SPACE INDUSTRY BILL
“Legislation will be introduced to ensure the
United Kingdom remains a world leader in new industries,
including [...] commercial satellites.”
The purpose of the Bill is to:
-
Boost the economy, British business, engineering and
science by making the UK the most attractive place in Europe
for commercial spaceflight.
The main benefits of the Bill would be
to:
-
Use commercial spaceflight to support the Modern
Industrial Strategy to deliver a stronger economy by generating
jobs and putting British business, engineering and science at
the forefront of this technology.
-
Secure continued growth in the UK space sector - which
has been growing at 8% annually over the past decade - to
secure a 10% share of the global space economy by 2030.
-
Generate new business opportunities in developing local
spaceport and spaceflight technology along with training,
tourism and supply chain opportunities in more remote areas of
the UK.
-
Offer the UK’s world leading small satellite companies
new options for low-cost, reliable access to space. Global
small satellite launch and servicing could exceed £25 billion
in revenues over 20 years with an untapped European regional
market potentially worth around one third of this.
-
Create new opportunities for the UK’s scientific
community to carry out cutting- edge research in a
micro-gravity environment by giving British scientists easier
access to this unique environment by enabling them to launch
from UK soil.
The main elements of the Bill are:
-
New powers to license a wide range of new commercial
spaceflight, 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.
-
To promote public safety by providing a regulatory
framework to cover operational insurance, indemnity and
liability.
Territorial extent and application
-
The Bill would apply to the UK, as space and aviation are
reserved matters. _
Key facts
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The UK space industry is worth £13.7 billion to the UK
economy and supports over 38,000 jobs.
-
Emerging markets for small satellite launch offer an
exciting opportunity to grow our space sector, create local
jobs and inspire the next generation of British scientists and
engineers.
-
This Bill will help us achieve our ambition to grow the
UK’s share of the global space market from 6.5% to 10% by
2030.
-
The UK was the third country to operate a satellite,
after the Soviet Union and the USA, in April 1962 with Ariel
1.
