The United Kingdom in Space: A New Era: Outlook on Latest Regulatory Developments and the UK Space Community

With the passing of the Space Industry Regulations 2021 in June 2021, immediately prior to the UK Parliament taking up its annual summer recess, the government’s ongoing preparations since the passing of the Space Industry Act 2018 (Space Industry Act 2018, c.5, received Royal Assent on 15 March 2018) for fostering and developing the UK as an industrial and scientific location for private/ non-governmental space activities, are now about to take on further, practical dimensions. The past decade has seen the United Kingdom focus on arrangements for planning and developing seven spaceports at different regional locations around the UK. The approval of the Space Industry Regulations in June this year marks the implementation of the 2018 Space Act’s requirements and rules for licensing spaceports, and with this, the implementation of a system for authorising national space activities, including sub-orbital launches, to take place from the UK.