back to article UK.gov presents its National Space Strategy: Space is worth billions to us. Just don't mention Brexit, OK?

UK government has published its National Space Strategy [PDF], a document full of big ideas but according to some, no new funding. A cynic might wonder if the document has more in common with the Green strategies trumpeted by the regime of current Prime Minister Boris Johnson, such is the amount of recycling contained within …

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  1. Alister

    Boris Johnson’s 'Galactic Britain'

    We are going to launch BT Tower into space and travel from one solar system to another spreading promotional materials about investment opportunities in Peterborough and Slough.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      I was very disappointed that the document didn't have a mission statement "To protect Britain's interests in a changing galaxy".

      They did manage to sneak one obvious joke past the proof reader though, which is that the British military apparently has an outfit called "Space Command".

      1. jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid Silver badge

        UK Space Command

        "the British military apparently has an outfit called 'Space Command'."

        It's no joke.

        https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/uk-space-command/

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Coat

          Re: UK Space Command

          UK Space Command was formed on 1 April 2021

          Are you sure?

          1. Cederic Silver badge

            Re: UK Space Command

            Why not. The RAF was formed on 1st April too.

        2. elsergiovolador Silver badge

          Re: UK Space Command

          It's about navigating the space between ears of some decision makers, that is a direct threat to our great nation.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: UK Space Command

          I don't think the Duchy of Grand Fenwick actually owns a space rocket, even though they might rent half a dozen satellites from Airbus.

      2. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Special Advanced IntelAIgent Research Services for Immaculate Source Defence Forces

        They did manage to sneak one obvious joke past the proof reader though, which is that the British military apparently has an outfit called "Space Command". ...... Pseudononymous Coward

        Command of which space, that perceives and conceives and receives control of future events in all others, is no joke, PC, although whether the British military are pioneering with expertise in the field, or teasing for experts, is something which is probably not ever currently going to be mentioned publicly or outside of Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information circles. Indeed, even within such hallowed cloisters would such likely be rarely, if ever, discussed and admitted, given the advantage it grants to the worthy in the fields of specific collegiate endeavour.

        And as for nabbing only 10% of that global market, it would a mistake and a bet one would lose if one was to think and not realise the private sector is more than just capable and enabling of hope ...... or if one was to not think and realise the private sector is more than just capable and enabling of hope.

        The trouble with a presently politically inept blighted Blighty is it does not aspire to solely effectively lead enough and thus falls foul of all of those wannabe Caesars, with too little in the way of intelligence in their brains, being told or imagining themselves that they can and thus does it and IT and Media give rise to an unsavoury opposition and wasteful competition and forlorn hopes easily crushed and crashed and trashed.

        Seems to me like one of those perfect times for the private sector to do a whole series of those can do things which you may never live long enough to know anything definitive about because it is safer for you that way.

      3. Evan Essence

        I haven't read the document, but it surely says we'll maintain Imperial measurements in space, as Hyperdrive measures the spaceship HMS Camden Lock's speed in miles per hour.

        Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.

      4. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

        Space command

        Well,somebodyhastotakecareofthespacesorwe'llhaveallsortsofproblems.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "Boris Johnson’s 'Galactic Britain'

      ...on the back of a Star Whale!

  2. Mike 137 Silver badge

    "Space is worth billions to us"

    Solely about dosh again.

    "Huston, the Locust has landed".

    1. Chris G

      Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

      Johnson or any other prime minister past, present and probably future have little to no understanding of technology or science, they are all about the money and whether that money will lead to votes.

      Every one of the dozen PM's I have paid attention to since I was at school have made similar speechs and then leave the 'boffins' to get on with it.

      Usually while cutting funds, screwing up education in the STEM subjects and appointing ministers for technology who haven't even heard of the spinning jenny.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

        Johnson or any other prime minister past, present and probably future have little to no understanding of technology or science, they are all about the money and whether that money will lead to votes.

        Well Thatcher famously studied and worked for a period as an industrial chemist so your political memory obviously doesn't stretch that far back in time.

        1. Chris G

          Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

          Thatcher worked briefly as a research chemist in the 50s before becoming a barrister so science easily took a back seat for her.

          She used the little knowledge she had as a lever to get her own way with regard to her policies in regard to the sciences just as she did with everything else.

          I remember reading that she regretted studying chemistry and went into law as an entry into politics, her main interest so she hardly had much regard for science and technology it was just a means to an end.

          1. MachDiamond Silver badge

            Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

            "Thatcher worked briefly as a research chemist in the 50s before becoming a barrister so science easily took a back seat for her."

            In the land of the blind and all that.

        2. Dan 55 Silver badge

          Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

          Not for long, and just as a means to an end.

      2. HelpfulJohn

        Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

        UKland *had* a sort of start towards a "space presence" in the late 1950's. They killed it to save money and because the politicians of the day were mostly trained in the "Humanities" and Law and considered offworld exploitation to be skiffy-geeky BukkRojas robots-and-rayguns stuff - as many of them still do.

        Had they had vision slightly better than extreme myopia, they could have had city-farms in high Earth orbit, comet-catching industries, drop-ships fuelling the Terran economy with cheap imports and possibly even scientific outposts on the Lunar Farside by 1990 but they were simply intellectually underpowered and unable to grasp the Big Picture.

        It is also true that the USAliens could have built upon their Skylabs to do much of that cheaper, faster and better than UKland could have but neither nation was interested.

        Instead, we get twenty-year wars over which big daddy in the sky has the better fan-fiction.

        The Dream of Stars is dead.

        1. Kane
          Joke

          Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

          "Had they had vision slightly better than extreme myopia, they could have had city-farms in high Earth orbit, comet-catching industries, drop-ships fuelling the Terran economy with cheap imports and possibly even scientific outposts on the Lunar Farside by 1990 but they were simply intellectually underpowered and unable to grasp the Big Picture."

          And the flying cars. Don't forget the flying cars.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

      I will just start buying shares from Skynet satellite communications systems and the government billions will soon be my billions.

      I'm posting anonymously to prevent Keir complaining at question time.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

        I welcome the Prime Minister's move to conquer the Galaxy but call on him to go further, Britain must maintain access to the whole observable universe

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

          "but call on him to go further"

          ... and stay there.

          1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

            Re: "Space is worth billions to us"

            Can we start a crowd funding effort to raise the money to lob him up into space to catch-up with the hyperbole

  3. SusiW
    FAIL

    Encyclopaedia Disgustica

    Sounds like just another "de Pfeffel*" to me...

    *(a "de Pfeffel" is an unpleasant release of irrelevant noise and foetid noxious gas from a disgusting type of parasite that is known to inflict members of the species known as "Humans." Further reading: see the entry for "Politicians" in the Encyclopaedia Disgustica)

  4. steelpillow Silver badge

    Marketing puff

    This is basically just a summary of what Boris is already doing, heavily puffed up with codswallop. At best it will nudge the Chancellor's political brain cells during the next Spending Review, and can certainly only last as long as Boris, so the avowed intent to revisit it in 2030 seems a tad humorous. Still, at least it is better than the strategy which saw Black Arrow cancelled exactly fifty years ago, back in 1971.

    1. Irongut Silver badge

      Re: Marketing puff

      No, this is a summary of what British industry is already doing, with no help from Boris & chums.

      Nothing about this document is due to Boris.

      1. steelpillow Silver badge

        Re: Marketing puff

        That is unfair, even on Boris. He and his Whitehall chums have been oiling the wheels of three UK spaceports and putting real cash into space R&D, science and defence. Of course it is our cash he has been throwing out and British industry are spending it for him, but without him and his wagonload of monkeys the cash would not be going there.

  5. Mishak Silver badge

    "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

    The F1 was the engine, not the booster...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

      I was a bit concerned about the sub-heading "Space is becoming more congested and contested".

      I don't know about contested, but the bit we can see, which is 46 billion light-years across, averages only about 5 protons per cubic metre, i.e. only about 1e-42 percent of its volume is occupied, which doesn't seem very congested at all.

      1. Joe W Silver badge

        Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

        They are just pushing that to extend congestion charges from (enter city here) indefinitely...

      2. Cederic Silver badge

        Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

        Yeah, it's the litter at orbital altitudes you have to get through to reach it that's the problem.

        A problem that continues to grow, and isn't going to get any better any time soon. Heck, even if we invest the UK billions (wherever they're coming from) into space litter pickers, nobody's going to pay us to deploy them anyway.

        1. HelpfulJohn

          Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

          Space clutter a problem?

          Not really.

          We have nukes. Loads and loads of nukes. We know where much of the clutter is, we can reliable put a Cassini into a highly complex set of orbits around distant Saturn so volatilising vast numbers of usless orbiting thingies should not be much of a trial.

          We'd need to warn the Astronomers, radio, microwave, optical and everything up to gamma-ray, a couple of weeks before Bin-Day so they have time to switch off, shutter and schedule maintenance upon their mechanical eyes but that's just a few emails.

          What a sky full of nukes would look like and what the residual detritus, debris and vapours would be is, of course, something for the "boffin" to clarify.

          It should be noted that an added advantage to this scheme would be a global effort to remove left-over nukes that no-one is using and that are simply decaying in their silos. We would, for once, be getting some real return for all of the currency and man-years spent on those idiotic contraptions.

          Wouldn't that be nice?

          What do you mean by "Hell, no!!" :)

          1. Anonymous Coward
            WTF?

            Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

            A high altitude electromagnetic pulse is produced when gamma rays from a nuclear weapon detonated in space hit the atmosphere, and can cause severe damage to terrestrial electronic and electronic systems across many thousands of square miles.

            It is considered a major strategic threat, and you are proposing that we do it to ourselves! See attached icon.

            Let's just say that space clutter would be the least of our problems if nuclear weapons are detonated in earth orbit.

    2. Grikath

      Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

      You're expecting the PR and coloured pencil departments to get things right? Heh...

      Including the fact that building those monsters now would be... a waste. Musk et.al. have dramatically improved the power/size ratio of rocket engines, so everybody + dog is going for the clustered, gimballed and very much throttleable/restartable/re-useable stacks.

      After all, as much fun as it was to see the big fireballs of the experimental models, Musk did manage to first land his boosters, then his main stage, and finally a rather big contraption that may one day indeed become a fuly fledged spaceship. Using "small" engines. As do ESA, and all the various "upstarts" in Asia in their large fireworks.

      F1's aren't needed anymore. They were meant to send the entire giant Apollo stack to the Moon in one go. Nowadays we can actually send the bits up individually for less and dock/assemble in orbit. Or, if you want to get fancy.... Starship is meant for Mars, but in my eyes makes for a mighty fine start of a Moon base with a couple of modifications...

      1. Mishak Silver badge

        Moon base

        Yeah, that's a nice little "bonus" for SpaceX.

        They are going to Mars anyway, so why not drop a few people off on the way ;-)

      2. HelpfulJohn

        Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

        The European supply ships for the ISS could be collected on-site to be recycled as Mars supply back-packs.

        Fit a few out as human-compatible and they may even form the entirety of an Ares mission. Some spare supply pods could carry, instead of supplies for ISS, Ikea-style flat-packed bits for the missions. "Insert part A into slot V6"?

        I suppose *someone* at E.S.A. thought of this? And dismissed it as stupid?

      3. MachDiamond Silver badge

        Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

        "Musk et.al. have dramatically improved the power/size ratio of rocket engines,"

        Nope. Pretty much the same as it's always been. He just hasn't been charging all the market will bear. That might be why SpaceX raises an extra couple of billion each year.

        SpaceX adopted the approach the USSR did with rocket engines. They went for smaller units and more of them. There's some good reasons to do it that way. The USSR did it as they couldn't get really big rocket motors to behave. It also means machinery that isn't as unique (huge) and some economy of scale as well as redundancy in use.

      4. Bartholomew
        Facepalm

        Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

        > F1's aren't needed anymore. They were meant to send the entire giant Apollo stack to the Moon in one go. Nowadays we can actually send the bits up individually for less and dock/assemble in orbit.

        By that logic it would be cheaper to pick up your groceries one item at a time during individual trips to the store instead of on one shopping trip.

      5. Jaybus

        Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

        "F1's aren't needed anymore. They were meant to send the entire giant Apollo stack to the Moon in one go."

        Really? Because commercial aircraft are much larger now than in the Apollo days due to the fact that the use of larger aircraft improves overall fuel efficiency and reduces man-hours for flight crews. Same reason a dump truck is used to move gravel rather than 50 or 60 trips in a Mini.

    3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: "putting rocket boosters the size of a Saturn V's F1"

      "The F1 was the engine, not the booster..."

      They are only talking about small boosters, the size of an F1[*] engine :-)

      * Formula 1, Not Saturn V F1 :-))))

  6. Dr_N
    Go

    "Space Bridge" ?

    Another Boris vanity project everyone in the country can quickly get over.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: "Space Bridge" ?

      It seems very illustrative of Boris Johnson though, blabbing on about Galactic Britain while people are smacking each other in the face at fuel pumps. I'm not sure if it was out of desperation, complete lack of awareness, or he's just trolling everyone again, it's so difficult to tell with him.

      1. Androgynous Cupboard Silver badge

        Re: "Space Bridge" ?

        He’s taken Oscar Wilde to heart: lying in the gutter but gazing at the stars.

  7. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Well reading

    all that waffle about targets and claims I can predict what will happen

    Government announces X number of billions to be ploughed into UK space industries

    Via various bodies/consultances/government commitees

    And then the cash is distributed .. which out of the say 5 billion pledged will be about 150 million with the rest soaked up by various bodies/consultances/comittees all staffed by various government members or relatives or friends..... and some bloke who runs a pub in the village where the ministers 3rd home is

    1. Mishak Silver badge

      Extra thumbs needed

      Why can I only give one "thumbs up"? ;-)

  8. Eclectic Man Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Galileo

    Thanks, I now have 'Bohemian Rhapsody' running around my head.

    Makes about as much sense as Boris Johnson's space plans. I can only assume that he makes lots of announcements, and only the ones that generate lots of sustained praise for him are likely to get long term funding. Or am I just a cynical old git?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Galileo

      > ones that generate lots of sustained praise for him are likely to get long term funding

      That's just not true.

      None of them are going to get long term funding. Those that do generate praise will be mentioned repeatedly and the same phrases used in the next announcement.

      This government is just a Markov chain spam generator.

  9. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    All aboard the gravy train

    Okay, this one will only be serving some kind of luke warm swill but in, any case, sign me up!

    Wot, you mean only chums of the cabinet need apply? But I can projetcile vomit with the best of them!

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: All aboard the gravy train

      Yes, but can you piss on the plebs with the full vigour of entitlement that our dear leader is only too keen to show us at every opportunity

  10. HPCJohn

    Black Arrow

    The UK is th eonly nation which has developed a spacefaring capacity. Then abandoned it after the first successful launch.

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