For years, UK space was the poor cousin of the much larger 'aerospace' sector. It had some superb products, especially in satellite development and construction, and Britain was the host of some important 'downstream' players in satellite operation but UK space employment and turnover was a fraction of the overall UK aerospace business. Times have changed. In less than a decade, the space sector has been targeted by successive governments for pump priming with public money, some well-chosen technological investments and a relaunched National Space Agency tasked with implementing a space strategy looking to increase the UK's share of the global space market to 10% by 2030. To back up these ambitions, the UK government has sunk over half a billion pounds in space over the last decade. It has also passed the Space Industry Act of 2018 to facilitate the growth of launch services - regulating 'all spaceflight activities carried out from the UK'. According to ADS data, UK space sector turnover has grown to almost £15bn a year and 40% of all small satellites currently in orbit are built in the UK. The sector has grown overall by 72% since 2012. In 2018, the UK space industry employed just over 42,000 people and contributed £5.7bn (gross value-added) directly to the national economic output, and another £13bn indirectly. Over a third of industrial output was exported. UK space was also highly focused on the commercial sector, with 82% of sales to consumers and businesses. Although UK-based suppliers have lost access to some EU space markets following Brexit - notably Galileo - ESA and some EU Copernicus contracts are still open.
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