Britain ‘could soon get its first spaceport’ as new bill goes into law

Britain could soon have its first spaceport under new laws which enable commercial space companies to blast off from the UK.

At present, about one in four satellites are ‘substantially built’ in Britain, but are launched from spaceports in other countries – meaning a large extra cost.

A number of British sites have already been earmarked as potential spaceport locations, including Newquay, Glasgow and Llanbedr in North Wales.

The Space Industry Bill which received Royal Assent this week aims to put Britain back into the commercial space race – and increase Britain’s share of the space economy from 6.5% to 10% by 2030.

Transport Minister Jo Johnson said: ‘Access to space is the final piece of the puzzle for the UK space sector and forms part of the government’s Industrial Strategy – helping to drive growth across the country and unlocking hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in our regions.

‘The Space Industry Bill gives companies the ability to launch satellites from UK soil, putting us at the forefront of the new space race, and helping us to compete as the destination of choice for satellite companies worldwide.’

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Dr Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: ‘The Space Industry Bill guarantees the sky is not the limit for future generations of engineers, entrepreneurs and scientists.

‘We will set out how we plan to accelerate the development of the first commercial launch services from the UK, and realise the full potential of this enabling legislation over the coming months.’