The UK Space Agency welcomed officials from the Scottish Government and sector representatives to its new Edinburgh office to discuss ways to deepen collaboration, on the eve of Scotland’s largest commercial space conference opening in Glasgow on Wednesday 11 September. 

Scotland’s space sector is home to advanced satellite manufacturing capabilities, data analysis expertise and a fast-growing satellite launch market that is attracting significant interest and investment from the global space community.

The latest Size and Health of the UK Space Industry report estimates that 228 space organisations in Scotland generated a combined income of £298 million in 2021/22, almost double the amount for 2018/19 in real terms (£157 million). 

Internal analysis shows the UK’s national space programmes (excluding European Space Agency) allocated 15% of available funding since 2018 to organisations based in Scotland.

The UK Space Agency is supporting the Space Comm Expo Scotland event, which begins today (11 September) at the SEC Glasgow and is set to welcome 3,000 visitors. 

UK Space Agency Chief Executive Dr Paul Bate will host an industry roundtable at the event, with the support of Space Scotland, to explore the future of the Scottish space ecosystem, before delivering a keynote speech to the conference. 

Dr Paul Bate said:

“Our work with Scotland’s space sector is long-standing, as is Scotland’s vital contribution to the wider UK space ecosystem. We opened our Edinburgh office earlier this year and it is great to be in Glasgow today for the first Space Comm Expo Scotland, where we want to deepen existing partnerships and explore new frontiers. 

“We know that Scotland has the best sites in the UK to launch rockets vertically from, and its universities are home to some of the greatest minds in space science. This is a growth sector that is at its best when we work together, and learn from one another, across governments, industry and academia. 

“Nothing we do in space is easy. But the benefits this sector brings to all our lives make it more than worth it.” 

The UK Space Agency is also supporting the development of Scotland’s space ecosystem by investing in its not-for-profit sector development body, Space Scotland. This includes programmes that equip the nation’s space workforce with the expertise and skills they need, and is unlocking new market opportunities for space with adjacent industries like FinTech, AgriTech, and Robotics.

Daniel Smith, Founding Director of Space Scotland, said:

“The space sector in Scotland is growing rapidly towards an ‘end-to-end’ offering that covers Europe-leading small satellite manufacture, orbital spaceflight capabilities and critically, capturing global insights from space data that underpin adjacent sector activity, environmental protection and disaster response. 

“With this growth comes a wealth of business and employment opportunities to benefit the economy across Scotland and the wider UK. The UK Space Agency’s new office and continued partnership with Space Scotland will help maximise these opportunities, supporting the delivery of the Scottish Space Strategy, whilst further enabling ongoing work around sustainability, skills and the creation of an increasingly diverse workforce.”

Recent UK Space Agency investments in Scotland include:

• £5 million for a suborbital rocket test at SaxaVord Spaceport by HyImpulse UK
• £3.5 million for a project led by Spire Global and supported by STAR-Dundee for further developments of a novel instrument that could improve weather forecasting. 
• £1.9 million for Smiths Interconnect to enhance its space qualification laboratory in Dundee. This has already catalysed £3.5 million in follow-on investment to date. 

A key focus area of the Scottish Space Strategy is space sustainability, and the UK Space Agency has invested £1.5 million in a pioneering project, led by the University of Strathclyde alongside international partners, to accelerate the development of Artificial intelligence technologies to improve space operations, safety and sustainability. The project is paving the way for the creation of a new virtual Institute on AI for Space Safety & Sustainability. 

The UK Space Agency is also continuing to assess a potential national Active Debris Removal (ADR) mission and to develop and derisk the key technologies required to clean up the orbital environment. A new Sustainable Space Community Hub launched in collaboration with the British Standards Institution (BSI), will enable stakeholders to easily find and share information about space sustainability, funding and collaboration opportunities and upcoming events. It will also support engagement with the development of Space Sustainability Standards which set the foundation for sustainable practices across the industry.  

The SaxaVord and Sutherland spaceports are working towards hosting the first vertical rocket launches from UK soil next year. When fully operational, these spaceports plan to support a combined 42 annual launches from Scotland. 

The UK government announced the award of £10 million to SaxaVord spaceport earlier this year. Building a sustainable launch sector is a key driver of regional economic growth, creating hundreds of high-skilled jobs and spreading prosperity.