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Opinion
states to do more in space than each country
would be able to do by itself.
Nevertheless, there have been calls from
some within the UK for a completely ‘home-
grown’ space programme, with a suggestion
that the returns could be much greater than are
currently obtained through participation in ESA.
Spaceflight Bill
In February this year the British government
published a draft Spaceflight Bill aimed at
providing a regulatory framework for the
commercial launch of satellites from UK
spaceports and though receiving much media
publicity this should not be seen as something
that would provide anything like an alternative to
ESA membership.
Plans for commercial spaceflight launches from
UK spaceports might become more viable with
cheaper launch systems, including some of the
horizontal launch systems with which the UK
space industry is involved.
However, several of the proposed spaceport
locations are in Scotland, which might be
affected if Scotland, which voted to remain in
the EU, has a further independence referendum
and decides to leave the UK in order to seek
membership of the EU.
Perhaps a bigger issue in relation to any space
fallout from Brexit is that of ‘mission creep’. The
referendum presented a simple choice, that of
whether to leave the EU or remain in the EU.
There were sometimes discussions of what the
UK outside the EU might look like, with Norway,
Switzerland, Greenland and Canada (among
others) being suggested as possible models, but
there was nothing really concrete about a new EU-
UK relationship.
Post-referendum it looks increasingly likely
that the UK will opt for a ‘hard Brexit’ rather
than a ‘soft Brexit’, the principal difference
between the two relating to whether or not
the UK would remain a member of the Single
European Market.
Central to the concept of the Single European
Market, which was established in 1992, is the free
movement of people, goods, services and capital
- and it is perceived that many of those who
voted ‘leave’ did so because they objected to free
movement of people into the UK.
In addition to a hard Brexit outside the European
Single Market, there is a suggestion that the UK
could leave the Customs Union, the European
Convention on Human Rights (which is under the
much larger Council of Europe with 47 member
states) and Euratom (which is legally distinct from
the EU but is governed by it). Consequently, it is
not clear where this might end, especially if those
for whom the word ‘Europe’ is an anathema get
their way.
The distinction
between the
EU and inter-
governmental
organisations
such as ESA
is not always
clear cut and
the way ahead
might not
necessarily be
plain sailing
Flags are raised to
mark the formal opening
of ESA’s first UK facility -
the European Centre for
Satellite Applications and
Telecommunications
(ECSAT) - at Harwell,
Oxfordshire, in July 2015.
