Lots of space but not much room

Just five companies in the UK have a "space turnover" in excess of £100 million. And two thirds of the 227 companies identified by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) have a space turnover below £1 million. That's the bottom line of this year's review of the sector, The size and health of the UK space industry 2006.

The analysis shows that "40% of the companies have a relatively light involvement in space work, which represents less than 25% of their total turnover. At the other extreme, almost as many (38%) are heavily dependent on space work since it accounts for more than 75% of their total turnover".

All in all, the sector's turnover was £4.1 billion. The press release that went out with the document says: "The downstream sector, which includes satellite broadcasters, satellite broadband providers, earth imagery data providers, and space facilities management, accounts for 85 per cent or £4.1bn of the industry’s total turnover. This is a rise from £2.5bn when the survey first included these companies six years ago."

The BNSC, a partnership of 11 Government departments and research councils, coordinates the UK's civil space policy. It continues to push the sector, and in the middle of May held what it billed as the country's "first ever space finance conference". To prove the point, there was a stage managed contract signing at the event. As the accompanying press release put it "UK industry reinforced its leading position when media company Avanti Screenmedia and satellite manufacturer EADS Astrium signed a European Space Agency (ESA) contract".

The contract deals with implementing the HYLAS project which "is set to bridge the digital divide, bringing affordable broadband internet to rural areas across the UK and Europe via satellite".