The UK is home to some of the world’s best scientists and engineers with a government that has a keen ambition to capitalise on the ‘space economy’, but without launch sovereignty, it can never truly have a voice in space, according to Skyrora.
The Scotland-based space tech company made waves this week when it announced it had become the first British company to be granted a UK launch licence.
While a big enough milestone for the company itself, which aims to operate more than a dozen launches a year by 2030, the licence is also a key step in carving the UK’s place in the future of the space industry.
Government ministers have been excitedly discussing the potential windfall that the burgeoning space tech industry can produce for the economy, but for all the talk, the future direction of space will be out of Britain’s hands if it can not establish a sense of sovereignty, argued Alan Thompson, head of government affairs at Skyrora….
