our decades on, it is coming a lot closer to home.The space race has already transformed such fields as telecommunications, TV broadcasting, climate and weather forecasting, information sharing, commerce, security, banking and navigation. But now a new space age beckons for Britain. And this week a conference entitled just that – A New Space Age for Britain – will chart the economic advantages space exploration will give the beleaguered UK economy.
Almost unnoticed by the public, which probably still associates space with manned flight [see box], the space technologies economy has expanded to the point where it supports 68,000 jobs in the UK, directly and indirectly, and contributes £6.5 billion to the nation. Without it we wouldn’t have the high-speed broadband, GPS services and high-definition TV that so many of us rely on. The global market for space manufacturing, applications and services has been estimated to be worth at least £400bn by 2030 –and Britain is determined to boost its share of the market from 6% to 10%, creating up to 100,000 jobs by 2030.
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Author: Russell Leadbetter
