Space minister Ian Taylor is paving a way forward for the UK in space.

Tim Furniss/LONDON

IAN TAYLOR, THE UK's space minister, is directing efforts to co-ordinate a long-term master plan to obtain full value from an annual budget of about $300 million. The MP and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Science and Technology has announced that the UK will now be joining the Ariane 5 launcher programme, albeit belatedly and with only a modest input of $4.3 million over the next four years. This decision has certainly saved existing UK business in the Ariane 5 and future upgrades. The supply of pipework for the Ariane 5's Vulcain first-stage engine represents about 10% of the business of Avica - part of the Meggitt Aerospace group - based in Hemel Hempstead, north of London.

Arianespace has almost 60% of the commercial-launcher market and, if the Ariane 5 - due to have its maiden flight on 15 May, and to be operated by Arianespace from 1997 - can maintain that business performance, the UK has "a strong interest in sharing" in this success, says Taylor's recently published Space Policy discussion document.

The UK's approach, the document says, should be to encourage the development of a fully competitive international launcher-services market, "...to maintain our support to the Kourou launch site, to renew our links with the Ariane, and to encourage promising means of reducing launch costs, including increased availability of affordable launcher services for small satellites with the key role that they can play in broadening and opening up the market". This UK strength in small, low-cost satellite technology should be exploited to the full, Taylor urges.

The minister admitted the Government's original error over the Ariane 5 at a Space Policy Forum at the University of Surrey in September 1995, an innovative first gathering of all parties interested in the UK space industry (Flight International, 27 September-3 October, 1995).

The "no-holds-barred" Forum, which allowed home truths to be openly discussed, exposed the need for a forward plan for the UK's space activities. As a first step, Taylor has published his Space Policy discussion document. This will be debated further at another Space Policy Forum, and then a consolidated Space Plan will be published this summer.

The UK is a surprisingly effective force in space, according to the document: its space-supplies industry employs over 6,000 people, generates an annual turnover of over $1 billion (with new orders of $700 million), and holds an estimated 23% European market share. The UK is the largest user of space in Europe and the second-largest in the world.

UK space-sector revenue represents about 15% of the world market for services, with major uses of space being companies in the telecommunications, meteorology, Earth observation and space science sectors. Particular use is made of operational space data for meteorology and environmental applications. The space industry's share in the world civil-telecommunications satellite and ground-segment market, which may be worth $86 billion in 2004, is 10%. Its share in meteorology and Earth observation is 5%, with this market expected to grow by 20% a year, to $35 billion by 2004.

The UK space industry has excellent access to civil and military telecommunications, surveillance and remote-sensing technologies and is a leader in low-cost, small-satellite technology and Earth-observation applications. The document says that the industry has a strong manufacturing and supply capability, which is world- class in subsystem and component levels, and a cost-effective and competitive culture by European standards, with good access to UK insurance and financial markets.

UK space science groups - mainly university based - have a high reputation in Europe and worldwide. They gain access to European Space Agency (ESA) missions against fierce international competition at a rate far above the UK's contribution to ESA. This space-science success story is threatened by the growth of the ESA subscription at the expense of resources available for exploitation. "We need to fully exploit our scientific strengths and potential, to maintain a strong ESA space-science programme by continuing to press for improved efficiency and to maximise science output at the smallest cost with appropriate support for national experiment contributions," says the document.

MINORITY VOICE

The UK's annual contribution of about $180 million to the ESA provides it with a minority voice in seeking reforms, especially to the agency's industrial policy which contributes to modest UK and European competitiveness, compared with the USA, the document says. It says that ESA needs to be reformed and slimmed down. The agency has already agreed to reduce its staff by 12% by 1998.

ESA procures from member states on a policy based on each country's contribution to the agency, with the proportion of work reserved to contributor's industries. Contracts placed account for over 80% of total ESA costs. Under pressure from the UK, the agency will now adopt a more flexible price-procurement policy.

The document also recommends more private-finance co-funding of ESA and national programmes by industry. It says that these should focus on technology development and be commercially relevant. "ESA should stop seeing itself first and foremost as an organiser of space missions," says the document.

The UK's priorities in telecommunications, meteorology and Earth observation must be pursued, and an active UK involvement in international space-science collaboration maintained. ESA's space-science budget takes a high percentage of UK science funding, depriving UK university space-science researchers of cash. Taylor has helped to cap this spending until 1999.

Taylor believes that major opportunities for UK projects lie in the areas of consumer navigation products, broadcasting, multi-media, the Internet and other integrated wide-band networks, personal communications and space-data applications. "Demand for fully integrated navigation and broadband multi-media services is clear and must be exploited in the ground segment," the document says.

The British National Space Centre and related European bodies "...must ensure that meteorological missions are firmly user-driven", and work to "...reduce mission costs". Longer-term requirement for Earth observation and the market structures which would best serve them, should be defined, it says. The infrastructure needed to support the Envisat polar platform and to ensure its interoperability with wider information networks needs to be completed and the role of the European Union as major user of Earth observation data should be confirmed formally, the document recommends.

The document also highlights the fact that there is no current UK requirement to commit to European military-surveillance programmes. Total European military ordering is smaller than that of the USA by a factor of ten and will never match the US level, but it is important that "...we use European ordering, in which the UK plays a significant part, not only to secure value for money, but to position European satellite manufacturers more effectively in the wider markets", the document says.

According to Taylor, maximum value from the military and civil programmes can be achieved by paying particular attention to the interactions between procurement, technical capability and European rationalisation - which will need to be developed further to increase European competitiveness. The exploitation of ballistic-missile defence technology in the commercial arena is one example.

Another recommendation in Taylor's document is that the UK "...must work for maximum civil-military synergy across space-related research and development, ordering programmes and setting specification with an eye to dual use, and seeking to position UK industry to best advantage within Europe and in the wider market".

The balance of the UK programme across international collaboration, ESA and national activities should be re-appraised, the document says, taking into account the needs of scientists, suppliers, operators and customers. This could include bilateral/multi-lateral commercial programmes outside ESA and could be in commercial radar missions, in exploiting small-satellite missions and in exploring joint ventures with the Japanese and developing nations.

The increasing use by Government departments of space applications is promising, the document says. It cites as examples the Department of Transport's use of navigation, the Department of the Environment's embrace of satellite imagery and the Ministry of Agriculture's enthusiasm for crop monitoring and landcover mapping.

"We must develop new markets, new applications and new opportunities," says Taylor. "If we focus on them and are competitive, we can do well. Some industries are [still] not using the competitive advantages space data can bring."

THREATS TO UK

The document warns of some of the major threats to the UK space programme. US spending on expendable launchers, for example, could erode Europe's short-term competitive position. Dominant investment by the USA in strategic technologies - particularly in advanced telecommunications - is being exploited effectively to support US civil launchers and satellite industries. It provides a massive advantage to contractors such as Hughes, Lockheed Martin and TRW in, for example, production-line economies. US commercial investment in mobile satellite services, such as the Iridium and Globalstar, and in future broadband satellite constellations, such as the Spaceway, point to US dominance. Lack of timely European investment in technology, allowing Japan and the USA to dominate new markets, is another of the document's concerns. US investment in single-stage-to-orbit technology could provide its industry with longer-term, low-cost access to space, it notes.

The developing Franco-German axis in military and civil space could also lead to possible marginalisation of UK industry. The countries' co-operation on the Helios optical-surveillance project and the potential Horus radar system will underpin the Daimler-Benz Aerospace/Aerospatiale joint venture. This could undermine the UK lead in space radar and work against the Anglo-French Matra Marconi Space, according to the document.

Source: Flight International