UK must act now to get space ambitions back on track
The United Kingdom must move swiftly to turn ambition into action after falling short of a vision outlined three years ago, a cross-party parliamentary committee said.
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The View from Space.
🇬🇧 The United Kingdom but act urgently to get back on track after failing to realise its vision, set out three years ago, to become a major space power. In SpaceNews, Jason Rainbow discussed the implications of the ‘Space Economy: Act Now or Lose Out’ report:
‘The report pointed to several bright spots for the industry. They include an early leadership position in the fledgling in-orbit servicing and manufacturing market, growing momentum behind domestic launch capabilities and a space economy that has grown an average 3.3% annually since the 2009-10 financial year.
It also hailed the creation of a National Space Operations Centre in 2024, helping align increasingly critical civil and military space situational awareness capabilities, and strong international ties, including contributions to NASA programs and a golden share in OneWeb, French operator Eutelsat’s low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband network.
However, the committee said the U.K. has broadly struggled to convert policy ambitions into tangible outcomes, citing a lack of clear priorities, coordination and long-term funding. It warned that the country’s share of the global space economy, which UK Space Agency (UKSA) chairman Lord Willetts put at 5% during evidence to the committee in March, could erode without decisive leadership and delivery.
The report also called on the British government to clarify its objectives for sovereign launch capability, commercial opportunities for local launchers and whether more than one domestic spaceport is needed.’
📑 A manifesto written by businessman and former nominee for NASA chief Jason Isaacman has been obtained by POLITICO. ‘Project Athena’ could complicate Isaacman’s comeback, as he reemerges as a potential candidate for the position:
Project Athena, which Isaacman said started as a much longer document, was “uniquely prepared for a single audience.” The goal, Isaacman said, is to “reorganize and reenergize NASA, focus the agency on American leadership in space, unlock the orbital economy, and accelerate world-changing discoveries.”
Some NASA specialists agree the agency needs an overhaul to function effectively in a new space age, particularly as the U.S. competes with China above Earth. But many of these proposals, which would likely require congressional approval, would represent a seismic shift in how the space agency has operated.
This has concerned some tied to NASA. It’s “bizarre and careless,” said one former NASA official, who like others, was granted anonymity to discuss the document.
Isaacman’s manifesto would radically change NASA’s approach to science. He advocates buying science data from commercial companies instead of putting up its own satellites, referring to it a “science-as-a-service. The document also recommends taking “NASA out of the taxpayer funded climate science business and [leaving] it for academia to determine.”
Critics argue that such a move misunderstands the nature of scientific funding, since science, by its nature, isn’t a commercial venture.’
📈 In Satellite Evolution, Jean-François Morizur argues that space is undergoing its very own industrial revolution:
‘Commoditization lowers barriers to entry. It means more people, companies, and governments accessing space-based goods and services. It means more predictable revenue streams, less time from concept to deployment. It means new business models. That amounts in practical terms to easier access to satellite data, more resilient comms, and richer data. Scientists who not long ago could only dream of space-based instruments may soon be able to launch them by taking advantage of the same commoditized launch and manufacturing systems that underpin commercial constellations.
The shift in science is striking. Not long ago, every mission required expensive, custom-built payloads and bespoke launch contracts. Now a research budget can go much further. Standardized platforms, shared rides to orbit, cheaper components – all of these multiply the impact of research dollars. Commoditization is turning space into a laboratory that small teams and new entrants can use.
Commoditization also reshapes how space systems and constellations are designed. As certain components and services become cheaper, more available, and more reliable, architects of new missions are drawn to them, reinforcing their dominance. Over time, a handful of high-volume options emerge as the default building blocks, just as has happened in other fast-growing industries.’
🤖 The Guardian reports that Google will put data centres in space to meet demand for AI:
‘Its scientists and engineers believe tightly packed constellations of about 80 solar-powered satellites could be arranged in orbit about 400 miles above the Earth’s surface equipped with the powerful processors required to meet rising demand for AI.
Prices of space launches are falling so quickly that by the middle of the 2030s the running costs of a space-based datacentre could be comparable to one on Earth, according to Google research released on Tuesday.
Using satellites could also minimise the impact on the land and water resources needed to cool existing datacentres.’
🛰️ The Japan Times reports that the U.S. has developed new weapons to jam Chinese satellites:
‘The U.S. military is close to fielding two new weapons designed to jam Chinese and Russian intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites, giving the Pentagon three counter-space capabilities, according to new U.S. Space Force data.
The weapons, called Meadowlands and the Remote Modular Terminal, will join a larger and less mobile “Counter Communications System” jammer — an upgraded big dish that was declared operational in 2020.
The fresh systems will be dispersed worldwide and sometimes operated remotely, intended to counter what U.S. military officials are more stridently outlining as a growing Chinese space-based threat against U.S. forces.’
🍗 And Chinese taikonauts enjoyed barbecue chicken wings on the Tiangong space station, having installed an orbital oven: