List of government space agencies

This is a list of government agencies engaged in activities related to outer space and space exploration.

As of 2015, 70 different government space agencies are in existence; 13 of those have launch capability. Six government space agencies - the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA or Roscosmos) - have full launch capabilities; these include the ability to launch and recover multiple satellites, deploy cryogenic rocket engines and operate extraterrestrial probes. Only three currently operating government space agencies in the world - NASA, the RFSA and the CNSA - are capable of human spaceflight.

The name given is the English version, with the native language version below. The acronym given is the most common acronym: this can either be the acronym of the English version (e.g. JAXA), or the acronym in the native language. Where there are multiple acronyms in common use, the English one is given first.

UK Space Agency

The United Kingdom Space Agency (commonly known as the UK Space Agency or UKSA) is an executive agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the United Kingdom's civil space programme. It was established on 1 April 2010 to replace the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and took over responsibility for government policy and key budgets for space exploration, and represents the United Kingdom in all negotiations on space matters. It "[brings] together all UK civil space activities under one single management". It is initially operating from the existing BNSC headquarters in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Creation and aims

The establishment of the UK Space Agency was announced by Lord Mandelson, Lord Drayson and astronaut Major Timothy Peake at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on 23 March 2010.

Around £230 million of funding and management functions were merged into the UK Space Agency from other organisations."Improving coordination of UK efforts in fields such as Earth science, telecoms and space exploration" will form part of its remit, according to Lord Drayson.

Space

Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime. The concept of space is considered to be of fundamental importance to an understanding of the physical universe. However, disagreement continues between philosophers over whether it is itself an entity, a relationship between entities, or part of a conceptual framework.

UK Space Conference

The UK Space Conference is an annual conference devoted to space held in the United Kingdom. The conference hosts the Sir Arthur Clarke Award prizegiving dinner.

The event also hosts the fly-off of the UKAYRoC student rocket competition

History

The UK Space Conference evolved out of the British Rocket Oral History Programme (BROHP) annual conference which had been running since 1998. The rebranding of the conference in 2007 signalled a broadening of its remit. The 2008 event included parallel sessions on Education, Research, Engineering and Astronomy as well as History.

Starting in 2011, the conference will be held at the University of Warwick in July. Until 2010, the conference was held at Charterhouse School in Surrey in March each year. Speakers included British planetary scientists Colin Pillinger (who was the principal investigator for the Beagle 2 probe) and Professor John Zarnecki who was instrumental in the success of the Huygens probe to Titan. Speakers also came from outside of the UK including former NASA astronaut and shuttle pilot Joe Engle and former Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey. The UK space commercial sector was represented with Virgin Galactic, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd and EADS Astrium giving presentations, the latter also sponsoring the event.