As NASA faces cash-crunch, Britons boldly head for the stars

After watching the Moon landings as a child, my future was clear: I was going to be an astronaut. Since Britain didn't have a Space Agency, I wrote to NASA. They not only replied, they sent technical plans for a new spaceplane - the Space Shuttle. But despite my getting the required science degree, there was one small problem: I wasn't American.

The Space Shuttle has now retired, I reported on astronauts instead of becoming one, and NASA is facing big budget cuts. But something rather unexpected has happened. Decades after throwing its rocketry prowess on the scrapheap, allowing the French to produce Ariane launchers and dominate European space activities, the UK not only has its own space agency, but it is a thriving one.

Last week, Britain celebrated 50 years in space with a conference commemorating its role in the world's first international satellite, Ariel 1, and highlighting its future in everything from Earth Observation to planetary science. At the conference the European Space Agency signed a pounds 245 million deal with UK industry to build the new Solar Orbiter spacecraft. In fact, space is one of the few areas that continued to grow during the economic downturn. "In the main, the industry didn't see the recession at all," says Richard Peckham, business development director for Astrium UK - Europe's largest space company with two UK sites, in Stevenage and Portsmouth, building space and telecommunications satellites.

But it's not all about the big boys. The lithium-ion batteries inside spacecraft, or powering a life support system in a NASA astronaut's backpack, have probably been supplied by ABSL Power Solutions in Culham, Oxfordshire.

In Bodelwyddan, near Rhyl, North Wales, Qioptiq's specialised glass and optical reflectors find a home on the International Space Station and Mars rovers. Clyde Space in Glasgow supplies solar arrays for small satellites and Surrey Satellite Technology has just delivered the first of 14 operational payloads for Galileo, Europe's new satellite navigation system. In a few days the UK is sending a world-class piece of engineering, the mid-infrared instrument (MIRI), to Nasa to be fitted to the James Webb Space Telescope (the successor to Hubble).

Astrium's clean rooms in Stevenage are crammed with spacecraft, including the LISA Pathfinder, which launches next year, and the 2015 mission to Mercury, Bepi-Colombo. Construction has also started on the Sentinel 5 Precursor spacecraft, which will monitor air pollution.

David Williams, head of the UK Space Agency (UKSA) in Swindon, believes it is this combination of public and private sectors that are driving the industry. "There have been some big contracts signed for Earth Observation over the last year and the European Space Agency has just placed an order for the next eight Galileo satellite navigation spacecraft from UK companies," he says. "The Government has also committed pounds 21 million to building NovaSAR."

This is the radar satellite which will be built in Surrey's new Kepler technical facility. "This is potentially a huge project," says Williams, "opening up pounds 150 million of investment for UK businesses." The aim is for Britain to control 10 per cent of the world's space economy by 2030. "We have some of the best scientists and researchers in a world ever reliant on space systems."

It's not just industry, however, that is flourishing. New members of the British Interplanetary Society have increased tenfold since January. Its president-elect, Alistair Scott, believes we are becoming more aware of our space industry. "The TV programme How to Build a Satellite was part of it," says Scott. "A lot of people now recognise that you don't have be an astronomer to work in space, you could be part of scientific exploration and industry."

Scott recently retired from Astrium UK in Stevenage, the same site that assembled Blue Streak missiles in the 1950s. After its cancellation, the Royal Aircraft Establishment built Black Arrow in the 1960s leading to the launch of Prospero in 1971 - the first, and only, British satellite to be launched on a British rocket. Britain's fledgling space programme was filled with promise until the government pulled the plug.

"We were number two in the world at the time of Blue Streak and Black Arrow," says Scott. "It seems a shame we threw it all away. I'm hoping Reaction Engines keeps going with Skylon as that could put us back in the driving seat."

Skylon is a design for an air-breathing reusable spaceplane that would allow low-cost access for Europe into space. Unlike some private space companies that are little more than a website, Reaction Engines is based at the Culham Science Centre and tests on its innovative engine are underway. Its designs were also given a technical vote of confidence by ESA last year.

Managing director Alan Bond is no stranger to new ideas and concept designs - he was a consultant engineer on HOTOL, the horizontal take-off and landing project during the 1980s which was a brilliant idea that never got off the ground.

Is he worried that Skylon will go the same way? "No," says Bond firmly. "The Skylon project is a commercial venture which does not rely solely upon government funding to succeed. Space has immense economic potential, which we're only just starting to exploit."

Bond attributes this growth industry to the UK's business-orientated approach to space. He also believes it can withstand any knock-on effects from budget cuts at Nasa. "The UK space industry is largely immune to changes in Nasa funding."

Craig Clark, from Clyde Space in Scotland, agrees. "Historically the UK has been highly innovative in the technology for space, but less innovative in applying the technology to commercial applications. Industry and government have been working together for a few years and the outcome of this has been an initiative that looks to the commercial return of the technologies and concepts."

Clyde Space's concept of miniature spacecraft, CubeSats, arose in 2005. About the size of a four-inch cardboard box, they can piggyback on other satellites and put his company on the map. Clark says: "One of the first things that Clyde Space did was to develop off-the-shelf products for CubeSats and other small satellites. This led to our online spacecraft shop, the first of its kind in the world."

Small satellites can be used for Earth observation, space science, communications, environmental monitoring and navigation. UKSA set up a pilot programme to design and launch a CubeSat platform and Clyde Space will now build UKube-1. Its four payloads include two from Astrium and one from UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. The Open University, together with Essex-based e2v, will develop the fourth: a specialist imaging device.

"We've seen from the US that the commercial space industry is the one clearly in ascendance," says Clark, "and Nasa are looking to private firms to resupply the International Space Station in addition to transporting crew."

"There's no question the UK has been, and will be, a major player in a number of missions for international collaboration," says Charles Elachi, director of Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

British space is not all about comsats and low-earth-orbit. A British-built sensor on the Huygens probe was the first part to touch Saturn's moon Titan - and an ambitious plan to float a probe on a Titan lake has made a Nasa shortlist of three. Our scientists are part of it. Even Beagle 2 is a lesson learnt, imparting invaluable experience to UK space scientists.

But a high-tech industry needs a high-tech workforce. Fortunately UK graduates are held in high esteem. "Most of those working on atmospheric science at JPL," confirms Elachi, "have British accents."