In which we shout about our great British space industry and announce an exciting student competition
When you think of the space industry, you’d be forgiven if your mind leapt straight to countries such as the US, Russia and Japan – the last place you might come up with is Britain.
However, you’d be doing your country a disservice because, actually, the British space industry is really quite amazing.
It’s amazing because it employs more than 25,000 people across 260 companies and it generates more than £7billion a year for the country.
It’s amazing because during the economic downturn – when most other industries were flapping around on their backs – the British space industry actually grew by eight per cent (and in the past decade it has averaged annual growth of more than ten per cent).
It’s amazing because it has done all this with a less-than-stunning investment from the government.
So why don’t more of us know about this industry that shines, diamond-like from beneath the cowpat of the recession?
