With the launch of a new UK government comes a change at the top for the UK space effort. Science Minister Lord Drayson, who drove the creation of the UK Space Agency, is gone. He has been replaced by David Willetts, who has promised to pick up where his predecessor left off.
Good luck with that….
Harwell lined up to be country’s space exploration centre
Herald Series
Harwell could become the country’s space exploration capital if a new national space agency is built in the area.
Science Minister Lord Drayson announced the creation of a new British space agency to co-ordinate research while visiting the Rutherford Appleton Space Conference at Harwell.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE
Leading industrialists and academics from across the world have witnessed the launch of the European Space Agency (ESA)’s first ever UK base at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus (HSIC). As part of a two day event (22nd and 23rd July), ESA saw for themselves the world-leading research and technology facilities already at the campus and at its sister Science and Innovation Campus in Daresbury.
Lord Drayson, the UK’s Minister for Science and Innovation, attended the launch event in London on 22nd July where representatives from industry, academia and other government departments heard how the ESA facility will focus upon three key areas: combining data and images from space to create new applications for everyday life; climate change modelling; and the development of novel power sources and innovative robotic technologies to explore space.
UK deserves more bang for its buck as minister hints at a British Nasa
The Scotsman
After decades in which successive British governments have considered human spaceflight an expensive distraction, the science minister, Lord Drayson yesterday refused to rule out the creation a British Nasa.
PRESS RELEASE
Government and industry team to look at opportunities in, and barriers to, innovation and growth in the UK Space sector
The future challenges and opportunities for the UK Space industry will be assessed by a new expert group charged with producing a report for Government, Science Minister Lord Drayson announced today.
Minister wants astronaut ‘icon’
BBC News
Britain’s new science minister has made it clear that he thinks the country ought to have an astronaut.
Lord Drayson said the UK needed “icons” for science, to encourage the next generation to take up subjects that would boost the knowledge economy.
Human spaceflight was one of those arenas that could inspire young people, he told BBC News.
