UK Space Agency Launched

krou writes "Today saw the launch of the new UK Space Agency (UKSA), which will officially come into being on the 1st of April. Its stated goal is to lead to more coherency in space policy, and better decision making, by gradually assuming control over the various budgets and management functions of various government departments and science funding councils. Lord Drayson, the minister for science and innovation, said that 'People in the UK are not aware of just how good Britain is both at space research and in terms of our space industry; [a space agency] is going to make people more aware of that. But in practical terms, it's going to make the decision-making by government in all aspects of space policy much more joined up, better co-ordinated — a single point within government which has responsibility for making sure that we get everything in alignment such that the space research we do, the space industry that we're building, fulfils its true potential.' The government also announced that it is adding £24m to the £16m put up by business to create an International Space Innovation Centre at Harwell in Oxfordshire."

Comments

Start date suspicious...

[Anonymous Coward]

"which will officially come into being on the 1st of April"

At first I thought this was an early joke, but there seem to have been earlier news reports on this subject, so I guess it is probably legit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8404213.stm
and
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/dec/10/uk-space-agency-drayson-launch
for example.

Re:Start date suspicious...

[Adolf Hitroll]

I guess they need such an agency to launch the Mossad Spies quicker into outer space.

Re:Start date suspicious...

[sudo]

Regardless it is a joke and they picked an appropriate day to start it.

Pigs are flying.

[Anonymous Coward]

The first positive news that comes out of the UK for ages. How do those people cope? Sheesh.

Re:Pigs are flying.

[rpjs]

If you've ever experienced our climate, you should realise we'll put up with anything.

Re:Pigs are flying.

[Chrisq]

Someone told the government that it could augment all its security cameras with a spy satellite.

Re:Pigs are flying.

[xaxa]

The first positive news that comes out of the UK for ages. How do those people cope? Sheesh.

The amount of positive British news reported in the British media is roughly the same as the amount of positive American news reported in the American media.

Re:Pigs are flying.

[L4t3r4lu5]

We always get one "feel good" story during our two-minute-hate. Don't go thinking it's all Doom and Gloom.

Still, my local has put the price of beer up before the budget is formerly announced, and no doubt will do so afterwards too. Guess I'll have to start drinking in a Wetherspoon's with the rest of the proles.

Re:Pigs are flying.

[DeBaas]

based on my visits to the UK: beer

Re:Pigs are flying.

[Anonymous Coward]

Free as in beer

Re:Pigs are flying.

[Sulphur]

If you've ever experienced our climate, you should realise we'll put up with anything.

Or believe in climate change?

Re:Pigs are flying.

[tehcyder]

The first positive news that comes out of the UK for ages. How do those people cope?

Well me old China, we generally have a knees up round the old Joanna while eating marmite sandwiches, drinking warm beer and lamenting the loss of our Empire.

Re:Pigs are flying.

[JasterBobaMereel]

If you want an international perspective try watching the UK news on events in the USA .... we don't see many good news stories from the US either

You do have a School shooting most weeks, can't walk the streets in safety and are likely to get caught in the crossfire of an armed robbery most days .... or is this just (as I suspect) media hype and most Americans would not recognise their own country as portrayed in the UK Media

I suspect that the US Media do the same, and show the UK as nothing but doom and gloom and more restrictions and scandal, but the reality is very different

Re:Pigs are flying.

[damburger]

On the upside, choco rations gone up!

Re:Pigs are flying.

[Teancum]

Perhaps that is the reason my ancestors decided to hop on the next ship to America to get out of there. About half of my ancestry is from the British Isles, mostly from England but it includes Wales, Scotland, and Ireland too.

I guess those that stayed behind could put up with anything :)

Failure is not a bloody option, blokes!

[muckracer]

"OK, Harwell, we've had a problem here!..."
"This is Harwell. Say again please?"

Re:Failure is not a bloody option, blokes!

[professionalfurryele]

A true Englishman would describe the catastrophic failure of an oxygen tank as "a spot of bother".

Re:Failure is not a bloody option, blokes!

[laughing_badger]

"Hello, Houston? Yes, sorry to bother you chaps, but..."

Re:Failure is not a bloody option, blokes!

[JasterBobaMereel]

Whereas the US reported it as "we've had a problem" .... a masterful piece of US understatement ....

Re:Failure is not a bloody option, blokes!

[joss]

I dunno.. have a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppXlVjRD5lY

UK Space Agency Launched

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Black Arrow rebooted? They fired the engines several times, and then they fired the engineers. :-(

Re:UK Space Agency Launched

[91degrees]

Yes, and it's a damn shame. £9 million was a bargain price for a space programme. That would have paid for a few months for NASA's first year.

Re:UK Space Agency Launched

[Chrisq]

When will they ever learn....

Prior to the cancellation of Black Arrow, NASA had offered to launch British payloads for free; however this offer was withdrawn following the decision to cancel Black Arrow.

Re:UK Space Agency Launched

[damburger]

Yeah, that was a particularly dumb bit of fiscal conservatism.

Re:UK Space Agency Launched

[damburger]

Not only that, but we made some interesting indigenous technologies of our own; for instance we made the worlds only RP-1/HTP orbital rocket. This propellant combination was storable at normal temperature and pressure, hypergolic (if you preheated the HTP, which you did anyway in an expander cycle) was very efficient at driving turbopumps, and non-toxic. The engines that used it were also very reliable, and didn't suffer a single failure in over 100 firings.

Buy hey! Here comes a Tory government! We can save the nation pennies if we can this innovating technology! Go self-interest!

Fucking Tories.

Re:UK Space Agency Launched

[segedunum]

It wasn't really just the Tories. It was the civil servants under both the Tories and Labour who ran it into the ground. They didn't think it was 'viable', and by that time we had become totally Americanised - and then the burgeoning commercial satellite business took off.........

Re:UK Space Agency Launched

[damburger]

The final decision rested on a Tory minister (Frederick Corfield) - and whilst he could certainly have had some "Yes, Minister" style assistance from civil servants, he was ultimately responsible in my eyes.

Its too easy for politicians to gut important programs in the name of short term savings, because ultimately the long term losses aren't the problem of the decision maker (the minister in question wasn't in his position for very long).

Re:UK Space Agency Launched

[CrimsonAvenger]

The really sad thing about the UKSA is that it doesn't seem to include developing rockets or things of that sort. From the announcement, it seems to be about creating a new government position for someone's nephew to fill....

Premature ejokelation

[mcnazar]

Jumped the gun there fella! April's Fool day is still over a week away.

Gary Neville Day

[Burnhard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smqIGrVmu0c&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=0ADB6202C567524A

April 1st?

[Anonymous Coward]

will officially come into being on the 1st of April?

Re:April 1st?

[Anonymous Coward]

yes, the world doesn't freeze over on that date.

A space agency for the UK, for crying out loud ?!?

[vikingpower]

Yeah, right. And Captain Blackadder will be CEO. Of course.

New Financial Year

[rpjs]

In the UK the public sector (and a lot of provate firms too) begins the new financial year on 1st April, so this date is commonly the day that new government agencies start operating, and old ones are wound up. It's because until 1752 New Year's Day in Britain and its colonies was March 25th. In 1752 we adopted the Gregorian calendar, and New Year's Day moved to January 1st. Since then the tax year in the UK starts on April 5th (March 25th + 11) because moving from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar meant an adjustment of 11 days, but the Inland Revenue didn't want to lose any revenue from their annual accounts. April 1st became the common financial new year as it was the nearest whole-month start to that date.

Re:New Financial Year

[Colin Smith]

Other theory is that the modern holiday was first celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar; the term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar, which it replaced

from wikipedia

So, still appropriate.

 

Re:New Financial Year

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong, sir. The tax year ends on April 5th, and begins on April 6th.

Re:New Financial Year

[alex67500]

To be absolutely precise, the tax year starts on April 1st for corporations and government agencies, April 6th for individuals.

Re:New Financial Year

[alex67500]

There's a source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_year#United_Kingdom

Re:A space agency for the UK, for crying out loud

[Kaleidoscopio]

I would vote for that.
Blackadder for the win!

I was hoping it would be called...

[Anonymous Coward]

I was hoping it would be called Her Majesty's Space Agency (HMSA), it sounds much better then UKSA.

Re:I was hoping it would be called...

[vikingpower]

That would be more something for a sci-fi opera. In which "Her Majesty" would be, of course, virgin queen Elizabeth XIII...

Re:I was hoping it would be called...

[VJ42]

I was hoping it would be called Her Majesty's Space Agency (HMSA), it sounds much better then UKSA.

(Great British Space Agency) GBSA* also sounds better. They picked the worst possible name from those available...

*Yes, yes I know... but how much input will come from Northern Ireland, really?

Re:I was hoping it would be called...

[Chris Burke]

*Yes, yes I know... but how much input will come from Northern Ireland, really?

Who do you think contributed the Advanced Micro-gravity Guinness Tap Module to the ISS?!

Missed opportunity

[GBC]

Surely they should have called it the Ministry of Space?

Re:Missed opportunity

[will_die]

better yet would of been
Space
Headquarters for
Advancement and
Defense
Organization.

Re:Missed opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

or Torchwood!

Re:Missed opportunity

[CeasedCaring]

Nah, They should have used the British Experimental Rocket Group. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quatermass_Experiment (How do I embed the URL into the text like that?)

Could've called it the Royal Space Agency

[Arancaytar]

But Rivest, Shamir and Adleman might have been annoyed. :P

Re:Could've called it the Royal Space Agency

[leonstr]

Should've called it British Experimental Rocket Group... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Quatermass [p

*SA

[hey]

NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/

ESA = European Space Agency
http://www.esa.int/

CSA = Canadian Space Agency
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp

JAXA = Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(ooops)
http://www.jaxa.jp/

Tons more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_agency

Re:*SA

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy crap, i never realized there were so many space agencies.
I knew there were a good handful, but that was a pretty big shock.

That list will surely grow when space tourism comes around.
Or maybe it will be split in to a separate page?
It would certainly screw up the chained capability legend at the top.

Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[Rogerborg]

For those lucky enough not to live in Soviet UKistan, the primary purpose of the UK government is to create taxpayer funded but unaccountable quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations which they then stuff with their idiot cousins, nephews, wives and mistresses.

If UKSA so much as picks a logo and a colour scheme for its web site in its first year of existence, I'll be flabbergasted.

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[NCG_Mike]

The logo will be a ladder extending above the top of a roof top...

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad the domains uksa.org and uksa.org.uk are already taken.

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[Anonymous Coward]

"Come in Swindon. Do you have me on your instruments?"

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[krou]

Urm, if you had RTFA, you would have noticed "The UKSA's name, logo and remit were announced at a conference in London". Surprisingly, the logo consists of white, red and blue with a leaning towards the Union Jack. So I guess they've got the logo and colour scheme before the website. Are you flabbergasted?

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[Faluzeer]

Hmmm

They have already chosen the logo and colour scheme.

As for your references to Soviet UK, it should be noted that nepotism exists across the political spectrum. Yes we have too many quango's under the current Labour Government, just as we had too many quango's under the previous Conservative government...

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[stjobe]

They seem to already have a logo, and a pretty nice one too.

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[$RANDOMLUSER]

It's soooooo nice to see a fresh new article that hasn't yet been visited by the [citation needed] fairies.

Although the "outer space is up" claim probably will require a cite.

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[IndieKid]

I imagine they will go for uksa.gov.uk

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[clickety6]

"Euston, we have a problem!"

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[Anonymous Coward]

which they then stuff with their idiot cousins, nephews, wives and mistresses.

So that's how you got that job cleaning public lavatories! They given you a brush yet?

Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace

[nOw2]

If UKSA so much as picks a logo and a colour scheme for its web site in its first year of existence, I'll be flabbergasted.

The first thing I noticed was the logo.
I would suggest that perhaps a significant portion of the agency's funding so far has been spent on the logo and branding.
Now that's in the bag, I suspect they'll be aiming their sights on improving their IT infrastructure.

We're still a big powerful country!

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Yes we are! We have a worse economic situation than the worst of the PIIGS, we wouldn't be allowed into the Euro even if we wanted to, we have crime rates skyrocketing out of control and antisocial little bastards roaming the streets making going to the shops a gauntlet worthy of mad max, we have an inbred hereditary leadership (we're lucky Prince Charles didn't have antennae!) and an architectural pedigree that looks like later grey prison period, but weee're still a big powerful countttryyy, like we were when we stole the designs for machine guns from the French and used them to shoot spear toting tribesmen the world over and hold that up as infallible evidence of our cultural superiority!

Mod me down as you see fit, but lollers, seriously.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Ginger Unicorn]

You should probably stop watching Noels HQ and reading the daily mail.

British Crime Survey 2008-2009 states -

The BCS and police recorded crime differ in their coverage of crime. Overall, crime as measured by the BCS shows no change compared with the 2007/08 BCS with no change in most crime types. Crimes recorded by the police show a five per cent decrease compared with 2007/08, with decreases in most crime types.

HOW HAVE LEVELS OF CRIME CHANGED OVER THE LONGER TERM?

Long-term trends show that BCS crime rose steadily from 1981 through to the early 1990s, peaking in 1995. Crime then fell, making 1995 a significant turning point. The fall was substantial until 2004/05. Since then, BCS crime has shown little overall change with the exception of a statistically significant reduction of 10 per cent in 2007/08 (the lowest ever level since the first results in 1981). The apparent increase of five per cent in BCS crime this year is not statistically significant. Trends in BCS violence, vehicle-related theft and burglary broadly reflect the trend in all BCS crime.

the full report is here

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Reported crime is very different from low level intimidation by welfare bred chav thugs who know exactly how far they can push it before they will get in serious trouble, which is what I was talking about. Anyway the general point wasn't about English people (who I generally like) but about the idiot leadership (who I generally don't) - this is a ridiculous nationalistic move which smacks of jealousy that former vassal state India has a space program and they don't, when the country is running through one of the most serious economic crises of its existence.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[c6gunner]

Well done. You could also have pointed out that the Machine Gun wasn't invented by the French, but even without that you managed to make him look like a complete tool.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[c6gunner]

Reported crime is very different from low level intimidation by welfare bred chav thugs who know exactly how far they can push it before they will get in serious trouble, which is what I was talking about

In other words, you're a coward who's scared shitless of everyone around him, and you get your kicks out of whining on slashdot. Well, as long as you're willing to admit that, I guess I can't really argue with you.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Facebeast]

when the country is running through one of the most serious economic crises of its existence.

Technological investment seems like a pretty good way to encourage long term economic growth and stability to me. It sure beats paying people to do fuck all, like the rest of our unelected socialist dictator's retarded policies.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Ahahah, touched a nerve have we? Anyway this is what you get for using Wikipedia as your main source of knowledge, and from your own link: "The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by killing warriors of non-industrialized societies"

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

You think this will be anything more than another quango?

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Good lad, I'm glad you're happy to live in a society where underaged thugs can and do intimidate old ladies, little children, and the less well off as a matter of course. With a big hard username like c6gunner though, I'm also sure that a herd of charging buffalo would ricochet off your manly chest before skewering themselves on the barbecue fork over the lake of magma you use to cook dinner. The c wouldn't stand for "chuck" by any chance?

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[aliquis]

Isn't the solution to smack them down while they are still in their pre-/lowteens to learn them to shape up before they become adults?

All the symptoms should already be there.

And for the older kids out there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O6MchAeAkc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fll10R1o16Q

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

You'd only do that if you wanted to buy them a new TV via the court system.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Ginger Unicorn]

You clearly said "crime rates skyrocketing out of control". This is demonstrably untrue, and the fact that you made this claim indicates quite clearly that you have little actual knowledge of what you're talking about, and are just pulling vitriol out of your arse.

Yes, chavs intimdating people is unacceptable, and no it isn't as rife as you think it is, just because you watch police..camera..wankers every night on channel 5.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[krou]

I'm glad you're happy to live in a society where underaged thugs can and do intimidate old ladies, little children, and the less well off as a matter of course.

As a matter of course? Wow. It's really funny that this is your perception. A small anecdote for you. I'm South African, and I'm living in the UK (have been here for 9 years). My parents still live in South Africa. A recent phone conversation from my dad went something like this:

Dad: Where's [your wife]?
Me: She's out in [local city], she'll be back tonight at 11.
Dad: Good grief, will she be okay?
Me: What do you mean?
Dad: I mean, is it safe?
Me: Of course, she'll be fine.
Dad: But crime is so bad over there, are you sure?
* A brief pause while I ponder on the amazing situation of my Dad living in South Africa telling me crime is bad in the UK *
Me: Umm, it's really not that bad Dad.
Dad: God, I watch Sky news all the time, it sounds like a war zone. People getting stabbed all the time ...
Me: Uh, Dad, do you watch the news about South Africa at all?
Dad: Yeah, but it sounds much worse over there!

And that's the crux really: it seems much worse than it is because its sensationalised. Here's a tip: stop reading rags like The Sun, or the Daily Mail, and stop watching Sky News, or at the very least start analysing the "facts" these news outlets trot out. Most of the major news outlets in the UK rely on xenophobia and fear to sell their papers. It's really peculiar that people seem to lap it up and create this world of fear that really doesn't exist. Yes, I've seen "mindless" intimidation from a hoodie. I can probably count the number of instances on one hand, and that's having lived here for 9 years, some of them in some fairly "dodgy" parts of London. But that's hardly representative of life in the UK to generate the irrational fear you're exhibiting.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[coastwalker]

Thats my interpretation of it. This will presumably mean that any university research project that wants to fly an instrument in some other nations spacecraft will now have to go through an endless round of paperwork with the "Strategic Space Agency" who will check that it fits with their political mandate to fly a second rate television celebrity into space in order to promote the socialist ideals of our barking mad government.

In other words the UK is going in the diametric opposite direction to the USA who have decided to take away NASA's monopoly and get a bit of commercial competition going in the civilian space arena.

Its not surprising that there is a sizable number of the British population who dream of the Army taking over, taking the Labour government to court for treason and lining them up and shooting them as they are convicted.

Of course with any luck we will have a change of government in the next couple of months and we can look forward to the long slow dismantlement of the factory floor sweeping Soviet economy that are the legacy of over a decade of the Labour parties ideological bankruptcy. Did I say I wasn't keen on the Labour party? Oh I see I did...

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[VJ42]

Me: Uh, Dad, do you watch the news about South Africa at all?

Dad: Yeah, but it sounds much worse over there!

OK, I'm probably making a similar mistake the other way round, but isn't South Africa meant to have one of the highest car-jacking rates and some of the highest rates of violent crime in the world? I couldn't imagine here (the sleepy South of England) being worse than many places in the world in terms of crime levels, let alone South Africa.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[krou]

That was exactly the point I was trying to make - SA has one of the worst crime rates in the world, and yet my Dad's perception was that the UK was worse because of Sky's media coverage.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Here's a tip: stop reading rags like The Sun, or the Daily Mail, and stop watching Sky News, or at the very least start analysing the "facts" these news outlets trot out.

Heres another tip, don't trivialise serious social problems by using the red tops as a fig leaf or by comparison to third world hellholes.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

You clearly said "crime rates skyrocketing out of control". This is demonstrably untrue

Really. Economic problems lead to social instability, which in turn lead to increased crime - so why would the UK government waste money on doing something the ESA can do better, for less, when they could be dealing with more important problems? Oh yes, because we're still a big powerful counttryyy, and if the Indians can do it why aren't we?

are just pulling vitriol out of your arse.

Explain that one to me. Explain how a mortally bankrupt country with endemic social problems can justify starting a space program when contributions to the ESA will probably suffer as a result, and it will almost certainly end up being another quango.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[VJ42]

That was exactly the point I was trying to make - SA has one of the worst crime rates in the world, and yet my Dad's perception was that the UK was worse because of Sky's media coverage.

Seriously? Even Sky isn't that bad is it? I know that they dumb down the news (that's why I stopped watching it), but now it seems I should watch it for the same reason I watch Fox*; comedy.


*For the non-Brits: Yes, we get Fox on Satellite in the UK.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Anonymous Coward]

a mortally bankrupt country

Fuck me. You really do read the Daily Mail.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Ginger Unicorn]

I'm sure your gut-reaction objections to funding a space program are fascinating, but this entire post is a non-sequitur that does nothing to defend your claim that crime in the UK is "skyrocketing out of control". I've given you a clear, authoritative citation that says this isn't true.

You aren't paying attention to what I'm saying.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[c6gunner]

....

You know, this is the first time I've seen the "Offtopic" mod used correctly.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Hognoxious]

There are lots of incentives for police forces to cook the books. Solving a murder takes lots of officers lots of time. Arresting someone for riding a bike without lights on and cautioning him or issuing a spot fine takes five minutes.

Both count as one crime solved when the KPIs are totted up.

I'd trust those figures the same way I'd hire a programmer based on LOC/day.

Now before any Grauniadista fires off the "Daily Mail reader" ad hominem, that doesn't mean that I think the opposite "this country's going to hell in a handbasket and we're so close I can smell the brimstone" is true either.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Hognoxious]

> Yes we are! We have a worse economic situation than the worst of the PIIGS

Bollocks, Citation needed, I call bullshit and you made that up.

Re:We're still a big powerful country!

[Meneguzzi]

I lived in Brixton (no less) for 3 years until 2009, and although a person was stabbed to death in my street, I have never felt threatened myself at any point in time. I might be naive, but if the main crime is knife crime, you need to be one of the two to get killed: drunk and/or confrontational. I come from a relatively safe city in Brazil and I never felt safer than in Britain.

Re:A space agency for the UK, for crying out loud

[Faluzeer]

...and Lord Flashheart will be the test pilot...

Re:A space agency for the UK, for crying out loud

[Saint Fnordius]

Now now, just because it has a consultant who goes by the name of "the Doctor", and the first interplanetary cruiser to be named "HMS Camden Locks" doesn't mean it has to be all fanciful..

Re:A space agency for the UK, for crying out loud

[Anonymous Coward]

Prospero is still orbiting earth - launched by a british rocket!

The UK Space Agency...

[Sneeze1066]

..."Sending bad teeth into space since 2010."

Re:A space agency for the UK, for crying out loud

[vikingpower]

But where do we bring lieutenant Darling under ??

What is it with this government and trying to...

[Malc]

... bankrupt us? They spent nearly a billion pounds reorganisng and creating agencies in the last few years, many of which don't even exist any more. Then they try to deflect attention by blaming the bankers for the recession when it was their own policies of raising both spending and taxes and running a deficit when the economy was at its peak that is the real cause of our pain. Their "quantitative easing" means the Bank of England has delete 200 billion pounds from its accounts at some point. I don't even want to know how much we're paying just in interest servicing Gordon Brown's debts.

Space Agency my arse. What a waste of money at a time when we can least afford it. What a nepotistic racket these guys are running.

Re:A space agency for the UK, for crying out loud

[Faluzeer]

Actually it was Captain Darling...and of course he would be the PA to the head of the UKSA one General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett

April fool ?

[Saint Gerbil]

Is this an April fool ?

"1st of April launch"

Why fragment Europe even more?

[lordholm]

This is pretty pointless, the UK could raise their contribution to the ESA and ESA would need to hand more contracts back to the UK. There really is no point to having their own space agency, compared to ensuring our common European interests.

And the same goes to the rest. If they need one, set it up as the Swedish Space Agency, they don't really do anything except oversee the Swedish contribution to ESA and some research. There really is no need to develop launchers or satellites locally.

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[dkleinsc]

The Brits have been generally less keen on the whole EU thing than the continent has. They haven't moved to the Euro, for instance. Among other things, if they're more closely tied to the EU, then the UK has to play second-fiddle to Germany and France. So I wouldn't be surprised if part of this is a subtle anti-EU move.

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[coastwalker]

Moron, thats exactly what it is going to do. You didn't seriously think that this Agency will spend any money on Space activities? Fool, thats not how we do things in the UK these days.

What we do is create a load of bureaucrats with the power to fine you if you arn't doing Space right - and the fines pay for the bureaucrats to sit on their arses and dream up new ways of fining people. Trust me they will just leach off of any money streams being spent by commercial enterprises trying to buy ESA services.

God, you people out there are so thick with your aspirational belief in doing things.

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[lordholm]

In that case, what is the difference between the UKSA and the BNSC?

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[Lemming Mark]

I understand part of this has useful implications of budgeting. Specifically, space agency stuff will have a different budget pot to some of the other scientic work, which (given we like to put lots of money in to get the return investment from ESA) is useful as it protects the funding of other sciences a bit more. AIUI from someone in non-space programme science.

No idea why they're not using the BNSC but the stories I'd seen on the UKSA do claim that it's just a co-ordinating umbrella for existing space stuff, so it's not going to stop the UK collaborating with ESA. Maybe it's due to some complicated science politics.

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[master_p]

The European Union does not have more than 20 years left. It will be fragmented and get back to the way things were right after WWII and before the European Coal and Steel Community. The reason is that the EU is an economic union but not a social and cultural union.

The UKSA is one example of such a trend.

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[bytesex]

It's not just about contracts being handed back to you. You might also want to determine the direction of research, which is simpler this way.

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[JasterBobaMereel]

The reason is we do have our own projects ....

    Beagle 2 was a UK only project, launched on an ESA rocket, although largely unsuccessful it means that three countries have landed anything on Mars and the UK is one of them ...the other two countries don't have a very good success rate of landings .....

   

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[lordholm]

Sometimes I wonder why people are so blind, the EU is culturally tied together. This stem from more than a thousand years of common history.

For example, I practice Historical European Martial Arts, especially focused on longswords. There are two major schools of longsword in Europe, the German and the Italian. But do you know what the difference is? Well, practically nothing (major) except the terminology (there are also British and Spanish schools, but they do not differ to any larger aspect either). Why is this, well, parts are just body mechanics, but the other part is the the Italian masters went to Germany to study, and vice versa. This is not only limited to these two countries, Europe has been integrated more or less for a very long time, especially when it comes to transferring culture over the borders.

Others examples are famous artists such as George Friedrich Händel who was born in Prussia, but moved to London and wrote some brilliant master pieces. I would argue that science is also culture and scientists have been moving around, exchanging ideas in Europe for hundreds of years.

The main point here is that the EU really is unified in the cultural aspects (there are regional differences, but so there are between for example southern and northern Sweden).

You are partially correct about the social issues, but I see them breaking down every day.

Further, the EU will not break up in any way, because as High Rep Ashton said it (not an exact quote, but the essence is there): "Either we come together or we let Washington, Deli and Beijing make our decisions, it really is that simple", and it is...

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[HornWumpus]

The will not break up due to 'cultural issues'.

They will break up due to 'printing press issues' related to the Euro.

It will be in less then 20 years.

I'm guessing about 10 when the baby boom retirements get into serious volume.

Of course the dollars (US, Aus and Loony) and pound will be tanking at the same time for the same reason.

Bad as it is there is only one entity (maybe 2, the fed and the mint) that can print dollars. I'm guessing at 50% rapid devaluation for single debtor nation currencies. 99% for the Euro.

A final comment, by your standard to 'same culture' Japan and China have the same culture.

Re:Why fragment Europe even more?

[Anonymous Coward]

And just wait untill Belgium catches on, it'll be a gas. We'll have the Federal State Space Agency, the Vlaamse Ruimtevaartagentschap, l'Agence pour l'Espace Wallonne, the Brussels Dutch-speaking Community Space Agency, the Agence Aerospatiale Bruxellois Francophone and the Deutssprachige Gezelschaft fürs Weltraum.

Re:A space agency for the UK, for crying out loud

[vikingpower]

Blackadder: "How do you feel, Darling ?" Darling: "Pretty rotten, actually." B: "You don't want to die today, I take it ?" D: "No, I would rather not, indeed." B: "Are you scaaaaared, Darling ?" D: "Errrr...yes, yes, I am scared to death, now you mention it." B: "Then here we go ! Over the top, men !!"

If this is not a prank...

[vikingpower]

... I'll eat a soup plate full of hydrazine. Promise.

Re:If this is not a prank...

[thewiz]

Blazingly hot or just a few K above 0?

Re:If this is not a prank...

[vikingpower]

Blazingly hot and streaming out of a rocket exhaust. How else should a man worthy of that name do it ? I mean - hey, I really look like Chuck Norris ( according to my assistent, that is )

Lucas

[Anonymous Coward]

I just hope they don't build their rockets with Lucas Electrics (http://www.mez.co.uk/lucas.html)

UKSA: USA with a K

[Anonymous Coward]

Serious, could they not have found a better acronym? it totally reminds me of USA with a K
United Kingdom States of America

I'm going back to bed now...

Re:UKSA: USA with a K

[Anonymous Coward]

Back in the UKSA, don't know how lucky you say
Back in the UK, back in the UK, back in the UKSA!!!

I don't believe it

[Goffee71]

Has no one referenced Eddie Izzard's "Man up a ladder in Swindon" skit? Shocking form

As announced by Austin Powers:

[Anonymous Coward]

Allow myself to launch ... myself

Political Consolidation

[sloth jr]

Any space agency whose stated goal is consolidation of funds and policy - isn't a space agency.

Someone needs to take the reins and start doing something IN space. Fine, fine, fine, increased data analysis on the ground of satellite-based observation - boring!

Where's our space elevator? Where are material launch platforms designed to get things (not necessarily people) to orbit and back? Where's microgravity manufacturing, power generation and transmission, orbiting biodomes, space litter remediation - enough talk about space, time for action!

Pretty discouraging, when asked to initiate and lead three missions in the next 20 years, the nascent UKSA policy leaders can't even commit to that!

See website, move along

[fulldecent]

Is this it http://www.uk-space.com/ ??

Sounds like a grand day out!

[Poodleboy]

...perhaps they can harvest some of that cheese from the moon again?

Warm beer and computer jokes

[wsanders]

Finally, they found a way to make spacecraft leak oil: Lucas Aerospace!

Scottish branch

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLxLmFhROqY

Let me be the first to welcome...

[Kymermosst]

Let me be the first to welcome the U.K. to the 1950s!

Re:Let me be the first to welcome...

[Kymermosst]

Oh, come on... do I really have to put [joke] tags or smiley faces on that to convey that it's supposed to be a humorous comment?

Cool acronym

[Anonymous Coward]

UKSA? How many Pig-Latin fans will have a field day with this one?

Hmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone is going to a serious amount of preparation for April Fools...