British National Space Centre
Space agency | |
Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
---|---|
Headquarters | Polaris House, Swindon |
Administrator | David Williams[1] |
Primary spaceport | None |
Annual budget | £268 million (US$438 million) (2008/09)[1] |
The British National Space Centre (BNSC) was an agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, organised in 1985, that coordinated civil space activities for the United Kingdom. It was replaced on 1 April 2010 by the UK Space Agency.[2]
Structure
BNSC operated as a voluntary partnership of ten
Staffing arrangements
Rather than being a full space agency as maintained by some other countries, BNSC HQ comprised about thirty civil servants on rotation from the partners. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was the 'host' department and provided the central policy staff including the Director General. The last DG, Dr. David Williams, was the first to have been externally appointed. Much of Britain's yearly civil space budget of £268 million was contributed by the Department of Trade and Industry (until the DTI was broken up in 2007) or controlled by the partnership rather than the BNSC, and about three-quarters of that budget flows directly to the European Space Agency.[6] BNSC staff represented the UK at the various programme boards of ESA and also its governing Council. In 2004, the budget for BNSC headquarters was approximately £500,000 (US$1 million).[7]
From January 2009, the BNSC was headquartered in
Projects funded through BNSC
ESA
The BNSC was the third largest financial contributor to the General Budget of the European Space Agency, contributing 17.4%,[10] to its Science Programme and to its robotic exploration initiative the Aurora programme. Investments were also made in the ESA telecommunications programme 'ARTES' in order to develop payload technology used, for example, in the satellites of Inmarsat, the UK based mobile satellite operator. The BNSC partnership co-funded a private sector project led by Avanti Communications [2] to build a satellite called HYLAS[11] to provide broadband communications to rural and remote users.
Current projects in the field of space science include
Harwell
In November 2008, BNSC announced new contributions to ESA and an agreement in principle to establish an ESA centre at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.[12] The ESA facility at Harwell was opened officially on 22 July 2009.[13] The name of the ESA centre is the European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications. In February 2009, BNSC, ESA and
Partners
BNSC Partners:[15]
- Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
- Department for Transport
- Ministry of Defence
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Department for Children, Schools and Families
- Technology Strategy Board
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Met Office
See also
References
- ^ "New Director General for British National Space Centre". 2 February 2006. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ^ Amos, Jonathan (23 March 2010). "'Muscular' UK Space Agency launched". BBC News. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
- ^ "UK Civil Space Strategy 2008 - 2012" Archived 21 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "UK vision to stay at the forefront of space sector published". Archived from the original on 2 June 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
- ^ "European Participation, ISS Participating States". Retrieved 29 May 2009.
- ^ BNSC - How we work Archived 6 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, BNSC website. Retrieved 15 July 2009: "In the year 2008-9, BNSC's partners spent £268 million on space programmes - about 76% of which was the UK's contribution to European Space Agency"
- ^ de Selding, Peter. "British Audit Finds Strengths, Needs in Space Program". Space News. Archived from the original on 10 February 2005. Retrieved 9 March 2007.
- ^ BNSC press release, 28 June 2007 "Machinery of Government Changes" Archived 3 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
- ^ BNSC website, "Space Minister" Archived 17 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
- ^ "BNSC and ESA". Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
- ^ 'Our satellite HYLAS' Archived 10 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Deal struck on UK-ESA Research Centre and GMES" Archived 15 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine BNSC press release, 26 November 2008.
- ^ "European Space Agency touches down in UK" BNSC press release, 22 July 2009
- ^ "The rocket that thinks it's a jet" Archived 27 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine BNSC press release, 19 February 2009
- ^ BNSC website, "BNSC Partners" Archived 16 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
External links
- British National Space Centre
- UK Government Space IGS (Innovation and Growth Strategy) Archived 21 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine
- Douglas Millard, An Overview of United Kingdom Space Activity 1957-1987, ESA
Video clips