UK Space industry could add £40 billion to the economy

Britain's space industry could be worth up to £40 billion a year, according to a report published by the Space Innovation and Growth Team (IGT), a committee tasked by the UK government with laying out the future of the UK's commercial space ambitions.

Chief among the recommendations is more spending. The UK currently spends around £270 million on space projects such as satellite programs.

Andy Green, who chaired the IGT, told the BBC, "we already have six per cent global market share, despite the fact we spend a relatively low proportion of our GDP on space."

Getting organised

UK Space is an organisation which represents an assortment of British high-tech companies. Its chairman, Richard Peckham is also business development manager of Astrium, a UK-based satellite company.

He said that the future of the British space industry doesn't simply rely on asking for money. “You've got to have somebody that's actually looking across all of the potential uses of space,” he said.

That somebody will be the as-yet unnamed British space agency, a dedicated organisation announced in December 2009. Responsibility currently lies with an assortment of different government departments – a situation which leads to wrangling over funding.