£200 million boost for UK space industry

The government is investing £60 million in SABRE - a British-designed rocket engine which could revolutionise air travel and reduce the cost of reaching space. Built by UK company Reaction Engines, the technology has the potential to create 21,000 high value engineering and manufacturing jobs, maximise the UK’s access to a £13.8 billion launcher market and drive growth in related technology areas.

The Minister also announced that space technology company Astrium has been awarded a £134 million contract to develop instruments for the next generation of weather satellites. This is a direct result of increased UK investment in the European Space Agency (ESA) and will be led by a team at the company’s Portsmouth site.