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London Stock Market Pressured to Invest in British Space Industry

March 25, 2021
ExoNews Editor

Article by Aleksandra Serebriakova March 13, 2021 (sputniknews.com)

• Last November, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a $22 billion investment into British defense with an aim to create Britain’s own ‘Space Force’ space command. Johnson hopes to send British spaceships into space as early as 2022, as his government is boosting millions of dollars into the defense sector.

• Britain has been one of the global champions when it comes to operating civil and military satellites, but has yet to launch its first rocket from UK soil. “Space is the key to the world’s future,” said Will Whitehorn, chairman of UKSpace trade association. “We need to wake up and smell the coffee!”

• UKSpace is calling on British businesses to take a more active part in launching a “new industrial revolution” and turning Britain into a space superpower by investing big bucks into the industry. Whitehorn compared how Wall Street space firms were raising “billions” for American space initiatives, but nothing like that has happened in the UK. “I believe a new investment trust to invest in brilliant space companies is needed on the London Stock Market,” said Whitehorn.

• Meanwhile, the ‘UK Space Agency’ – Britain’s civil space authority (like NASA) – announced in October 2020 that America’s aerospace giant Lockheed Martin will develop UK launch operations from Shetland Islands, Scotland. And Scottish firm Orbex plans to launch its innovative Prime rocket from the Sutherland, Scotland spaceport in 2022.

• Virgin Orbit also plans to release a group of satellites from Spaceport Cornwall in southwestern England for the first time in spring 2020. The spaceport supports so-called “horizontal” launches, where modified aircraft such as the Boeing 747 will carry a rocket under its wings to send small satellites into orbit.

• The UK Space Agency’s plan is to control 10% of the world’s space economy by the end of this decade.

Last November, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a $22 billion investment

into British defence with an aim to create Britain’s own Trump-like ‘Space Force’. The country is planning to send its first rocket into space from British soil next year.

The trade association UKSpace is calling on British businesses to take a more active part in launching a “new industrial revolution” and turning Britain into a space superpower by investing big bucks into the industry.

“I believe a new investment trust to invest in brilliant space companies is needed on the London Stock Market,” Will Whitehorn, the president of UKSpace, told Express.co.uk.

Whitehorn has compared how Wall Street Space firms were raising “billions” for American space

initiatives, but “nothing” like that has happened in the UK, he says, signalling that this had to change, albeit with the government’s support.

“Space is the key to the world’s future, key to battling climate change and could be a key to our future prosperity,” the trade association’s chairman went on. “We need to wake up and smell the coffee!”

Britain has been one of the global champions when it comes to operating civil and military satellites but has yet to launch its first rocket from UK soil.

PM Boris Johnson hopes that this could happen as early as 2022, as his government is boosting millions of dollars into the defence sector. He announced in November 2020 that the UK will create a new Space Command in a similar fashion to former US President Donald Trump with his much-debated US Space Force.

The prime minister expects that the first rocket will go into orbit from Scotland, as two large space ports are currently underway in the country: Space Hub Sutherland and Shetland Space Centre.

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Britain’s New Space Command

November 29, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by James Bickerton November 22, 2020 (express.co.uk)

• Will Whitehorn, president of UK space industry trade association UKSpace, argues: “If we’re going to put billions and billions of pounds of assets into space, which secure the future of this country, then we’re going to have to defend those assets.” It’s vital Britain is able to defend its commercial assets in space.” Whitehorn even predicted that “… there will come a time when we will have a Royal Space Force…”.

• On November 18th, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a “once in a generation modernization” of Britain’s armed forces, with massive funding in military research and development, new warfare technologies, and space and cyber capabilities, and the official launch in 2021 of the UK Space Command.

• A Space Command Center, likely based at RAF High Wycombe (which currently houses Headquarters Air Command), will be rededicated to the new RAF space command, artificial intelligence, launching British satellites, and to“further enhance coordination of the UK military and commercial space operations”. The Space Command plans to launch its first rocket from Scotland in 2022.

• UKSpace’s Will Whitehorn commented: “I am delighted Space Command is to be established and have long argued for it in order to bolster the UK’s ability to defend both the freedom of space and our sovereign assets in space. An important part of that ability will include a sovereign launch capability in the UK, and UKspace will work closely with the government to play our part in achieving launch capability in the north of Scotland and Cornwall. We will also work to ensure that our country becomes the global centre of excellence for the satellites and other space industrial assets of the future.”

• There are a number of proposals to build the UK’s first vertical launch space port in Scotland with sites in Sutherland, North Uist and the Shetland Islands on the short list. A new spaceport in Newquay, Cornwall is also under development with the support of Virgin Orbit. The plan is for ‘Cosmic Girl’, a Virgin Orbit Boeing 747, to take off from Newquay airport then launch an attached rocket which will carry satellites into space.

• The UK Government wants Britain to account for 10 percent of the global space economy by 2030.

On Wednesday Boris Johnson announced a “once in a generation modernisation” of Britain’s armed forces with an additional £16.5bn in funding over the next four years. This money will be invested in space and cyber capabilities as well as conventional forces.

As part of this programme a UK Space Command will be launched next year, potentially based at RAF High Wycombe.

The move was welcomed by UKSpace, an umbrella group which represents the British space industry.

The body said it will “further enhance coordination of the UK military and commercial space operations”.

Will Whitehorn, president of UKSpace, argued it’s vital Britain is able to defend its commercial assets in space.

He commented: “I am delighted Space Command is to be established and have long argued for it in order to bolster

the UK’s ability to defend both the freedom of space and our sovereign assets in space.

“An important part of that ability will include a sovereign launch capability in the UK, and UKspace will work closely with the government to play our part in achieving launch capability in the north of Scotland and Cornwall.

“We will also work to ensure that our country becomes the global centre of excellence for the satellites and other space industrial assets of the future.”

Mr Johnson also said plans are in place for a British rocket to be launched into space from Scotland in 2022.

There are a number of proposals to build the UK’s first vertical launch space port in Scotland with sites in Sutherland, North Uist and the Shetland Islands being considered.

These will launch satellites, and potentially one day people, into space from British soil.

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