Space and beyond

For me, space was always about Star Trek or Apollo rockets. I am old enough to remember Neil Armstrong walking on the moon in 1969. This month we are celebrating the golden anniversary of “50 Years of the UK in Space.” Ariel-1 was the world’s first international satellite. It was US-built with UK instruments. It was launched in April 1962 on a NASA rocket from Cape Canaveral. Later versions were UK-built. Science fiction is still great fun. But today’s space industry affects our daily lives in reality. The GPS system and weather forecasts are two obvious examples.

April 2012 is also the first “birthday” of the UK Space Agency, which works with the innovative, dynamic and successful UK space sector. Today, UK companies manufacture and operate satellites, collect space data and provide services. It is estimated that the global market by 2030 will be worth £400 billion. Almost everything the UK does in space is cooperative – working with other countries, or organisations to achieve ambitious goals.

This week, there was a meeting here in Warsaw of the UK/Eastern European Space Collaboration Steering Group (UK, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia and Sweden) to identify ways of collaborating that will promote innovation and create jobs with the help of EU programmes. Poland has already launched a satellite PW-Sat and is planning to join the European Space Agency. So there is plenty of scope for collaboration, involving industry and academia as well as innovators.

There is great potential for business and R&D partnerships. Space is not just about cutting edge technology – yes that is a key driver. There is however a plethora of commercial opportunities which come from advanced space research. Satellite casings, for example, have more to do with precision engineering but are still a crucial component of a successful satellite. There are huge opportunities for companies to develop businesses using the data we collect in space – GPS, Google Earth and much more. Advanced communications technologies, digital services and satellite based interactions are not as far away as we think. More companies than you imagine contribute to a successful space sector.

This is yet another area where UK and Poland can collaborate productively to support growth, innovation and jobs. Sadly, I fear it is too late for me to try space travel but I am planning a flight in a Tiger Moth of which more anon!