ESA Ministerial – VEGA’s response to impact on UK Space
industry
28 November 2008 – Following the outcome of the European Space
Agency (ESA) Ministerial that took place at The Hague on 25-26
November, VEGA, along with the rest of the UK Space industry, has
welcomed some of the decisions made by the UK Government that will
support the UK space industry in some of the world’s most
innovative and wealth creating space programmes, including space
exploration, climate monitoring and satellite applications.
VEGA Aerospace Business Development Director,
and former UKspace Chairman, John Auburn, said: “In the UK, VEGA is
involved in many areas of Space in which the UK Government has
further committed its support. I am particularly delighted that the
new ESA Facility will be located in the UK. As UKspace Chairman for
two years between 2006 and 2008, I personally fought hard for this
investment both by the UK Government and ESA, which will take
advantage of the business and engineering expertise built up in the
UK during the past 30 years. It now puts Space on the Map in the
UK. In time, we hope this will help UK citizens realize the
benefits that Space technologies bring to their daily lives, and
the importance of its research and discoveries both here on Earth
and in the greater universe.
“VEGA is also delighted that the UK Government has given £82m to
the Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (GMES)
programme which includes Earth Observation and climate change
missions. This is a significant increase on previous UK investments
and should help the UK space industry and VEGA secure a leading
role in climate monitoring and climate change initiatives.”
Looking to the future, John added: “After much lobbying, we are
delighted that ARTES funding has been increased to £100M over the
next five years. The UK has the most commercial space sector in
Europe and enjoys 7% of a global market, which is expected to be
worth $1 trillion by 2020. ARTES funding is vital to the long-term
success of satellite communications in the UK. ExoMars, the space
exploration mission, offers the UK scientific community the
opportunity to take part in an extensive robotics programme that
will open new markets for our industries.”
John also expressed disappointment with regard funding for MTG,
next generation of meteorological weather satellites. “It is
disappointing that the UK has declined to fund some areas, such as
MTG, especially as the Met Office has invested in this programme.
This will no doubt cause a significant loss of opportunities for
potential jobs and skills in this area. However, VEGA is involved
in this programme through other geographies, enabling our related
capabilities to be utilized through other avenues,” he said.
“We have lobbied hard to raise the profile of the UK Space industry
to the Government and in the current economic climate, investment
by the UK Government has overall met our expectations. The UK Space
industry offers the world’s most profitable global mobile satellite
communications provider, the world’s first public private
partnership for secure military satellite communications, Europe’s
most successful satellite-based TV broadcaster, world leading
scientific Space research, and the world’s leading small satellite
company and VEGA is proud to be a key player in this dynamic and
evolving industry.”
Further information
For further information, please contact Marketing
Manager, Karen Rogers via e-mail on karen.rogers@vega.co.uk