LONDON – A day after the British government announced plans to fold the UK Space Agency into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), industry leaders said the move could streamline Britain’s space policy but also warned it risked undermining transparency and distracting from upcoming European talks about funding for space programs.
The European Space Agency, which receives roughly three-quarters of the UKSA’s annual budget, reassured partners that Britain would continue as a chief contributor. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said in a Aug. 21 statement he was confident the UK’s restructured agency would “remain a driving force in Europe’s space future.”
The UKSA was launched in March 2010, and became responsible for all UK space activities, including government departments, research councils and non-departmental public bodies.
At the most recent ESA Council at the Ministerial Level in 2022, known as CM22, the UK committed £1.84bn for the 2022–2027 period. The next meeting at the ministerial level, or CM25, is scheduled for Nov. 25-27 in Bremen, Germany.
Regional industry groups were more circumspect about the change.
Rebecca Huffee of the Space West cluster, which represents 250 companies in England’s Bristol and Bath area, said the timing of the announcement raised concerns about distracting from preparations for the ministerial meeting. But she added that collaboration between the UK and ESA was already well underway.
“We are confident these changes will not damage this program of work,” she said.
Leadership at some regional space startups also expressed concern about what the new government hierarchy will mean.
“It seems to have come out of nowhere,” said Adam Paigge, founder of Manchester-based space startup Supernova Labs, a virtual reality, astronautics, drones and 3D printing lab. Among other space entrepreneurs, “some people said it seems like a step back. Others said it was consolidating work with UKSA back into the government, with more oversight, which might be a good thing.”
The UKSA distributes about £581 million a year in grants. Officials at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said there would be no “immediate” changes to contracts or grants, though some in industry worry about how future programs will be managed.
One concern from industry, however, is visibility. Today, UKSA publishes detailed accounts of how funds are allocated. That reporting may become less clear once space budgets are absorbed into a government department, Huffee said. “It will be much trickier to see how much government is investing in space in the UK,” she said.
Startup leaders also questioned whether the existing grant system — which typically pays awards “in lieu” with little upfront funding — would become more burdensome under direct government control. Paigge said companies can face 70-page applications for modest awards and often need private capital to bridge the gap until payments arrive.
DSIT said its priorities continued to be establishing the UK as a launching nation, with the first launches from its Saxavord spaceport in Scotland scheduled for next year, after delays caused by a crash in March 2025. It is currently working on staffing and leadership of the new organization, which is intended to come from both UKSA and DSIT to take advantage of institutional memory.