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Introduction of Space Industry Bill shows UK’s commitment to commercial spaceflight

From: Department for Transport, UK Space Agency, and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Published: 28 June 2017

The Space Industry Bill has been introduced into the House of Lords, marking the first step in the process to create new laws and regulatory framework to enable exciting new technologies to operate safely from the UK.

The Bill, which was outlined in the Queen’s Speech, is a clear signal of the UK’s commitment to enabling commercial spaceflight from UK spaceports, and a key part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy to ensure the UK businesses capture a share of this emerging global market.

Lord Callanan, Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Transport introduced the Space Industry Bill, which is a joint initiative by the Department for Transport, UK Space Agency and Civil Aviation Authority supported by the Health and Safety Executive.

Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said:

"The Space Industry Bill will ensure the UK remains a leading player in the commercial space age by enabling small satellite launch from UK spaceports. The measures in the Bill will help make the UK the most attractive place in Europe for commercial launch and enable UK businesses to capture a growing share of this emerging global market."

The emerging markets for small satellite launch and sub-orbital flight are forecast to be worth over £25 billion globally over the next 20 years. They offer exciting opportunities to grow the UK space sector, create local jobs and inspire the next generation of British scientists and engineers.

The main elements of the Bill are:

- new powers to license a wide range of spaceflight activities, including vertically-launched rockets, spaceplanes, satellite operation, spaceports and other technologies
- a comprehensive and proportionate regulatory framework to manage risk, ensuring that commercial spaceflight in the UK remains safe
- measures to regulate unauthorised access and interference with spacecraft, spaceports and associated infrastructure, drawing on the UK’s extensive expertise – particularly in aviation security
- measures to promote public safety by providing a regulatory framework to cover operational insurance, indemnity and liability

This legislation will ensure the UK can take advantage of new markets, overcome dependence on foreign launch services and benefit from the development of new spaceports and supply chains.
[/quote]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/introduction-of-space-industry-bill-shows-uks-commitment-to-commercial-spaceflight
 
The first commercial astronaut training center will be built in the UK

The government's mission to put the UK at the forefront of commercial spaceflight has been given a big boost after plans were announced to build the world's first private space research centre in Bedfordshire. The £120 million Blue Abyss facility will be constructed at RAF Henlow, providing domestic and international companies with access to the world's biggest 50 metre deep pool, a 120 room hotel, an astronaut training centre and a "human performance centre" that will help divers, astronauts and athletes train at the very top level.

The base, which is set to fully close in 2020, already houses some of the facilities that paid-for astronauts need to acclimatise to the rigours of space. Its centrifuge base, for example, will expose space-goers to extreme G forces as part of their commercial astronaut training programme. The idea is to provide the necessary services needed by private spaceflight providers to get their passengers launch ready.

The pool, which will be three times deeper than NASA's 12 metre Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), won't just be used for space projects. Offshore oil, gas and renewable companies will be invited to test their equipment in Blue Abyss' waters. Submersibles will also be welcome, allowing companies to test underwater vehicles in "extreme environments."

https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/28/uk-blue-abyss-world-first-commercial-space-research-centre/
 
Deep-space communication base coming to Cornwall

An £8.4 million space communication base to track missions to the Moon and Mars will be created in Cornwall.
Goonhilly Earth Station, in the Lizard peninsula, will upgrade one of its satellite antenna in the project.
The European Space Agency (ESA) say this will make it a "key player" in the "exciting future" of space exploration.
The agency says more deep-space communication facilities, used for missions such as Gaia and ExoMars, are needed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-43153107
 
U.K. Space Industry Act to future-proof against Brexit

The U.K. Space Industry Act, passed last month, aims to “future-proof” the country’s space sector as it faces the challenging Brexit period while striving to become a major global space player.

The bill, however, only provides ‘bare bones’ of the future growth-enabling legislation with details including questions of liability and licensing to be established by secondary legislation following consultations.

Newman said the uncertainty around the U.K.’s departure from the European Union, which is due to take place in March 2019, has been a significant motivation behind the new bill.

“The U.K. government hope that the Space Industry Act will provide further impetus to space manufacturing within the U.K. economy, given the potential for disruption that could occur with Brexit,” he said. “We are in a situation when we don’t really know how Brexit is going to affect the space industry in the long term.”

In fact, the European Commission, according to media reports, already indicated that British companies might be excluded from future participation on Galileo, due to security concerns. The British military might also be prevented from using the encrypted positioning data the constellation provides.

The U.K.’s ambition is to stay fully involved in the Galileo program and maintain full access to the data.

The U.K. is contributing 12 percent to the Galileo program budget and British companies build payloads and ground- control software for the satellites.

Newman said that although the U.K. is fully committed to remain in the European Space Agency, which is independent on the EU, the increasing collaboration between ESA and EU might further complicate things.

With less than a year of the U.K.’s EU membership left, Britain’s space industry, according to Newman, still doesn’t know, how the future arrangements will look like.

“At the minute, there are too many unknown factors to make any meaningful predictions, and that uncertainty can’t be helpful,” Newman concluded.

http://spacenews.com/u-k-space-industry-act-to-future-proof-against-brexit/
 
It’s a strange time in UK politics, these type of statements are now all the more “political” than usual (highly targeted sales pitches by individual politicians to very narrow segments of the population, full of even more guff than previously the case etc.)
Presumably better in person because almost unreadable in print.
 
More to my OP:

In a second space-related tie-up, the two countries are partnering in a project to field a small-satellite demonstrator within a year, Penny Mordaunt told delegates at the Air and Space Power Conference in London on July 18.

 
The UK Space Agency should be very worried by one particular development in the UK’s space activity that happened this week as there are signs that the country may actually be hampering its own progress by not appearing as an active partner in what appears to be huge milestones.

 
The UK Space Agency should be very worried by one particular development in the UK’s space activity that happened this week as there are signs that the country may actually be hampering its own progress by not appearing as an active partner in what appears to be huge milestones.


What happens now to the decision to allow the construction of the spaceport in Sutherland? Will it go ahead or not? Or will there be a delay? This is all very confusing. :confused:
 
Dominic Cummings seems like a bit of a space cadet - he advocates building an international moonbase on his blog. I wonder how much of Government's recent enthusiasm for the space industry was down to him, and if it'll all evaporate now that he's gone.
 
As part of the speech, Mr Johnson will announce:

A new agency dedicated to artificial intelligence

The creation of a national cyber force to protect people from online harm

A new "space command", which will be capable of launching a first rocket in 2022


My bolding.
 
As part of the speech, Mr Johnson will announce:

A new agency dedicated to artificial intelligence

The creation of a national cyber force to protect people from online harm

A new "space command", which will be capable of launching a first rocket in 2022


My bolding.

Great news for the UK military plus a new space command as well, one question though will the new space command be based on the new US Space Force?
 
As part of the speech, Mr Johnson will announce:

A new agency dedicated to artificial intelligence

The creation of a national cyber force to protect people from online harm

A new "space command", which will be capable of launching a first rocket in 2022


My bolding.

Great news for the UK military plus a new space command as well, one question though will the new space command be based on the new US Space Force?
As long as said rocket isn’t something like a sounding rocket he said cynically.
 
Far be it for me to be “unpatriotic”, but with the way things have gone recently with organisation in the U.K. I have terrible images of something more akin to Netflixes comedy Space force starring Steve Carrell!
 
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Far be it for me to be “unpatriotic”, but with the way things have gone recently with organisation in the U.K. I have terrible images of something more akin to Netflixes comedy Space force starring Steve Carrell!
Well, we'll be funnier...
 
Far be it for me to be “unpatriotic”, but with the way things have gone recently with organisation in the U.K. I have terrible images of something more akin to Netflixes comedy Space force starring Steve Carrell!
Well, we'll be funnier...
Of course there's a light bulb joke.
How many British politicians does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One assures the public that everything that can be done is being done while the other screws it into the plumbing.
 

I have always been a fan of nuclear powered interplanetary spaceships, I like the fact that both the UK Space Agency and Rolls-Royce are to look into the technology for future spaceships. There have been studies done in the past concerning nuclear powered rockets to Mars since the journey time could be cut in half over traditional chemical rockets like the SLS.
 
The RAF said that Space Command will be a joint organisation staffed by personnel drawn from all three UK armed services, MoD civilians, and members of the commercial sector at the RAF Air Command site at High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. The service explained that Space Command would bring together three functions: space operations, space workforce generation, and space capability under a single two-star military commander. A senior RAF source told Janes on 2 February that new organisation would likely be up and running by early summer.

Someone should open a new thread unless this one to be renamed
 
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As part of the speech, Mr Johnson will announce:

A new agency dedicated to artificial intelligence

The creation of a national cyber force to protect people from online harm

A new "space command", which will be capable of launching a first rocket in 2022


My bolding.

There more detail in this article.


The RAF said that Space Command will be a joint organisation staffed by personnel drawn from all three UK armed services, MoD civilians, and members of the commercial sector at the RAF Air Command site at High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. The service explained that Space Command would bring together three functions: space operations, space workforce generation, and space capability under a single two-star military commander. A senior RAF source told Janes on 2 February that new organisation would likely be up and running by early summer.

From last year, a little bit more background (note that the headline was slightly misleading):
 

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