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{{short description|Former agency of the government of the United Kingdom}}
{{for|the centre in Leicester|National Space Centre}}
{{For|the centre in Leicester|National Space Centre}}
{{Infobox Space Agency
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
|name= <small>British National Space Centre</small>
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
|image= BNSC Logo.PNG
{{Infobox Space agency
|caption=
|name = British National Space Centre
|established= [[1985]]
|acronym= BNSC
|acronym = BNSC
|image = BNSC Logo.svg
|administrator= [[David Williams (space administrator)|David Williams]]<ref>
|caption = Official logo of the British National Space Centre
BNSC website [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=6006 "Director General"], retrieved on October 31, 2007.
|established = {{Start date and age|1985||}}
</ref><ref>
|jurisdiction = [[United Kingdom]]
BNSC press release, 02 February 2006 [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=6887 "New Director General for British National Space Centre"], retrieved on October 31, 2007.
|headquarters = Polaris House, Swindon
</ref>
|spaceport = None
|budget=<center>£207 million (2006)</center>
|administrator = [[David Williams (space administrator)|David Williams]]<ref>{{cite news|title=New Director General for British National Space Centre|url=https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/54e6de9e0c383719802572b9005141ed/88c9735b23f653da802572ab004bc869?OpenDocument |date=February 2, 2006|access-date=November 24, 2022}}</ref>
|URL = [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/ www.bnsc.gov.uk]
|budget = {{currency|268|GBP}} million ({{currency|438|USD}} million) (2008/09)[https://web.archive.org/web/20090205051626/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/5551.aspx]
}}
}}
The '''British National Space Centre''' (or '''BNSC''') is a [[United Kingdom]] government body that coordinates civil space activities. It operates as a voluntary partnership of ten [[departments of the United Kingdom government|British government departments and agencies]] and [[Research Council|research councils]]. The civil portion of the [[British space programme]] focuses on [[space science]], Earth observation, satellite telecommunications, and global navigation (for example [[GPS]] and [[Galileo positioning system|Galileo]].)


The '''British National Space Centre''' ('''BNSC''') was an agency of the [[Government of the United Kingdom]], organised in 1985, that coordinated civil space activities for the [[United Kingdom]]. It was replaced on 1 April 2010 by the [[UK Space Agency]].<ref name="bbc">{{cite web|last=Amos |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8579270.stm |title= 'Muscular' UK Space Agency launched |work=[[BBC News]] |first=Jonathan |date=23 March 2010 |accessdate=23 March 2010}}</ref>
Rather than being a full space agency as maintained in some other countries, the BNSC consists of around fifty civil servants on rotation from other government departments. Much of Britain's yearly space budget of £207 million was contributed by the [[Department of Trade and Industry]] (until the DTI was broken up in 2007) or controlled by the partnership rather than the BNSC, and over half of that budget flows directly to the [[European Space Agency]].<ref>[http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5589 BNSC - How we work], BNSC website, retrieved 9 March 2007: "In the year 2005-6, BNSC's partners spent £207 million on space programmes - about 65% of which was the UK's contribution to European Space Agency projects like Cassini-Huygens, Envisat and Galileo."</ref>


==Structure==
The government is to launch a formal review into whether British astronauts should take part in the international exploration of space.
BNSC operated as a voluntary partnership of ten [[departments of the United Kingdom government|British government departments and agencies]] and [[UK Research Councils|Research Councils]]. The civil portion of the [[British space programme]] focused on [[space science]], Earth observation, satellite telecommunications, and global navigation (for example [[Global Positioning System|GPS]] and [[Galileo positioning system|Galileo]]). The latest version of the UK civil space strategy which defined the goals of BNSC was published in February 2008.<ref>[http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/5550.aspx "UK Civil Space Strategy 2008 - 2012"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221154649/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/5550.aspx |date=21 February 2009 }}.
</ref> Notably the BNSC had a policy against human spaceflight,<ref name="BNSC-human">{{cite web |title=UK vision to stay at the forefront of space sector published |url=http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/7203.aspx |accessdate=29 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602051751/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/7203.aspx |archivedate=2 June 2009 }}</ref> and did not contribute to the [[International Space Station]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.esa.int/esaHS/partstates.html |title=European Participation, ISS Participating States |accessdate=29 May 2009 }}</ref>


===Staffing arrangements===
The review has been prompted by growing fears that the UK might lose out in the next wave of space travel.
Rather than being a full space agency as maintained by some other countries, BNSC HQ comprised about thirty civil servants on rotation from the partners. The [[Department for Business, Innovation and Skills]] (BIS) was the 'host' department and provided the central policy staff including the Director General. The last DG, Dr. David Williams, was the first to have been externally appointed. Much of Britain's yearly civil space budget of £268 million was contributed by the [[Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)|Department of Trade and Industry]] (until the DTI was broken up in 2007) or controlled by the partnership rather than the BNSC, and about three-quarters of that budget flows directly to the [[European Space Agency]].<ref name="hww">[http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5589 BNSC - How we work] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606214446/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5589 |date=6 June 2007 }}, BNSC website. Retrieved 15 July 2009: "In the year 2008-9, BNSC's partners spent £268 million on space programmes - about 76% of which was the UK's contribution to European Space Agency"</ref> BNSC staff represented the UK at the various programme boards of ESA and also its governing Council. In 2004, the budget for BNSC headquarters was approximately £500,000 (US$1 million).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.space.com/spacenews/archive04/auditarch_032904.html |title=British Audit Finds Strengths, Needs in Space Program|first=Peter |last=de Selding |website=Space News|accessdate=9 March 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050210200317/http://space.com/spacenews/archive04/auditarch_032904.html |archivedate=10 February 2005 }}</ref>


<!-- These news references are no longer used in the article text but have some potential <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7244028.stm "Ministers consider UK astronauts"], Pallab Ghosh, BBC News, 14 February 2008.</ref>
International space agencies have set out ambitious plans in a document called the Global Exploration Strategy.
<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3367800.ece "UK could overturn Thatcher space ban on manned missions"], Philippe Naughton, ''The Times'', 14 February 2008.</ref>
<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/feb/14/spaceexploration.spacetechnology "UK carves out its place in space, but hopes for Britons on moon dashed"], Ian Sample, ''The Guardian'', 14 February 2008.</ref>-->
From January 2009, the BNSC was headquartered in [[Swindon]], Wiltshire, in the same building as the [[Science and Technology Facilities Council]] ([[UK Research Councils|Research Councils]]) and the [[Technology Strategy Board]]. BNSC was directed by the Minister for Science and Innovation, [[Paul Drayson]].<ref>
BNSC press release, 28 June 2007 [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=6327&hl=machinery "Machinery of Government Changes"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703121029/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=6327&hl=machinery |date=3 July 2007 }}. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
</ref><ref>
BNSC website, [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5549 "Space Minister"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070917082413/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5549 |date=17 September 2007 }}. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
</ref>


==Projects funded through BNSC==
Science Minister Ian Pearson said space was "increasingly important" and worth £7bn to the British economy.


===ESA===
Costs and benefits
The BNSC was the third largest financial contributor to the General Budget of the [[European Space Agency]], contributing 17.4%,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/6185.aspx |title=BNSC and ESA |accessdate=29 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420042059/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/6185.aspx |archivedate=20 April 2009 }}</ref> to its Science Programme and to its robotic exploration initiative the [[Aurora programme]]. Investments were also made in the ESA telecommunications programme 'ARTES' in order to develop payload technology used, for example, in the satellites of [[Inmarsat]], the UK based mobile satellite operator. The BNSC partnership co-funded a private sector project led by Avanti Communications [https://web.archive.org/web/20090214082900/http://avanti-communications.com/avanti_homepage.htm] to build a satellite called HYLAS<ref>[http://www.avanti-communications.com/satellite_hylas.htm 'Our satellite HYLAS'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210083724/http://www.avanti-communications.com/satellite_hylas.htm |date=10 February 2009 }}</ref> to provide broadband communications to rural and remote users.


Current projects in the field of space science include [[LISA Pathfinder]], for which UK industry is the prime contractor and UK universities are building major payload elements; the astrometry [[Gaia mission]], for which UK industry is supplying the detectors, avionics, software and data processing electronics; and the [[James Webb Space Telescope]], for which a UK consortium led by the [[UK Astronomy Technology Centre]] is building the European part of the Mid Infra Red Instrument (MIRI)[https://archive.today/20120805170501/http://www.stsci.edu/jwst/instruments/miri/]. The UK has contributed the SPIRE instrument for the [[Herschel Space Observatory]] and detector and cooling system technology for the [[Planck (spacecraft)|Planck]] [[cosmic microwave background]] mission. In the field of Earth observation, projects include the ESA [[ADM-Aeolus]] wind profiling mission, for which UK industry is the prime contractor and [[CryoSat-2]] which is directed by UK scientist Professor Duncan Wingham of [[University College London]]. Recent BNSC activities include the Mosaic small satellite programme, which led to the launch of the [[TopSat]] high resolution EO mission and also the [[Disaster Monitoring Constellation]].
The British National Space Centre (BNSC) said in the publication UK Civil Space Strategy: "In 1986 the UK chose not to participate in human space missions.


===Harwell===
"The publication of the Global Exploration Strategy provides a suitable point to review this decision."
In November 2008, BNSC announced new contributions to ESA and an agreement in principle to establish an ESA centre at the [[Harwell Science and Innovation Campus]] in [[Oxfordshire]].<ref>[http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/7302.aspx "Deal struck on UK-ESA Research Centre and GMES"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315002216/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/7302.aspx |date=15 March 2009 }} BNSC press release, 26 November 2008.</ref> The ESA facility at Harwell was opened officially on 22 July 2009.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090902171630/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/News%20and%20Events/Press%20Notices/10413.aspx "European Space Agency touches down in UK"] BNSC press release, 22 July 2009</ref> The name of the ESA centre is the [[European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications]].
In February 2009, BNSC, ESA and [[Reaction Engines Limited]] announced a [[public–private partnership]] funding scheme to demonstrate key technologies of the [[SABRE (rocket engine)|SABRE engine]] for the proposed [[Skylon (spacecraft)|Skylon spaceplane]].<ref>[http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/7309.aspx "The rocket that thinks it's a jet"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227120153/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/7309.aspx |date=27 February 2009 }} BNSC press release, 19 February 2009</ref>


==Partners==
The BNSC will study the options, taking into account the scientific, technological and economic costs and benefits, and report to Innovation Secretary John Denham.
BNSC Partners:<ref>BNSC website, [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5597 "BNSC Partners"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716141400/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5597 |date=16 July 2007 }}. Retrieved 31 October 2007.

</ref>
Mr Pearson said: "This strategy sets out measures to increase the UK's share of this growing international sector."
* [[Department for Business, Innovation and Skills]]

The review is expected to take between six and 12 months.

The UK has historically opted out of manned space exploration, and spent its limited space budget on detailed scientific missions involving robotic probes.

British mission

Meanwhile, in another development, Nasa is due to give its formal backing in a report to a British-led £100m mission to the Moon.


The agency is headquartered in [[Westminster]] at the [[Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills]] (a successor of the DTI), where it falls under the authority of science minister [[Ian Pearson]].<ref>
BNSC press release, 28 June 2007 [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=6327&hl=machinery "Machinery of Government Changes"], retrieved on October 31, 2007.
</ref><ref>
BNSC website, [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5549 "Space Minister"], retrieved on October 31, 2007.
</ref> The budget for BNSC headquarters is approximately US$1 million.<ref>[http://www.space.com/spacenews/archive04/auditarch_032904.html British Audit Finds Strengths, Needs in Space Program], Peter de Selding, Space News, 29 March 2004.</ref>

==BNSC Partners<ref>
BNSC website, [http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/content.aspx?nid=5597 "BNSC Partners"], retrieved on October 31, 2007.
</ref>==
* [[Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform]]
* [[Department for Transport]]
* [[Department for Transport]]
* [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]]
* [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]]
* [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]]
* [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]]
* [[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]]
* [[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]]
* [[Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills]]
* [[Department for Children, Schools and Families]]
* [[Rutherford Appleton Laboratory]]
* [[Technology Strategy Board]]
* [[Natural Environment Research Council]]
* [[Natural Environment Research Council]]
* [[Science and Technology Facilities Council]]
* [[Science and Technology Facilities Council]]
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==See also==
==See also==
* [[National Space Centre]]
*[[British space programme]]
*[[Astronautical hygiene]]
* Douglas Millard, [http://www.esa.int/esapub/hsr/HSR_36.pdf An Overview of United Kingdom Space Activity 1957-1987], [[ESA]] Publications.


==References==
==References==
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See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags, and the template below.
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{{FootnotesSmall|resize={{{1|100%}}}}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/ British National Space Centre]<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041109092733/http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/ British National Space Centre]
* [http://spaceigs.co.uk/ UK Government Space IGS (Innovation and Growth Strategy)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221115154/http://www.spaceigs.co.uk/ |date=21 December 2022 }}
* Douglas Millard, [http://www.esa.int/esapub/hsr/HSR_36.pdf An Overview of United Kingdom Space Activity 1957-1987], [[ESA]]

'''Video clips'''
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-mE6EtimE Interview with David Williams in 2008]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R_ETBDCksE UK in space: BNSC video 2009]

{{Public sector space agencies}}
{{Public sector space agencies}}
{{Politics of outer space}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|51.5672|-1.7855|display=title}}


[[Category:Organizations established in 1985]]
[[Category:Space programme of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Science and technology in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Swindon]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1985]]
[[Category:Astronomy in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Space agencies]]
[[Category:Space agencies]]
[[Category:Space centres]]
[[Category:Space technology research institutes]]
[[Category:Organisations based in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Government agencies disestablished in 2010]]
[[Category:Winners of the Sir Arthur Clarke Award]]
[[Category:1985 establishments in England]]
[[Category:2010 disestablishments in England]]


[[fr:British National Space Centre]]
[[fr:UK Space Agency]]
[[he:המרכז הבריטי הלאומי לחלל]]
[[it:British National Space Centre]]
[[ja:イギリス国立宇宙センター]]
[[fi:BNSC]]
[[zh:英國國家太空中心]]

Latest revision as of 10:46, 16 October 2023

For the centre in Leicester, see National Space Centre.

British National Space Centre
Official logo of the British National Space Centre
Agency overview
AbbreviationBNSC
Formed1985; 39 years ago (1985)
TypeSpace agency
JurisdictionUnited Kingdom
HeadquartersPolaris House, Swindon
AdministratorDavid Williams[1]
Primary spaceportNone
Annual budget£268 million (US$438 million) (2008/09)[1]

The British National Space Centre (BNSC) was an agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, organised in 1985, that coordinated civil space activities for the United Kingdom. It was replaced on 1 April 2010 by the UK Space Agency.[2]

Structure[edit]

BNSC operated as a voluntary partnership of ten British government departments and agencies and Research Councils. The civil portion of the British space programme focused on space science, Earth observation, satellite telecommunications, and global navigation (for example GPS and Galileo). The latest version of the UK civil space strategy which defined the goals of BNSC was published in February 2008.[3] Notably the BNSC had a policy against human spaceflight,[4] and did not contribute to the International Space Station.[5]

Staffing arrangements[edit]

Rather than being a full space agency as maintained by some other countries, BNSC HQ comprised about thirty civil servants on rotation from the partners. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was the 'host' department and provided the central policy staff including the Director General. The last DG, Dr. David Williams, was the first to have been externally appointed. Much of Britain's yearly civil space budget of £268 million was contributed by the Department of Trade and Industry (until the DTI was broken up in 2007) or controlled by the partnership rather than the BNSC, and about three-quarters of that budget flows directly to the European Space Agency.[6] BNSC staff represented the UK at the various programme boards of ESA and also its governing Council. In 2004, the budget for BNSC headquarters was approximately £500,000 (US$1 million).[7]

From January 2009, the BNSC was headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, in the same building as the Science and Technology Facilities Council (Research Councils) and the Technology Strategy Board. BNSC was directed by the Minister for Science and Innovation, Paul Drayson.[8][9]

Projects funded through BNSC[edit]

ESA[edit]

The BNSC was the third largest financial contributor to the General Budget of the European Space Agency, contributing 17.4%,[10] to its Science Programme and to its robotic exploration initiative the Aurora programme. Investments were also made in the ESA telecommunications programme 'ARTES' in order to develop payload technology used, for example, in the satellites of Inmarsat, the UK based mobile satellite operator. The BNSC partnership co-funded a private sector project led by Avanti Communications [2] to build a satellite called HYLAS[11] to provide broadband communications to rural and remote users.

Current projects in the field of space science include LISA Pathfinder, for which UK industry is the prime contractor and UK universities are building major payload elements; the astrometry Gaia mission, for which UK industry is supplying the detectors, avionics, software and data processing electronics; and the James Webb Space Telescope, for which a UK consortium led by the UK Astronomy Technology Centre is building the European part of the Mid Infra Red Instrument (MIRI)[3]. The UK has contributed the SPIRE instrument for the Herschel Space Observatory and detector and cooling system technology for the Planck cosmic microwave background mission. In the field of Earth observation, projects include the ESA ADM-Aeolus wind profiling mission, for which UK industry is the prime contractor and CryoSat-2 which is directed by UK scientist Professor Duncan Wingham of University College London. Recent BNSC activities include the Mosaic small satellite programme, which led to the launch of the TopSat high resolution EO mission and also the Disaster Monitoring Constellation.

Harwell[edit]

In November 2008, BNSC announced new contributions to ESA and an agreement in principle to establish an ESA centre at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.[12] The ESA facility at Harwell was opened officially on 22 July 2009.[13] The name of the ESA centre is the European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications. In February 2009, BNSC, ESA and Reaction Engines Limited announced a public–private partnership funding scheme to demonstrate key technologies of the SABRE engine for the proposed Skylon spaceplane.[14]

Partners[edit]

BNSC Partners:[15]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "New Director General for British National Space Centre". 2 February 2006. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  2. ^ Amos, Jonathan (23 March 2010). "'Muscular' UK Space Agency launched". BBC News. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  3. ^ "UK Civil Space Strategy 2008 - 2012" Archived 21 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ^ "UK vision to stay at the forefront of space sector published". Archived from the original on 2 June 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  5. ^ "European Participation, ISS Participating States". Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  6. ^ BNSC - How we work Archived 6 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, BNSC website. Retrieved 15 July 2009: "In the year 2008-9, BNSC's partners spent £268 million on space programmes - about 76% of which was the UK's contribution to European Space Agency"
  7. ^ de Selding, Peter. "British Audit Finds Strengths, Needs in Space Program". Space News. Archived from the original on 10 February 2005. Retrieved 9 March 2007.
  8. ^ BNSC press release, 28 June 2007 "Machinery of Government Changes" Archived 3 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
  9. ^ BNSC website, "Space Minister" Archived 17 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  10. ^ "BNSC and ESA". Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  11. ^ 'Our satellite HYLAS' Archived 10 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ "Deal struck on UK-ESA Research Centre and GMES" Archived 15 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine BNSC press release, 26 November 2008.
  13. ^ "European Space Agency touches down in UK" BNSC press release, 22 July 2009
  14. ^ "The rocket that thinks it's a jet" Archived 27 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine BNSC press release, 19 February 2009
  15. ^ BNSC website, "BNSC Partners" Archived 16 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 October 2007.

External links[edit]

Video clips

51°34′02″N 1°47′08″W / 51.5672°N 1.7855°W / 51.5672; -1.7855

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