Britain’s new universities minister Sam Gyimah will be in charge of space

by | Jan 9, 2018 | ESA

The Universities and Science Minister for England, Jo Johnson, who had responsibility tor space under Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has been moved to the Ministry of Transport in Prime Minister Theresa May’s UK government reshuffle. Johnson recently gained plaudits for his stand on defending free speech at universities, but also derision for supporting the appointment of his friend, the risqué journalist and “free schools” proponent, Toby Young, to a new regulatory post in the Office for Students (Young later resigned). Replacing Johnson as the minister in charge of higher education is Sam Gyimah, a former banker at Goldman Sachs. Gyimah also previously studied PPE at Oxford University, and has risen through the ranks of the government including a stint in the Whip’s office and as the Prisons Minister.

Sam Gyimah is obviously bright but has no science background. Courtesy: UK Government

Comment by David Todd: Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May’s reshuffle of government posts was criticised by some both for its lack of changes at cabinet level (due to her alleged political impotence) and for its much trumpeted “positive discrimination” promotion of women and ethnic minorities into the government’s middle ranks. This pro-diversity move actually ill-serves those who were promoted in this way as it creates doubt about the merit of their promotion. Nevertheless, Sam Gyimah, who is of Ghanaian descent, already had growing reputation for his talent from his past educational and career record. That said, he does not have a scientific background (although he does know about the IT business). Let us hope Sam Gyimah appreciates the new technology and business breakthroughs that have been achieved by the UK space industry. He will have his work cut out maintaining Britain’s place within ESA and its access to the EU space programmes it has participated in (e.g. Galileo), once its break with the EU takes place. 

About Seradata

Seradata produce the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

JUICE finally manages to get its radar antenna out but there is no joy for hobbled Lunar Flashlight

ESA’s JUICE (JUpiter ICy-moon Explorer) mission, built by Airbus, which is planned to make detailed observations of Jupiter and its Read more

JUICE mission to Jupiter’s moons blasts off after initial delays…then it has a radar antenna deployment fault

After Flight VA260 was delayed by one day due to the weather, the Ariane 5 ECA+ rocket successfully launched the Read more

Italian government gives Vega C vote of confidence with a three-launch order for its IRIDE constellation

Arianespace has won a contract for up to three Vega C launches for IRIDE, the Italian government’s Earth observation constellation. Read more

What’s Next for Space Exploration in 2023 and Beyond

Much changed on Earth and in space during 2022. In July the James Webb Telescope, the largest optical telescope in Read more

Ariane 5 ECA+ launches three satellites from French Guiana: Galaxy-35 and -36, and MTG-I1

An Ariane 5 ECA+ rocket was launched from Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana on 13 December at 2030 Read more

ESA Ministerial: budget increase saves former ExoMars rover “Rosalind Franklin” as ESA shows off its next astronauts including the first parastronaut

Despite a feeling that Europe has been “left behind” in the race between China and the US – especially by Read more

Euclid and Hera missions are bounced off their Soyuz and Ariane 6 launches to be rescued by SpaceX

Now that the European Space Agency (ESA) has accepted that the Ariane 6 will not launch before late 2023, with Read more

ISS gets Italian commander as Soyuz MS-21 leaves the space station and returns to Earth

The Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoferetti took command of the International Space Station (ISS) from previous commander Oleg Artemiev on Read more

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacevideochina25virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 5DGAevaaviation weekspacewalkaressoyuzIGTBeidouawardsInternational Space StationspaceBlue OriginSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonStarlinkCargo Return VehicleRocket LabresearchboeingmarsblogAirbus DSOneWeborionISROspaceshiptwoimpacthyperboladelayjaxamarsdemocratgoogle lunar prizerocketlunarhypertextobamaEutelsatlaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresSESnorthspaceflightthales alenia spacenode 2fundedRaymond LygoIntelsat2009romeAtlas VExpress MD-2dassault aviationss2Elon MuskLockheed MartinaviationLucy2008wk2sstlukradiotestmissilesuborbitaldocking portexplorationVirgin OrbitinternetAriane 5 ECAChina Manned Space EngineeringSLSsts-122missile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Ariane 5Express AMU 1spaceportbuildspace stationaltairNorthrop GrummanElectronshuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressscaled compositesIntelsat 23CosmosLauncherOneEuropean Space Agencyhanleybudgetrulesnew yorksoyuz 2-1aLong March 4CLong March 2D/2Ariane 6shenzhouatvspace shuttleVietnamcongressMojaveboldenInmarsatOrbital ATKnew shepardLong March 2CGuiana Space CenteriaccnesksclawsSpace Systems/LoralUK Space AgencyLong March 4BprotonUS Air ForceILSApollodarpaTalulah RileydragonastronautusabasepicturelanderAstriumSkyloneuSSLVega Clunar landerfiveeventfalconSea LaunchWednesdayinterview50thSNCAprilKuaizhou 1ASpace InsuranceTelesat7linkatlantisLong MarchcustomersuccessorFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5