Description
The United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) is an executive agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the United Kingdom's civil space programme. It was established on 1 April 2010 to replace the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and took over responsibility for government policy and key budgets for space exploration; it represents the United Kingdom in all negotiations on space matters.
The Agency "brings together all UK civil space activities under one single management". It is based at the Harwell Campus near Didcot.
The creation of the UK Space Agency was first publicly announced by UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson, on 10 December 2009 during a speech at the Rutherford Appleton Lab (RAL) space conference. As the UK Space Agency neared its opening day, Lord Mandelson, Lord Drayson and astronaut Tim Peake officially announced its establishment at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on 23 March 2010. On that day, a ceremony was held in which Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a plaque at the entrance to the centre.
Around £230 million of funding and management functions were merged into the UK Space Agency from other organisations. "Improving co-ordination of UK efforts in fields such as Earth science, telecoms and space exploration" was to form part of its remit, according to Lord Drayson.
Prior to the creation of the agency, the space and satellite industry in the UK was valued at £9 billion and supported 68,000 jobs. The 20-year aim of the agency was to increase the industry to £40 billion and 100,000 jobs, and to represent 10% of worldwide space products and services (increasing from the current 6%). This plan arose from the "Space Innovation and Growth Strategy" (Space-IGS) report, published by the Space Innovation and Growth Team in February 2010.
David Williams was appointed Acting Chief Executive on 1 April 2010, and he was confirmed as the first CEO on 1 April 2011. Alice Bunn is the International Director.
Although Space-IGS called for the UK to double European Space Agency (ESA) contributions and to initiate and lead at least three missions between 2010 and 2030, this was not committed to, with Lord Drayson stating that "We will require a compelling business case for each proposal or mission".
