopes VIPER rover will search for water in Moon's Nobile crater in 2023
The "Ignition Phase" is expected to run from 2022 to 2023, and is all about mobilisation and programmes being funded following 2021's UK government spending review. 2023 to 2030 is the "Thrust Phase" in which the strategy calls for "accelerated progress" culminating in the "Orbit Phase" from 2030. The latter reckons the UK will have both credibility as a space power and leadership as an "influential science power."
While mention of the Galileo-replacing Brexit Satellite navigation system was thankfully absent, other ambitions remained front and centre including a long-held desire to vertically launch rockets from UK soil.
The UK had its own launch capability (admittedly from Australia) but put itself in a very exclusive club by abandoning the technology following the termination of the Black Arrow programme in 1971. 2022, however, could see the first launches from a UK space port.
Companies such as Skyrora and Orbex are vying to be the first off the pad and into orbit.
Alan Thompson, head of government affairs at Skyrora, welcomed the publication of the National Space Strategy, but noted it was currently a stepping stone: "if we are to fully transform into Boris Johnson’s 'Galactic Britain' and become a global leader in the new space race it is time for Government and industry to work more closely together to operationalise the comprehensive and ambitious plan."
While we're not entirely sure about Johnson's "Galactic Britain", nor his summoning of the ghosts of Apollo, Thompson makes a good point: "The strategy highlights important challenges facing the space sector — from insurance to data regulation, finance to sustainability."
Fellow rocketeer and CEO of Orbex, Chris Larmour also gave the unveiling of the Strategy a thumbs-up, noting that "Orbex is already working with the UK government and other partners towards meeting many of the Strategy's objectives, in particular the No.1 goal around capture of the European small satellite launch market, as well as environmental sustainability and space technology innovation."
"We are working towards becoming the first country to launch into orbit from Europe in late 2022, helping to establish the UK as a leader in small satellite launches."
Music to the ears of the Johnson government, we're sure. ®
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[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1020617/national-space-strategy.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YVcwxfjhM2Gzavis5lLPZAAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YVcwxfjhM2Gzavis5lLPZAAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YVcwxfjhM2Gzavis5lLPZAAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/02/uk_copernicus_loser/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YVcwxfjhM2Gzavis5lLPZAAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/3400-new-uk-space-jobs-created
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YVcwxfjhM2Gzavis5lLPZAAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/21/no_galileo_uk/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/06/milky_way_frb/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/11/space_in_brief/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/21/nasas_viper_rover_to_search/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I was very disappointed that the document didn't have a mission statement "To protect Britain's interests in a changing galaxy".
They did manage to sneak one obvious joke past the proof reader though, which is that the British military apparently has an outfit called "Space Command".
UK Space Command
"the British military apparently has an outfit called 'Space Command'."
It's no joke.
https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/uk-space-command/
Re: UK Space Command
UK Space Command was formed on 1 April 2021
Are you sure?
Re: UK Space Command
It's about navigating the space between ears of some decision makers, that is a direct threat to our great nation.
Re: UK Space Command
I don't think the Duchy of Grand Fenwick actually owns a space rocket, even though they might rent half a dozen satellites from Airbus.
Special Advanced IntelAIgent Research Services for Immaculate Source Defence Forces
They did manage to sneak one obvious joke past the proof reader though, which is that the British military apparently has an outfit called "Space Command". ...... Pseudononymous Coward
Command of which space, that perceives and conceives and receives control of future events in all others, is no joke, PC, although whether the British military are pioneering with expertise in the field, or teasing for experts, is something which is probably not ever currently going to be mentioned publicly or outside of Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information circles. Indeed, even within such hallowed cloisters would such likely be rarely, if ever, discussed and admitted, given the advantage it grants to the worthy in the fields of specific collegiate endeavour.
And as for nabbing only 10% of that global market, it would a mistake and a bet one would lose if one was to think and not realise the private sector is more than just capable and enabling of hope ...... or if one was to not think and realise the private sector is more than just capable and enabling of hope.
The trouble with a presently politically inept blighted Blighty is it does not aspire to solely effectively lead enough and thus falls foul of all of those wannabe Caesars, with too little in the way of intelligence in their brains, being told or imagining themselves that they can and thus does it and IT and Media give rise to an unsavoury opposition and wasteful competition and forlorn hopes easily crushed and crashed and trashed.
Seems to me like one of those perfect times for the private sector to do a whole series of those can do things which you may never live long enough to know anything definitive about because it is safer for you that way.
"Space is worth billions to us"
Solely about dosh again.
"Huston, the Locust has landed".
Re: "Space is worth billions to us"
Johnson or any other prime minister past, present and probably future have little to no understanding of technology or science, they are all about the money and whether that money will lead to votes.
Every one of the dozen PM's I have paid attention to since I was at school have made similar speechs and then leave the 'boffins' to get on with it.
Usually while cutting funds, screwing up education in the STEM subjects and appointing ministers for technology who haven't even heard of the spinning jenny.
Re: "Space is worth billions to us"
Johnson or any other prime minister past, present and probably future have little to no understanding of technology or science, they are all about the money and whether that money will lead to votes.
Well Thatcher famously studied and worked for a period as an industrial chemist so your political memory obviously doesn't stretch that far back in time.
Re: "Space is worth billions to us"
Thatcher worked briefly as a research chemist in the 50s before becoming a barrister so science easily took a back seat for her.
She used the little knowledge she had as a lever to get her own way with regard to her policies in regard to the sciences just as she did with everything else.
I remember reading that she regretted studying chemistry and went into law as an entry into politics, her main interest so she hardly had much regard for science and technology it was just a means to an end.
Re: "Space is worth billions to us"
[1]Not for long, and just as a means to an end .
[1] https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/margaret-thatcher-politician-and-chemist-has-died/
Encyclopaedia Disgustica
Sounds like just another "de Pfeffel*" to me...
*(a "de Pfeffel" is an unpleasant release of irrelevant noise and foetid noxious gas from a disgusting type of parasite that is known to inflict members of the species known as "Humans." Further reading: see the entry for "Politicians" in the Encyclopaedia Disgustica)
Marketing puff
This is basically just a summary of what Boris is already doing, heavily puffed up with codswallop. At best it will nudge the Chancellor's political brain cells during the next Spending Review, and can certainly only last as long as Boris, so the avowed intent to revisit it in 2030 seems a tad humorous. Still, at least it is better than the strategy which saw Black Arrow cancelled exactly fifty years ago, back in 1971.
Re: Marketing puff
No, this is a summary of what British industry is already doing, with no help from Boris & chums.
Nothing about this document is due to Boris.
"putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"
The F1 was the engine, not the booster...
Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"
I was a bit concerned about the sub-heading "Space is becoming more congested and contested".
I don't know about contested, but the bit we can see, which is 46 billion light-years across, averages only about 5 protons per cubic metre, i.e. only about 1e-42 percent of its volume is occupied, which doesn't seem very congested at all.
Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"
They are just pushing that to extend congestion charges from (enter city here) indefinitely...
Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"
You're expecting the PR and coloured pencil departments to get things right? Heh...
Including the fact that building those monsters now would be... a waste. Musk et.al. have dramatically improved the power/size ratio of rocket engines, so everybody + dog is going for the clustered, gimballed and very much throttleable/restartable/re-useable stacks.
After all, as much fun as it was to see the big fireballs of the experimental models, Musk did manage to first land his boosters, then his main stage, and finally a rather big contraption that may one day indeed become a fuly fledged spaceship. Using "small" engines. As do ESA, and all the various "upstarts" in Asia in their large fireworks.
F1's aren't needed anymore. They were meant to send the entire giant Apollo stack to the Moon in one go. Nowadays we can actually send the bits up individually for less and dock/assemble in orbit. Or, if you want to get fancy.... Starship is meant for Mars, but in my eyes makes for a mighty fine start of a Moon base with a couple of modifications...
Moon base
Yeah, that's a nice little "bonus" for SpaceX.
They are going to Mars anyway, so why not drop a few people off on the way ;-)
"Space Bridge" ?
Another Boris vanity project everyone in the country can quickly get over.
Re: "Space Bridge" ?
It seems very illustrative of Boris Johnson though, blabbing on about Galactic Britain while people are smacking each other in the face at fuel pumps. I'm not sure if it was out of desperation, complete lack of awareness, or he's just trolling everyone again, it's so difficult to tell with him.
Well reading
all that waffle about targets and claims I can predict what will happen
Government announces X number of billions to be ploughed into UK space industries
Via various bodies/consultances/government commitees
And then the cash is distributed .. which out of the say 5 billion pledged will be about 150 million with the rest soaked up by various bodies/consultances/comittees all staffed by various government members or relatives or friends..... and some bloke who runs a pub in the village where the ministers 3rd home is
Extra thumbs needed
Why can I only give one "thumbs up"? ;-)
Galileo
Thanks, I now have 'Bohemian Rhapsody' running around my head.
Makes about as much sense as Boris Johnson's space plans. I can only assume that he makes lots of announcements, and only the ones that generate lots of sustained praise for him are likely to get long term funding. Or am I just a cynical old git?
All aboard the gravy train
Okay, this one will only be serving some kind of luke warm swill but in, any case, sign me up!
Wot, you mean only chums of the cabinet need apply? But I can projetcile vomit with the best of them!
Black Arrow
The UK is th eonly nation which has developed a spacefaring capacity. Then abandoned it after the first successful launch.
the space sector is "worth" over £16.4bn per year, according to the document
What they don't say is the majority of that is Sky Sports and similar pay-TV stuff. (Sky Group Ltd 2018 turnover £13,585M)
Boris Johnson’s 'Galactic Britain'
We are going to launch BT Tower into space and travel from one solar system to another spreading promotional materials about investment opportunities in Peterborough and Slough.