Meeting of the Parliament 27 April 2023
I welcome the debate, and I am delighted to open it for the Scottish Conservatives. I am speaking with a number of different hats on today. I am my party’s lead on business, and I note that there are real economic benefits for Scotland and for the space industry supply chain. I speak as a Highlands and Islands MSP, representing a region that is already a key player in Scotland’s space sector but which has so many new opportunities to explore. I am also deputy co-convener of the Scottish Parliament’s recently established cross-party group on space, which we hope could play an important role in promoting awareness of the sector, the opportunities that it offers, the challenges that it faces and what we, as parliamentarians, can do to help it to grow.
Space has captured the imagination of humanity from the very earliest days. From the sci-fi of the late 19th century and the start of the space race between the US and the USSR, through the shuttle launches of the 1980s, humanity has for generations now sought
“To boldly go where no man”
—or woman—
“has gone before.”
Whereas the first journeys were by NASA and the Soviet Union’s space programme, countries across the world are now involved, and the private sector is playing an increasing part as well. While space remains a place to explore—there is quite a fair bit left to explore—it is also now a vital part of our planet’s infrastructure, with satellites orbiting the earth, providing broadband and other telecommunications links and playing a huge part in our daily lives.
With the global space economy projected to reach £490 billion by 2030, there is a new space race, and the United Kingdom and Scotland are very much part of that. The UK space sector is a growing industry that offers exciting opportunities for the future. It is already worth billions of pounds every year to the UK economy and is estimated to employ nearly 50,000 people. It supports at least 126,000 jobs in the UK across a wider supply chain and, in 2021 alone, its contribution to the UK economy grew by an extra £1 billion. It created 1,800 new jobs and saw almost 300 new space organisations start up. Income is growing at a faster rate in the UK in comparison with the global space industry.
As the minister outlined, there is much happening in Scotland, too. Income from Scotland’s space sector rose to £180 million in 2021. The number of space organisations increased to 183—the fourth largest boost across the whole UK—and there were 8,500 people working in the sector.
As the Scottish Government motion mentioned, and as the minister highlighted, there has recently been investment from Mangata Networks in a hub at Prestwick airport, in Ayrshire. I am sure that my colleague Sharon Dowey will say more on that later.
Scotland is home to several spaceports, including in Shetland and Sutherland, in my Highlands and Islands region. Companies that are part of the space sector or are working with it as part of the growing supply chain are based across the country. AAC Clyde Space in Glasgow has already delivered 13 satellites for launch, with a further 21 in various states of production, and Glasgow alone produces more of those small satellites than does anywhere else in Europe.
The Scottish National Investment Bank has invested £17.8 million in the orbital launch services company Orbex, which is based in Forres—again, in my region. Orbex is developing the first orbital rocket powered by a renewable biofuel.
This week, my colleagues Douglas Ross and Graham Simpson visited Skyrora in Cumbernauld to see for themselves the work that it is doing and to hear its plans for this exciting sector. Skyrora is just one of the organisations that are working with the SaxaVord UK spaceport on Unst, which, again, was recently visited by Douglas Ross, but is also a site that I visited a number of years ago. Although I admit that, at that time—surrounded as we were by grazing sheep and not much else—it was hard to imagine the site as a major launch facility, I know how much progress has been made, particularly at the Lamba Ness peninsula.
SaxaVord expects to create around 140 jobs and put nearly £5 million every year into the local economy on Unst alone, with further jobs and investment in other parts of Shetland. I look forward to visiting the site again soon and seeing for myself the work that is being done and, hopefully, one of the 30 vertical launches that it is looking to support every year from the site.