UK Space Agency to merge with DSIT • The Register
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is set to join the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) in an effort to “cut red tape” and, presumably, save some cash.
According to the UK government, the move is all about “cutting duplication, reducing bureaucracy, and putting public accountability at the heart of decision-making.” It will also “ensure decisions are made with clear ministerial oversight.”
DSIT will absorb UKSA by April 2026. The name will be retained, although staffing will come from both agencies.
UKSA CEO Dr Paul Bate said: “I strongly welcome this improved approach to achieving the government’s space ambitions. Having a single unit with a golden thread through strategy, policy and delivery will make it faster and easier to translate the nation’s space goals into reality.”
UKSA, which was founded in 2010, is “an executive agency” of DSIT. Bleddyn Bowen, Associate Professor of Astropolitics at Durham University, said: “It was always subordinate to DSIT/BEIS and couldn’t do anything regulatory without the [Civil Aviation Authority] on board.”
Rather than making UKSA its own ministry, the government has opted to merge its functions into DSIT. The agency’s CEO might have welcomed the move, but other observers are not so impressed.
A spokesperson for Magdrive, a British startup working on electric propulsion systems, called for clarity in the government’s plans, saying: “The closure of the UK Space Agency as an independent body is deeply concerning for the UK space sector. While the government positions this as a cost-saving and efficiency measure, the reality is that dissolving the agency risks undoing more than a decade of hard-won progress. Folding this into a wider department may bring ministerial oversight, but it also risks space being lost among competing agendas.”
Another space industry insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “I hope the space-specific aspects are still highly valued and identified specifically even after the merger (also considering the new UK industrial strategy), so that space gets the attention the domain deserves, given it underpins a lot of the daily life of Brits, including GNSS, weather, Earth observation, telecoms/direct-to-device, etc. R&D is critical in a sector which is capital intensive but achieves so much for daily life quietly.”
The announcement comes more than half a century after the UK developed then abandoned a satellite launch capability.
UK space minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see the importance of space to the British economy. Bringing things in house means we can bring much greater integration and focus to everything we are doing while maintaining the scientific expertise and the immense ambition of the sector.” ®
