Virgin Galactic and the UK Space Agency

Two pieces of space news today.
Working quietly in the background has been Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic team. Already working on their second version of the White Knight they yesterday conducted the first "captive capture" flight which meant the mothership carry the spaceship to its operating altitude.

VirginGalactic Homepage





Some have dubbed it the "British NASA". And I guess they're not far wrong.

The British National Space Centre has been relaunched today as the United Kingdom Space Agency which will come into being on the 1st April 2010.

The UK Space Agency will give the sector the muscle it needs to fulfil its ambition. Britain’s space industry has defied the recession. It can grow to £40bn a year and create 100,000 jobs in 20 years.

Lord Drayson
Science and Innovation Minister

A new £40m International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) at Harwell is at the heart of Government plans to support Britain’s growing space sector.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and Science Minister Lord Drayson announced the creation of the ISIC, supported by £12m from BIS’ Strategic Investment Fund, at today’s launch of the UK Space Agency.
The centre, to be sited with the European Space Agency facility opened last July, will provide a central hub for British space activity and ensure the UK maintains its world-leading space capability. Funded through public and industry investment, the ISIC will establish centres of excellence in the UK to:

• exploit the data generated by Earth Observation satellites;
• use space data to understand and counter climate change; and
• advise on the security and resilience of space systems and services.

The space and satellite industry is one of the UK’s unsung success stories. It supports 68,000 jobs in the UK directly and indirectly and contributes £6bn to the economy. This hi-tech, high-skilled sector underpins high speed broadband, high definition television, GPS and weather forecasting that the modern world relies on.