The UK government has announced a new integrated national satellite communications system, designed to both safeguard national security and defence capabilities and put the UK’s space sector to work in reindustrialising the country over the coming years, with a budget of £7.8bn until 2030.
The UK Space Strategy brings government’s space investment and activity under one plan to drive growth, strengthen security and back the technologies that underpin modern life. The strategy formally replaces the 2021 plan and will play a key role in the delivery of the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy.
The UK government said that the benefits of the funding will be seen in everyday life, offering a pathway to bring together national plans for growth, re-industrialisation, defence and national security, and helping the UK to design a resilient space comms infrastructure.
Examples include delivering stronger phone signals and helping to bring faster, more reliable connectivity to rural communities, as well as reducing mobile signal dropouts on trains by using advanced satellite communications.
The UK government claimed that its funding will help to grow a UK space sector worth £18.6bn, support more than 55,000 skilled jobs and assist the country’s aim of being a space technology leader.
The plan demonstrates how space is an increasingly important domain in national security. Existing work to strengthen space domain awareness – the study and monitoring of objects such as satellites, rockets and orbiting debris – is being backed by projects including £149m for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Vigil mission and £85m for the National Space Operations Centre.
UK funding will see tech used to offer earlier warnings of potential satellite collisions, hostile activity and solar storms, helping to protect the power, communications and navigation services people rely on every day.
A further £2.8bn will go towards strengthening connectivity, including the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit and Skynet defence communications programmes, which are designed to play a role in keeping UK Armed Forces connected on a global basis.
In addition, £880m has been earmarked to help beef up the UK’s space control and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, funding technologies that can track military activity on the ground and potential attacks on satellites.
Looking at future employment opportunities, £40m will go towards supporting in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing technologies (ISAM). These are intended to help repair and maintain satellites damaged by space debris, solar storms or hostile interference, while helping clear dangerous objects from orbit – all while continuing to operate in space.
The UK believes that such support will help bring new products online that are directly developed in the unique environment of space, from semiconductors that underpin the power grid to pharmaceuticals and drug delivery tools that could transform outcomes for patients.
Additional support for the UK’s wide-ranging space sector includes £148m for European rocket programmes and £30m for SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland – helping Britain and partners to launch satellites without relying on countries further afield while creating new jobs.
Some £163m will be invested in space science and exploration missions, including the delivery of the Rosalind Franklin Mars Rover built in Stevenage. These missions are design to boost research and the government’s mission to re-industrialise the UK with high-skilled jobs and new tech in areas such as AI and autonomous systems.
In addition, £57m from the Department for Transport will aim to improve rail connectivity, while £190m from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will go to astronomy and space science research, and £9m from the Met Office will strengthen space weather forecasting.
Commenting on the announcement, UK business, innovation, science and trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said: “As space becomes a new frontier of economic and military competition, this plan will help keep Britain secure by strengthening our ability to launch satellites, detect threats and protect the services people rely on every day. At the same time, this plan will enable our excellent UK industry to seize the boundless opportunities of this new age in space, creating skilled jobs, driving growth and improving connectivity for all of us.”
Met Office managing director Simon Brown added: “Advancements in space observations are allowing us to improve our weather forecasts and give us new imagery which helps us show the impacts of other hazards such as wildfires and drought which we have seen this summer.
“Delivering new and innovative space capability is important to enhance our preparedness for extreme weather and exploit the latest advances in our prediction capability using both physics and AI models. We welcome the new UK Space Strategy and its recognition of the vital role space plays in supporting weather and climate services, as well as the Met Office’s role as the UK’s space weather forecasting centre.”
