UK Must Foster Sovereign Launch Capability, Experts Tell Committee angielski

The UK Engagement with Space Committee was established by the House of Lords in January 2024. As a special inquiry committee, its primary aim is to examine how the UK can effectively engage with the rapidly evolving global space industry and ensure that national policies, regulations and investments serve the country’s long-term interests.

During its 24 March session, the committee heard from six expert witnesses across two panels. The second panel focused on the United Kingdom’s need to develop its own launch capacity and featured testimony from Scott Hammond, Deputy CEO of SaxaVord Spaceport; Alan Thompson, Head of Government Affairs at Skyrora; and Adam Baker, Co-founder of UK Launch Services.

In response to a question asking what the case was for the UK possessing a sovereign launch capability, Adam Baker explained that the country was the “only well-developed space economy in the world who not only doesn’t have it, but we did have it, and we gave it away.” This is a reference to the UK’s decision to cancel its Black Arrow launch programme in the early 1970s, despite having successfully placed a satellite into orbit.