UK government announces Space Industry Bill

In the latest Queen's Speech on 21 June, the UK government has confirmed its plans for new legislation intended to promote growth across the UK space industry.

In the latest Queen's Speech on 21 June, the UK government has confirmed its plans for new legislation intended to promote growth across the UK space industry, especially in encouraging the development of spaceports and spaceflight businesses.

The Space Industry Bill will:

• create new powers to license a wide range of new commercial spaceflight, including vertically-launched rockets, spaceplanes, satellite operation, spaceports and other technologies
• create a regulatory framework to manage risk, ensuring that commercial spaceflight in the UK remains safe.

This legislation will build on the draft Spaceflight Bill published earlier this year, setting out an enabling framework for the new regulatory environment for space flight from UK soil, and take account of the evidence provided to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. For our commentary on the Spaceflight Bill, please click here.