For the UK to make a success of its fast-growing space industry, urgent changes are needed to the regulatory process, according to a parliamentary cross-party group.
While the UK space industry investment has nearly doubled in the past eight years and it has been the second-best global destination for investment behind the US, following the failed Virgin Orbit mission from Spaceport Cornwall in January, the industry was branded a “disaster” and the regulatory environment “toxic” for future launches.
Some of the satellite customers on board the failed flight said the UK regulatory process, which was led by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), was slow, excessively bureaucratic and risk-averse.
The House of Commons science, innovation and technology committee said it has concluded that there "was no evidence that the regulatory system contributed to the failure of the Virgin Orbit launch and accepts that the CAA has made progress in its application of the regulations".
But it has found there is insufficient coordination between what it said was a large number of regulatory bodies involved in licensing launches, which "continues to place unnecessary burdens of complexity and administration on companies – many of them small – in the launch sector".
Outside of regulation, the report noted that other leading space nations, such as the US, "have a clearer governance structure for space," while in the UK "there is a lack of clarity around who drives the UK space programme".
In March the CAA said there were close to 40 applications in the pipeline from aspiring UK spaceports, rocket launch companies and satellite operators, and in May revealed that it licensed 18 new space activities in one week, with 25 applications from aspiring spaceports, launch and satellite operators in the pipeline. As an example, one aspiring spaceport, Saxavord in the Shetland Islands, made its application in March 2022 and earlier this year said it was expecting its first launch at the end of 2023, but is still deep in regulatory processes.
The committee therefore called on the government to move quickly in taking steps to improve the licensing system of UK satellite launch and examine potentially amending regulations in the Space Industry Act 2018.
Committee chair Greg Clark said: "The UK has huge opportunities in the burgeoning space and satellite industry. But the sector is global and fast-paced, and to maintain our position the UK must act urgently to applies the lessons of the Cornwall disappointment to the regulatory system for satellite launch."
In response, a spokesperson for the CAA said: "We welcome the recommendations to further streamline and simplify the space licencing process and have made significant improvements already, with many more to come."
The committee issued a report last year calling for improvements but said the government’s response on the need for more effective co-ordination of space and satellite policy, implementation and leadership was "not satisfactory".
While the National Space Council was abolished and reborn as an inter-ministerial group but has yet to convene, with its responsibilities "unclear", while the establishment of the Space Sector Industry Forum has yet to be implemented and the UK Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) strategy, which has been in draft form since June 2021, "should be published without delay".
The committee said it was told in mid-May by the minister with responsibility for space, which is George Freeman, that it was expected in weeks.