The UK Space sector has been receiving mixed signals from government, with two major announcements highlighting this see–sawing movement.
UK Space Agency is folded into government
The first is that the UK Space Agency (UKSA) has been absorbed by the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The announcement was made on August 20 by Chris Bryant MP, the then minister of state for data protection and telecoms. There was no indication of this plan at the UK Space Conference which took place in Manchester just one month earlier.
In effect, the decision reverses the establishment of the UK Space Agency as an independent entity in April 2010. The UKSA was created to replace the British National Space Centre, a government department which had been managing the UK’s civil space activities since 1985.
Officially the move has been taken “to cut red tape” – in other words costly and inefficient bureaucracy. Since it was first set up in 2010, the agency has increased sizably in terms of its headcount but disproportionately compared to the slower growth of its annual budget. For example, the UKSA’s headcount has increased from 41 people in 2010 to 305 in 2024, an increase of 643% compared to its budget growth of just 173% (from £234m in 2010 to £638m in 2024).
The move has received mixed responses. For some, the change goes against a global trend of setting up independent national space agencies. They also note that it endangers the UK’s international reputation and threatens to encumber the voice of the space industry with the whims of ever shifting politics.
However, for others, it changes very little since the two organisations already had similar goals and functions, and the UKSA will even keep its name as the UK Space Agency. They note that most notionally ‘independent’ space agencies designed to run national civilian programmes e.g. NASA, CNES and ISRO, are still controlled by their national governments anyway.
Skyrora’s launch license: too little, too late?
The second move of note for the UK space industry was that Skyrora has become the first UK-based manufacturer to receive a launch licence for a commercial vehicle. Granted by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the licence allows it to launch its suborbital Skylark L rocket from a UK site. It is a significant step toward creating end-to-end orbital launch capability from British soil. However, it appears that it may be too little, too late for Skyrora’s hopes to make the maiden launch of its orbital Skyrora XL rocket from the UK.
Skyrora is now looking at launching from Australia instead, after it found that SaxaVord – the only spaceport licensed for vertical rockets in the UK – does not have a launch pad available until next year. The news highlights that the UK may simply not be moving fast enough to capture opportunities. The process of obtaining a launch licence took two years for Skyrora, which had hoped it would take between 9 to 18 months.
Skyrora submitted its application to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for a launch licence in August 2022. Courtesy: Skyrora
The UK’s chances of seeing a domestic launch this year depends heavily on Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA). The German company, which received a launch licence in January, plans to launch its RFA One rocket from SaxaVord before the end of 2025. The launch timelines of its competitors, Orbex and Skyrora, have already slipped into 2026.
