At the Farnborough International Airshow last week, the UK signed a historic agreement with Russia leading the way to greater collaboration in space between the two nations. SSTL welcomes this great news, which promises to make it easier for the two nations to benefit from their respective strengths.

SSTL has had a long and successful collaboration with a variety of Russian organisations spanning 20 years, working with the UK and Moscow offices of Commercial Space Technologies (CST Ltd.) as representative and local partner. SSTL and CST have together been one of the major customers for Russian launch services. However, don't think it's a one way street - SSTL is also playing an integral role in the high resolution Kanopus Earth Observation constellation with its partner FSUE NPP VNIIEM.

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting OBE, Executive Chairman of SSTL, commented

We have built up a close relationship with our colleagues at CST and the Russian Space Agency over the last 20 years, successfully launching 21 satellites on-board Russian rockets over 11 launch campaigns. SSTL was the first customer and partner for the DNEPR launch vehicle, allowing Kosmotras to compete in the international market for launch services using this launcher and also the first customer for SSO services from Plesetsk on Cosmos LV. SSTL is extending this relationship into the future through significant participation in the Kanopus high resolution Earth Observation constellation with our partner FSUE NPP VNIIEM and the launch of three further satellites from Russia later this year. I hope that the signing of this MOU between UK Space Agency and the Russian Federal Space Agency will bring further commercial benefits to the space activities and space industries of both countries.

In October, SSTL will launch the NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X satellites on behalf of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) by a Dnepr launch vehicle from Yasny, Russia on 29th October 2010.

In the week the whole world celebrates the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings in 1969, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has begun a consultation which aims to thrust the UK space sector forward for the next 40 years and beyond.

Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation, kicked off the consultation at the London launch of a new European Space Agency (ESA) facility at Harwell yesterday. The consultation will seek views on whether the current organisation which oversees space in the UK, the British National Space Centre (BNSC), is the best funding structure to meet the challenges of the future and deliver the greatest benefit to the country.

The UK has a hugely successful sector which is second only to the USA in space science, contributing £6.5bn a year to the UK economy and supporting 68,000 jobs.

However, as the world becomes increasingly dependent on advances in space science and in order to safeguard the UK’s “critical mass” of skills and expertise, today’s consultation is seeking views on the appetite for a single agency to better co-ordinate the UK’s civil space strategy.

Currently, British space policy is devised by a "partnership" of government departments and research councils operating devolved budgets. Speaking to the BBC, Lord Drayson said Britain would benefit from a more strategic approach.

Both in terms of raising the profile of space, which is a fantastic asset in the UK, and in terms of organising ourselves more efficiently, I think that an agency is the way to go.

The House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology looked at the issue in 2007 and narrowly concluded that an agency was only worth setting up if the UK increased its civil spend on space substantially. At the moment, the government invests some £250m a year, mostly channelled through the European Space Agency (ESA).

In the same article, Phil Willis MP, the Liberal Democrat chair of the HoC Science and Technology Committee welcomed the consiultation but questioned it's significance. He commented,

My personal view is that it is still worth having [even without a budgetary increase], but quite frankly without very significant additional funds, what you have is an organisation in name with very little clout.

Lord Drayson has cited the UK's involvement in the ESA GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme as a success. Indeed, many politicians agreed it was the perfect project for the UK because of the country's vocal position on climate change.

However, Britain was indecisive and joined in the multi-billion-euro venture too late after some last-minute funding was organised by the Treasury. Industry has complained that the confusion over GMES cost UK companies the chance to bid for satellite contracts.

Continue reading "Would a Space Agency boost UK Space?"

Take a look at Rob Coppinger's excellent Hyperbola blog and find out more about what UK minister for science Lord Drayson said about robotic exploration, the UK space strategy and the possibility of a UK space agency and participation in the ESA astronaut corps during his visit to SSTL on Friday 6 February.

To find out more, tune in to Hyperbola's podcast.

Lord Drayson, Minister of State for Science and Innovation visited SSTL on Friday 6th February. He met Sir Martin Sweeting (SSTL founder and board chairman), Matt Perkins (CEO), Paul Brooks (Business Development Director) and Phil Davies (ESA business development manager).

Lord Drayson is responsible for developing and delivering policy that will contribute to world-class research in the UK and the conversion of science into wealth through innovation.

The UK space industry is thriving, with innovative companies like SSTL and the businesses that it cooperates with making a valuable contribution to the national economy and developing expertise and knowledge within the UK technology sector. This year promises to be a busy year in space, as developing nations step up their plans, the market of commercially operated small satellites increases develops and Europe expects a busy year in space. As a pioneer and market leader in small satellites, SSTL has seen the Smallsat market begin to mature as the benefits and capabilities become apparent, stimulating increased competition from both national and internationally active manufacturers throughout the world.

The SSTL team briefed Lord Drayson on several topics including SSTL's business plans, its involvement with Europe's Galileo and GMES programmes and the UK's national space activities including the MoonLITE lunar exploration mission.

Following the briefings, Lord Drayson was given a tour of the facilities which included a visit to the constellation control centre, the DMCii disaster monitoring imaging processing centre and the satellite integration facilities. At the latter of these LD was shown 2 satellites which a ready for launch - the next 2 DMC satellites - UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 (for Spain).