“Seismic change” is needed for the UK to be appealing for future space missions, following the failure of Virgin Orbit’s Start Me Up mission, industry representatives have told MPs.
The UK government is being urged to redirect funding earmarked for space projects to hospitals, as investors lose trust in the country’s space industry.
Senior figures at Welsh satellite maker Space Forge have spoken to the Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee about regulatory delays and “jarring” interactions with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
“Quite frankly, it costs us more to license our satellite for launch than it did to launch it,” Joshua Western, the company’s chief executive, told MPs.
Space Forge was hoping to become the first company to successfully bring a satellite back down to Earth…
