UK Space Agency

@spacegovuk

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What we do

We are responsible for all strategic decisions on the UK civil space programme and provide a clear, single voice for UK space ambitions.

At the heart of UK efforts to explore and benefit from space, we are responsible for ensuring that the UK retains and grows a strategic capability in space-based systems, technologies, science and applications. We lead the UK’s civil space programme in order to win sustainable economic growth, secure new scientific knowledge and provide benefit to all citizens.

We work to:

  • co-ordinate UK civil space activity

  • encourage academic research

  • support the UK space industry

  • raise the profile of UK space activities at home and abroad

  • increase understanding of space science and its practical benefits

  • inspire our next generation of UK scientists and engineers

  • licence the launch and operation of UK spacecraft

  • promote co-operation and participation in the European Space programme

Who we are

We’re an executive agency of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, made up of about 70 staff based in Swindon, London and the UK Space Gateway in Oxfordshire.

Responsibilities

We are responsible for:

  • leading the UK civil space policy and increasing the UK contribution to European initiatives

  • building a strong national space capability, including scientific and industrial centres of excellence

  • co-ordinating strategic investment across industry and academia

  • working to inspire and train a growing, skilled UK workforce of space technologists and scientists

  • working on national and international space projects in co-operation with industry and academia

  • regulating the UK civil space activities and ensuring we meet international treaty obligations

Priorities

We plan to capture 10% of the global market for space by 2030, as set out in the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy

From 2014 to 2015, our priorities will be to:

  • create the right regulatory environment for growth in this rapidly-changing sector for industry, academia and the public sector

  • ensure that the UK investment in civil space will bring about real economic or scientific benefit

  • showcase the work that the agency and its partners are doing in the space sector

  • refine our ways of working to face the challenges of a complex sector

How we will carry out our work plan is explained in our corporate plan 2016-17.

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