UK is ready to launch a space program post-Brexit

Theresa May has reportedly given the go-ahead for Britain to start work on a British-made satellite navigation system to rival the European Union’s Galileo project.

Chancellor Philip Hammond signed off funding worth £100million to kick-start the project that would rival the EU’s system that Britain played a key role in creating, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Britain’s project is being launched because it is feared that the UK’s access to sensitive security information could be restricted after Brexit.

Money will come from a £3billion Brexit fund announced at last year’s Budget.

A Whitehall source told the Sunday Telegraph: “We still want to be part of the Galileo project, but we have got to prepare for all eventualities.”

The funding would finance “mapping out how a sovereign satellite system works”, the source added. Britain has given £1.2 billion (€1.4 billion) to the EU’s 30-satellite network.

But the European Commission has started to block the UK space industry from building certain security parts for its Galileo project.

It is set to launch in 2020 as a rival to the US’s GPS system and be used in everything from military equipment to smartphones.

Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said it was unlikely EU officials would grant British access to Galileo post-Brexit.

He said he was “disappointed” at Brussels’ giving Britain the brush-off.  Last month, plans for the UK’s first spaceport were announced.

The site – which will launch satellites and rockets into space – would be based in the remote Scottish highland county, Sutherland.

The UK government announced it is giving Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) a grant of £2.5m to develop the proposal for a vertical launch site.