As part of a headline figure of £55 billion investment into the research and development funding for UK science and technology, the funding for the UK Space Agency has been announced until the year 2030.
The UK Space Agency – which in its own words: ‘catalyses investment into the sector, delivers missions and capabilities that meet UK needs, and champions space to investors, customers and the public’ – recently announced that it will soon be assimilated into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – read that news here.
Now, that Department has released the funding it will make available to the until 2030 to each of its ‘partner organisations’. it is worth noting that the next UK election must be held before 15th August 2029, and so things may change before or after that date.
| Organisation/programme | 2025/2026 | 2026/2027 | 2027/2028 | 2028/2029 | 2029/2030 | Total 26/27 to 29/30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) | 8,811 | 9,220 | 9,589 | 9,791 | 9,986 | 38,586 |
| UK contribution to EU programmes | 2,736 | 2,121 | 2,195 | 2,200 | 2,200 | 8,716 |
| UK Space Agency | 668 | 679 | 693 | 706 | 720 | 2,798 |
| Met Office | 310 | 327 | 456 | 337 | 347 | 1,467 |
| Advanced Research & Invention Agency (ARIA) | 184 | 220 | 300 | 300 | 400 | 1,220 |
| National Academies | 217 | 219 | 226 | 230 | 235 | 910 |
| Office for Life Sciences | 129 | 264 | 286 | 229 | 146 | 925 |
| National Measurement System | 130 | 131 | 139 | 143 | 145 | 558 |
| AI Security Institute (AISI) | 66 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 240 |
The Department has said that it is publishing these figures to ‘give visibility and clarity on the development of our plans relating to DSIT’s R&D budgets’ and that ‘detail on the outcomes the funding will support will be published later this year’.
What we do know is that the funding in being made available to support their consultant-speak heavy R&D priorities, which are:
(1) protecting curiosity-driven, foundational science
(2) supporting strategic government and societal priorities
(3) targeting innovative, UK-based company scale-up and growth
All laudable aims and certainly ones that earth imagery can address but there is no indication in these figures what percentage of the funding will be available for work in our industry.
And, whilst the growth in funding – from £668 million to £720 million – represents nearly an 8% increase, today’s inflation figure (based on the Consumer Prices Index and not as many consumers purchase earth imagery as they should) stands at 3.8%.
But, we do not want to be churlish about this announcement: any money coming into the ‘space’ sector is good news and we should treat it as such.
Alistair Maclenan, Chair of BARSC commented on the news by saying: “We welcome any clarity on funding and, on behalf of all our members, we look forward to learning more about how this money will be made available and what will be targeted towards the development and commercial use of earth imagery.”
To that end, BARSC will continue to engage with UKSA, DSIT and industry partners to ensure that policy and funding commitments translate into opportunities for our members and the wider EO community.
Anyone interested in contributing to how BARSC should approach the Government, should get in touch with us