The UK is launching a new national space strategy, bringing together plans for growth, defence, and national security to help reindustrialise the UK.

Backed by a record £7.8 billion until 2030, the UK Space Strategy brings government’s space investment and activity under one plan to drive growth, strengthen security and back the technologies that underpin modern life.

It also recognises space as an increasingly important domain for keeping our country safe.

Work to strengthen Space Domain Awareness – the study and monitoring of objects like satellites, rockets and debris orbiting our planet – is being backed by projects including £149 million for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Vigil mission and £85 million for the National Space Operations Centre.

UK funding will see British tech offer earlier warnings of potential satellite collisions, hostile activity and solar storms, helping protect the power, communications and navigation services people rely on every day.

Meanwhile £880 million will help beef up the UK’s space control and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, funding technologies that can track military activity on the ground and potential attacks on satellites, meaning we can act quickly and decisively to protect our way of life on Earth and our assets in space.

A further £2.8 billion meanwhile will go towards strengthening connectivity, including the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit and SKYNET defence communications programmes, which play a pivotal role in keeping our Armed Forces connected wherever they are in the world.

These benefits will also be felt in everyday life, helping bring faster, more reliable connectivity to rural communities and reducing mobile signal dropouts on trains by using advanced satellite communications.

Together, these investments will help grow a UK space sector worth £18.6 billion and supporting over 55,000 skilled jobs – cementing Britain’s place as a global space leader from satellite services that underpin the economy to landmark missions such as the UK-built Rosalind Franklin Mars Rover.

Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said: “As space becomes a new frontier of economic and military competition, this plan will help keep Britain secure by strengthening our ability to launch satellites, detect threats and protect the services people rely on every day.

“At the same time, this plan will enable our excellent UK industry to seize the boundless opportunities of this new age in space, creating skilled jobs, driving growth and improving connectivity for all of us.”

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The Strategy also offers an opportunity to deliver the jobs and companies of the future, with £40 million to support pioneering in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing technologies (ISAM). These will help repair and maintain satellites damaged by space debris, solar storms or hostile interference, while helping clear dangerous objects from orbit – all while continuing to operate in space.

Additional support for the UK’s wide-ranging space sector includes £148m for  European rocket programmes and £30 million for SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland – helping Britain and our partners to launch satellites without relying on countries further afield while creating new jobs.