- Disjointed approach to concrete policy and leadership
risks hampering UK launch potential
- UK spaceflight regulation should be reviewed to make UK
attractive place for small satellite launch
- ‘Dismay and alarm’ as long-promised UK Position, Navigation
and Timing strategy yet to be published
In a report published today the Commons’ Science, Innovation, and
Technology Committee says “there is now not a moment to lose” if
the UK is to realise the full potential of the “extraordinary”
space launch sector, which is booming worldwide.
The UK is on the cusp of establishing Europe’s first small
satellite orbital launch capability. As well as offering services
to one of the world’s fastest growing industries, a UK satellite
launch sector can help strengthen Britain’s position in the
design and manufacture of small satellites, and in provision of
data and analytical services. However, Britain’s first
attempt at satellite launch—the Virgin Orbit horizontal launch
from Spaceport Cornwall at Newquay on 9 January 2023—did not
succeed. The LauncherOne rocket did not reach the required orbit
and its payload of small satellites was lost.
Virgin Orbit and some of its satellite customers were highly
critical of the UK regulatory process which preceded the launch
attempt. This process was led by the Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA), who were accused by Virgin Orbit of operating a process
that was slow, excessively bureaucratic, and risk averse.
The Committee concludes there was no evidence that the regulatory
system contributed to the failure of the Virgin Orbit launch and
accepts that the CAA has made progress in its application of the
regulations.
But there is insufficient coordination between the large number
of regulatory bodies involved in licensing launches, and this
continues to place unnecessary burdens of complexity and
administration on companies—many of them small—in the launch
sector. The Committee calls on Government to convene all relevant
bodies without delay to take steps now to improve the licensing
system of UK satellite launch, and to examine whether regulations
in the Space Industry Act 2018— passed by Parliament in
anticipation of the launch—need amendment in the light of
experience in practice.
The Government is implementing some of the recommendations of
SITC’s November 2022 report “UK space strategy and UK satellite
infrastructure”. But the Government’s response on the need for
more effective co-ordination across government of space and
satellite policy, implementation and leadership was not
satisfactory. The National Space Council was abolished and then
re-announced as an Inter-Ministerial Group but is yet to meet for
the first time, and its responsibilities are unclear. The
establishment of the Space Sector Industry Forum provides an
opportunity for the Government to take advice from the sector and
a leader should be appointed without delay.
The vital UK Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) strategy,
which has been in draft form since as long ago as June 2021,
should be published without delay. The Committee was told by the
Minister with responsibility for Space on 17 May 2023 that it was
expected in weeks.
Rt Hon MP, Chair of the Science,
Innovation & Technology Committee, said: “The UK has
huge opportunities in the burgeoning space and satellite
industry. But the sector is global and fast-paced, and to
maintain our position the UK must act urgently to applies the
lessons of the Cornwall disappointment to the regulatory system
for satellite launch.”
