As you know from previous Townhalls and Working Group meetings SPAN has been commissioned by UKSA to write a Whitepaper on UK Space Policy and funding from an academic point of view. The original requested timescale was October/November 2024 with the intention to consult widely across the membership and working groups. In addition we requested members inputs on the DSIT Delivery Review process.
As a result of the new Government accelerating the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) process UKSA requested the paper to be ready in early September latest as background for UKSA business case submissions. Consequently the Whitepaper had to be written over the late summer using inputs from the SPAN Delivery Review survey and inputs from the Heads of the various working groups along with a two people providing inputs and an independent view. Apologies, however given the changed timescale, it was not possible to have the wide consultation we would have wished.
The Whitepaper, now available from SPAN, covers and I hope reflects academic views on funding gap implications, membership of ESA, need for a strong national and bilateral programmes along with comments on links to industry and some general points.
The document includes points I and WG leads have noted in meetings over the last year or so. It was issued to UKSA initially in draft form in early August, formally released on 29th August and then updated on 17th September following meetings where additional key points were raised by academia.
The document has been widely circulated now within UKSA and DSIT and is in use. That said if there are additional key points we can look at a further update in the future.
08 September 2026
We shared yesterday the news that the Government has published the new UK Space Strategy, alongside its Technical Delivery Annex. Ahead of publication, SPAN was invited to provide a response from our Co-Chairs, Professors Anna Hogg and Mark Sims. Their statement has been included in the Government's announcement:
10 August 2026
Over the summer Anushka Sharma had the privilege of moderating discussions and speaking on panels across the UK space sector, from security and defence at Farnborough International Airshow, to running a session on SPAN at the National Astronomy Meeting in Birmingham, and most recently joining a panel on DWC Resilience forum hosted at Fieldfisher
24 June 2026
SPAN Town Hall reinforced SPAN's role as the national voice of the UK space academic community and highlighted the growing recognition across government that academia is central to delivering the UK's ambitions in space through research excellence, innovation and strategic collaboration.
