Since 2000, the UK’s space sector has trebled in size, achieving 6% annual growth and exporting a third of its outputs.
The space sector contributes £5.7 billion to UK GDP. The UK aims to be 10% of the global space-related economy by 2030 and Oxfordshire finds itself at the centre of this activity, headed by Harwell Campus.
Companies within Harwell’s Space Cluster range from start-ups to multinationals such as Thales Alenia, Astroscale and Lockheed Martin. With 105 space organisations employing over 1,400 space professionals, this is the UK’s largest, and Europe’s most concentrated, group of space companies.
Harwell Campus, near Didcot. Offering the largest cluster of space companies in Western Europe.
It encompasses major assets of national and international significance such as the European Space Agency’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) and the new National Satellite Test Facility: the UK’s first space-simulating environment that will support the assembly, integration and testing of space payloads and satellites weighing up to seven tonnes.
Space research and technology developer RAL Space has been involved in over 210 instruments for space missions, providing space test and groundbased facilities and designing and building instruments. Other businesses on site include makers of antennas, cameras, sensors, and data analytics.
The Satellite Applications Catapult accelerates the growth of satellite applications as a focal point where SMEs, industry and end users can work together with researchers to bring ideas to commercial reality. It has seen satellite technology applied to projects ranging from mining to cocoa-growing.
Further exciting developments at Harwell include a Disruptive Innovation in Space Centre, and the 5G/6G Hub at ESCAT, which is enabling companies to explore and realise the enormous potential of 5G and 6G networks.