UK government releases new space strategy
The Labor government presently running the United Kingdom today released a new space strategy using a new $10.5 billion fund designed to jump start that nation’s space industry
Backed by a record £7.8 billion ($10.5 billion) until 2030, the UK Space Strategy brings government’s space investment and activity under one plan to drive growth, strengthen security and back the technologies that underpin modern life.
In reviewing the press release and the actual strategy document [pdf], it appears the government’s focus is to spread that cash around to mostly government projects, though the $35 million investment announced earlier today in the Saxavord spaceport is part of this distribution.
The strategy however also devotes a large section to regulation reform, the first clear recognition by any UK government in years that this has been the biggest obstacle in the past decade to the development of a British space industry.
We have worked closely with the sector to prioritise regulatory reforms to enable growth, strengthen national space capabilities and enhance the UK’s competitiveness. Early priorities include speeding up licensing processes by removing duplication and enabling repeatability, and reducing costs associated with licensing and insuring missions. The CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] will explore options for a more flexible approach to licensing repeat and multiple-mission activity, including through the multi-mission licensing sandbox, with the aim of reducing cost and administrative burden for UK operators.
Whether this effort will work remains decidedly unclear. First, it is not the first priority of the plan. Spending money for government projects gets first place. Second, the language relating to regulatory reform is filled with bureaucratic weasel words and gobbly-gook, suggesting strong resistance within the bureaucracy (and the CAA). When bureaucracies use such language it usually means they are making believe they are cooperating when in truth they plan to do everything in their power to delay or even foil the plan.
Third and maybe most important, this new UK space strategy is very focused on detailing almost minutely what the government wants to achieve, rather than allowing the private sector to grow naturally based on demand. In other words, it is a top-down Soviet-style strategy, the kind that generally fails because there is no way a government can ever truly predict the direction of markets.
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Absolutely apolitical comment…. But the phrase that springs to mind is “small steps”… But hopeful steps.
I live in the UK and I wish we had a government who saw the value in a vibrant space industry like you have have in the US. Its a shame the ministers are so blinkered to the benefits it would mean to the UK if we did have one. After all I do not think we have much ‘industry’ left in this country!
And there is no guarantee that money will go to space.
My guess is that the powers that be know there will be some patriots who want who want to Make Great Britain Again and will vote for more space funding–only for a bait-and-switch to send it to the Third World:
https://phys.org/news/2026-09-taxing-billionaires-redistributing-wealth-millions.html
They no that they would lose a straight up vote were this floated in an honest fashion.
The DNC-D/S crowd would likely do the same. I am still mad that my tax dollars were redistributed as bank bail-outs, and I’d rather it be given back to paupers like me –but I don’t trust Democrats here to do that either.