The UK government recently published its , replacing the 2021 edition and backed by more than £7.8 billion. While this broadly consolidates funding that was already committed to space activity, the new strategy offers welcome clarity on the government’s priorities for the sector and a clear roadmap for how it intends to implement them over the next five years.
We recognise responses to much of what we argued for in our Space: 2075 report, as will others who made a similar case for areas which need urgent attention to ensure the UK remains a key player helping to set customs and norms in space. We called for a government that acts coherently and protects the space assets on which the UK depends; sustained investment in science, demonstration missions and industrial scale-up; and deeper international partnerships backed by UK leadership on orbital sustainability. Plans to address these points, as seen in the strategy, demonstrate a government taking space seriously and offering a joined-up approach that is being cautiously welcomed by the sector.
Since our report was released in June 2025, the UK Space Agency was brought into central government and the new strategy reflects a culmination of broad consultation activity and other changes in the machinery of government for space. It has been co-signed by the Secretaries of State for Defence and for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade amid talk of a ‘one government approach to space’. The approach includes sensible plans to reduce the inefficiencies of individual departments buying space-based services separately, starting with satellite communications. Greater emphasis is made of space as Critical National Infrastructure and key decisions will be escalated to cabinet-level at the National Security Council.
A revived Space Industry Advisory Group is a similarly welcome addition to ensure the sector has a formal route to provide regular feedback on government plans. The strategy indicates a more interventionist approach to supporting UK space SMEs by positioning government as an anchor customer during the vulnerable early stages of scaling a business. The announced package of liability reforms attempts to bolster the City of London’s leadership in the satellite insurance market. The government describes the package, which ties the cost of operating to how responsibly you fly, as ‘world-first’ – cheaper cover for missions that can be tracked and will deorbit reliably.
Whereas the previous strategy was criticised by the National Audit Office for lacking direction and prioritisation, the new strategy identifies seven subsectors and prioritises four: satellite communications, space domain awareness, in-orbit servicing and manufacturing, and assured access to space (launch). We note the subsector covering basic science (“focussing effort in space discovery”) is not included in the top four priorities. While it is not yet clear how this subsector prioritisation will affect decision making, it is timely to remind colleagues in government that discovery research underpins all other priorities.
The strategy emerges in a difficult fiscal environment for science, with flat cash from government and rising costs that disproportionately impact high-cost disciplines. Domestic spending pressures have been compounded by pressures abroad. The UK reduced its funding contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) in November 2025 while other countries increased theirs. Spain, for instance, overtook the UK in terms of overall contribution to the ESA budget. The UK’s reduced contribution also led to the suspension of the TRUTHS climate mission, raising concerns about the UK's reliability as an international partner. Across the Atlantic, proposed cuts to NASA's science budget add uncertainty for researchers reliant on key datasets and collaborative programmes. In the new strategy, government commits to the Haldane Principle (the notion that researchers should determine the science which is good and worthy of funding) while signalling it will "not prioritise funding towards large-scale exploration missions for their own sake". The space science community will no doubt watch closely to determine what this means in practice.
Despite the difficult situation for space science, we can be glad funding is confirmed for the UK-built Rosalind Franklin rover, slated to launch in 2028, and there is continued support for key space science programmes including Ariel, LISA, Comet Interceptor and the Vigil space weather mission.
Beyond immediate term impacts, the new strategy offers an opportunity to reflect on what has changed in the sector in the year since we released our report, and to look ahead to implications beyond the current spending review.
In April 2026, Artemis II flew four astronauts around the Moon, further from Earth than anyone had ever travelled, inspiring a new generation as Apollo did before it. NASA has since refocused its plans on establishing a permanent lunar base, rather than using the Moon primarily as a stepping-stone to Mars. In August 2026, an abandoned part of a rocket collided into the lunar surface. While this has very little impact today, future assets in lunar orbit and on the lunar surface will need protections in place to prevent damage. This includes satellites the UK is funding in the new strategy with a £73 million investment in ESA’s Moonlight programme.
The strategy correctly identifies “control of space” as a strategic priority and the space domain as an increased area of tension. Jamming of satellites has been a constant feature of conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, and just days after the UK strategy was published, the US confirmed for the first time that it has weapons deployed in orbit. Meanwhile, US tech firm SpaceX has stated their intention to launch up to a million orbital data-centre satellites, putting real capital behind a concept with significant technical and environmental challenges and which our report treated as speculative. Such large constellations of satellites could have a huge impact on scientists’ ability to carry out astronomical observations, which we touched on in a recent S7 Academies joint statement (PDF). It could also harm our ability to detect near-Earth asteroids.
In the coming months, we intend to explore these topics further in dedicated deep dives, so watch this space!
