back to article Blighty's £1.2bn space industry could lend itself to tourism – report

The British aerospace industry could carve itself a niche in “space tourism,” according to a new report. “Space tourism is a new, highly sought-after sector in the emerging ‘New Space’ industry,” said manufacturing trade organisation EEF’s Aerospace Bulletin report. So far just one nominally British company, Virgin Galactic, …

  1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    tourist attractions?

    As these companies are also 'defence contractors' isn't publicising their locations and operations a bit against the secrecy and exceedlingly low profile that these companies normally like keep/adopt?

    Yes, people know that BAE in Stevenage build satellites but do they want coach loads of Chinese tourists takng endless selfies outside the factory gates?

    The UK Space Centre in Leicester is a nice day out for the kids especially if it is wet.

    but the rest is so hush-hush that I expect that security chiefs all over the place are groaning at the thought of their nice quiet life being interrupted by pesky tourists.

    1. WonkoTheSane

      Re: tourist attractions?

      What you did there, I see it.

    2. Velv
      Boffin

      Re: tourist attractions?

      Actually you'd be surprised how many companies in the UK in the space industry are not aligned to defence.

      Space is pretty much well understood from a defensive perspective, but commercial and non-defence research are now finding the opportunities and benefits and the funding to leverage it. Cube Sat's in particular are now relatively cheap.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: tourist attractions?

      Off-topic: There is a Toilet Museum on the same site (I preferred it!)

      1. Your alien overlord - fear me

        Re: tourist attractions?

        Er, no. That's just the public toilets which haven't been updated in decades!!!

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Steve Davies 3

      people know that BAE in Stevenage build satellites

      Citation needed.

      There's a major defence and space firm building sats in Stevenage, but it's not BAE

  2. Your alien overlord - fear me

    "EEF, which represents virtually all of Britain’s so-called prime contractors in the defence industry".

    I thought they were called BAE Systems? Did they change their name?

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. handleoclast

      Spaceport in the UK

      Is Branson stupid enough to want a spaceport in the UK?

      I know there is an active proposal for a spaceport at Prestwick airport, but does anyone take it seriously?

      There's a damned good reason the US has its spaceport in Florida. It's the same reason Arianespace launch facilities are in French Guiana. It's the same reason Russia has its spaceport in Kazakhstan, despite not liking Muslims. They're all near the equator.

      There's a big savings in rocket fuel if you launch from the equator. Or, to put it another way, there's a big cost in rocket fuel if you launch far from the equator. Or, to put it another way, you limit the size of payload you can carry on a given design of rocket if you launch far from the equator.

      I don't think Branson is stupid enough to try for one. I doubt the people behind the Prestwick proposal are stupid enough to think it's feasible to operate a UK spaceport, but they could be hoping the UK gov't is stupid enough to give them lots of money to build something that will never be used.

      1. asphytxtc

        Re: Spaceport in the UK

        > There's a big savings in rocket fuel if you launch from the equator. Or, to put it another way, there's a big cost in rocket fuel if you launch far from the equator.

        That's very true, the reduction in dV by launching east from the equator is significant indeed.. The east coast of the UK would be perfectly viable for northern polar and sun synchronous launches however, something that's not possible from say VAFB on the US west coast (southern only).

        Being able to have your satellite built and launched in the same country could be a significant plus for some companies.

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: Spaceport in the UK

          That only matters if you are going to orbit.

          Branson is only doing "near space" weightless parabola flights for rich idiots.

          They can take of from anywhere that has consistent good weather and is in the sort of fancy resort location that attracts billionaires - Prestwick sounds ideal.

          1. SkippyBing

            Re: Spaceport in the UK

            'They can take of from anywhere that has consistent good weather and is in the sort of fancy resort location that attracts billionaires - Prestwick sounds ideal.'

            Possibly the first time 'consistent good weather' and 'Prestwick' have featured in the same sentence.

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Spaceport in the UK

        "I don't think Branson is stupid enough to try for one."

        Bransons idea of "space" is a quick up and down, return to launch facility. He could do it pretty much anywhere, but I suspect he'll not be all that interested in running a regular tourist launch for all those 100's of Scottish billionaires.

      3. ridley
        Mushroom

        Re: Spaceport in the UK

        This is only true if you intend to go into orbit, weirdy beardy doesn't intend to go into orbit so you can take off anywhere.

        (Because: Project Orion which would have needed a remote space port)

      4. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

        Re: Spaceport in the UK

        Branson's own island is much closer to the equator than Prestwick, he could just build a launchpad there...

        1. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

          Re: Spaceport in the UK

          "Branson's own island is much closer to the equator than Prestwick, he could just build a launchpad there..."

          But does it have a volcano?

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Spaceport in the UK

        There's a big savings in rocket fuel if you launch from the equator.

        You mean a place like one of those British overseas territorires, for instance Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, Cayman, Montserrat ... etc. All look rather sunnier than leicester, comedy value aside. I tell you: Richard B not only wants a back hander to run his space business, but to run it from a convenient low tax location for maximum tax efficiency.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The annoying thing

    - is that if a fraction of the billions poured in the direction of high-speed rail links with no business justification or minimally usable aircraft carriers with no usable planes were instead passed to folk like Reaction Engines, we'd get the money back many times over in a boost to the economy

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The annoying thing

      we'd get the money back many times over in a boost to the economy

      No we wouldn't. Whilst Keynesian stimulus has been misapplied to the point that it looks like it doesn't work, the simple and rather unattractive reality is that mixed-to-low tech physical infrastructure projects give the best effect for the economy.

      If you pour the money into science and technology, you create the sort of opportunities that the UK has persistently been poor at monetising, you need to focus on top global talent, at the first line you're employing people with higher propensities to save (good in the historic longer term, but bad if you want to stimulate the economy now). HS2 is a misbegotten mess, but it will employ tens of thousands of manual and blue collar workers, as well as engineers and white collar experts. Spending the same money on "pure tech" might get you a few fancy buildings in expensive locations, but otherwise does nothing for the majority of people in the labour market.

      The best approach would be more structured support for the tech sector, but not willy-nilly "investment" because that always involves civil servants picking winners and subsequent failure, and then an infrastructure programme in the stuff we actually need and use, so road investment rather than a third rail route between London and the Midlands. It might also make sense for government to start building houses given that the current system is failing to keep up with need. And we could save money by canning vanity Eco projects like Hinkley Point C, and just building a heap of new, low cost CCGT.

      1. Gio Ciampa

        Re: The annoying thing

        "but it will employ tens of thousands of manual and blue collar workers"

        So would getting them to fix the rest of the network - at much the same cost I'll wager

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The annoying thing

        @Ledswinger -and turning HOTOL or similar into a reality is exactly that - the kickstarter to basic infrastructure to turn space travel from a rare event for the few into something massively more accessible. Get HOTOL to work and spacetravel becomes more like air travel (cheap, open to the masses, and ultimately dull) rather than Soyuz-Apollo-Shuttle era rare and highly expensive. Then there's the ground facilities required, the manufacture of HOTOLs and their refuelling and refurbishment...

        I fully agree that infrastructure projects tend to be better value for the economy (but improving the extant rail infrastructure would be better than HS2 IMHO) than most other things, but that's my point - backing Reaction Engines, and thus HOTOL (or similar) is backing the creation of new infrastructure in order to be better able to exploit space.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Space Nuts

    How are they going to tackle the ubiquitous peant bag problem?

    On a plane its not so bad, the nuts fall to the ground. But at zero G the cabin will be full of peanuts drifting around.

    Until they solve that, space tourism isn't for me.

  6. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    "Santander Bank’s commercial arm"

    ¿Que? It's a smeggin' bank, everything they do is commercial.

  7. Suburban Inmate
    Thumb Down

    I'll pass.

    I'm not sure I want to risk taking a zero G parabolic flight, much less low earth orbit, in a rocket replacement bus service.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can you imagine ...

    ... How much the cost will increase as soon as the kids are off school?

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