"This is the right time to ask ourselves whether we're managing the full range of UK space activities in the most effective way, and whether - in the view of the space community - a single body overseeing those activities makes sense."
Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London
22 July 2009
Good morning.
"It is one of the great privileges of my job to have a role in setting UK space policy and in championing our vibrant space industry – especially at such an exciting stage in the development of both"
Indeed – with all due respect to our hosts today – I can't resist sharing a message sent to me by a British physicist.
"'Space Minister' is quite a cool title," he wrote on Twitter recently. "Covers a lot more territory than the Foreign Office."
It's fair to say that people of all ages – but especially the young – remain in thrall to the wonders of space. As public recent interest demonstrates, 40 years has failed to diminish the awe-inspiring achievement of the first Apollo moon landings.
As we gather to mark the opening of the European Space Agency’s first UK research facility, it's worth remembering that the 1969 mission brought home 22 kilograms worth of moon rock – revolutionising our understanding of planetary formation, prompting "giant impact" theories and raising questions about how life might have originated on Earth.
Indeed, among the activities soon underway at Harwell will be work supporting ESA's new exploration programme: not only in robotics but, potentially, a facility to collect materials returned from other planets.
Just as important is the unit dedicated to finding new opportunities for applying space and non-space systems to Earth-based challenges: improving public transport services, tackling national emergencies or supporting next-generation medical care. It will have a business incubator centre attached.
But I would highlight the climate change unit at Harwell – a focal point for ESA's work on satellite-based Earth observation – as especially significant.
Satellites represent the only way to monitor gradual environmental change on a global level. ESA's GMES initiative will improve climate change modelling through land, marine and atmospheric analysis.
It dovetails with the UK's new 33-million-pound National Centre for Earth Observation, building on expertise in the carbon cycle, seismology and flood prediction at 26 UK universities and research centres.
It really is fantastic that this ESA facility is opening just eight months on from reaching agreement that it should be located in the UK.
This event gives me the chance to thank publicly ESA's Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain, for his considerable enthusiasm on behalf of Harwell. The innovation campus will undoubtedly benefit as more international talent is attracted to work there, and through increasing collaboration with existing ESA facilities across Europe.
I also congratulate Jean-Jacques and ESA on selecting Tim Peake for its forthcoming astronaut programme. Together with the moon landing commemorations, Tim's success has created a wave of interest in space not seen in this country for many, many years. I'm determined to harness that interest in several ways.
But we shouldn't overlook the fact that the new Harwell facility reflects the UK's longstanding commitment to ESA and to missions like Envisat, Cyrosat and Herschel & Planck – for which UK scientists and engineers produced the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver.
Last November, the UK pledged €924 million to ESA programmes over the next spending period. We are – and intend to remain – the fourth highest contributor overall to ESA, supporting the agency through this economic downturn.
Harwell will only cement our relationship. There is already a critical mass of space-related expertise on campus, and around the UK. I have every confidence that the ESA facility will thrive in the multi-disciplinary environment at Harwell – with its academic, commercial and public outreach ambitions.
I make no bones about our desire to maximise business opportunities and build on existing UK strengths. We are home to the world's most successful mobile satcom company, to the world’s leading small satellite manufacturer, to the first commercial military satellite operator.
Fresh data produced by the South East England Development Agency shows that the UK space industry is an important and growing part of our economy. It contributes £6.5 billion to UK GDP, directly supporting over 19,000 jobs – and up to 68,000 jobs when multiplier effects are taken into account.
The same report finds that the industry – with an exceptionally high-level skills base and productivity per worker four times the national average – is successfully riding out the downturn, helped in part by commitments made at the November ESA ministerial meeting, which secured work for UK space companies for at least the next five years.
Indeed, the industry is forecast to grow by an average of five per cent a year up to 2020.
This is vindication of the UK Government's commitment to investing in space – to focusing on the high-tech industries of the future.
We've taken the next step by establishing a joint industry-Government innovation growth team for the space sector. Its purpose is to raise awareness of UK capability in this area, but principally to extract maximum value from space over the next 20 years and integrate it fully into the UK economy.
With its potential to drive both a digital and a green revolution, the Government is keen to create optimal market and regulatory conditions in which innovative space-related enterprises can thrive.
Over time, we envisage a broader International Space Innovation Centre at Harwell – with the Rutherford Appleton laboratory, small-scale engineering accommodation and the ESA facility as a new centrepiece – to become the hub for increasing numbers of regional, national and international partners looking to develop their IP and market new technologies. BNSC is working to attract inward investment to Harwell from companies and universities.
It should be clear by now that I'm very keen for the UK to build on the momentum being generated by ESA's arrival at Harwell, by Tim Peake, by the innovation growth team.
Which is why I'm announcing today a public consultation on whether an executive UK space agency would be the best means to carry forward our national agenda.
This is the right time, I believe, to ask ourselves whether we're managing the full range of UK space activities in the most effective way – R&D, business growth, environmental monitoring, basic research – and whether, in the view of the broad space community, a single body overseeing those activities makes sense.
The consultation is running for 12 weeks, and I'm keen for people in this audience to offer their perspectives ahead of conclusions being shared this autumn.
In the meantime, there's much more going on over the next six months: for example, the launch of the UK-built HYLAS satellite, with the capacity to serve, simultaneously, 100,000 broadband subscribers – even in remote areas.
There are decisions in the offing regarding plans by ESA and NASA to explore Mars – where we're leading on the design of the rover vehicle, as well as building key parts of its exobiology payload.
And December will see the launch of ESA's CryoSat 2: the UK-led mission to examine the thickness of land and sea ice.
We live, therefore, in inspiring times. Harwell represents a promising new chapter in our relationship with ESA. We can only hope that the work which goes on there furthers European collaboration, boosts UK prosperity, and helps the world to face some of its most urgent challenges.
Thank you.
