{"id":19783,"date":"2020-01-31T10:52:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T10:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/?p=19783"},"modified":"2024-04-22T14:57:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T14:57:28","slug":"uk-foreign-policy-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/2020\/01\/uk-foreign-policy-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Global Britain – UK Foreign Policy in Space"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]On 12th March, the British Foreign Policy Group hosted an insightful discussion on the future of the UK\u2019s foreign policy in space, and where things stand in the rapidly growing policy area of space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Half a century after the Apollo 11 moon landing, space continues to be one of the foremost areas of foreign policy expansion and the projection of national capabilities. The UK is not alone in launching an ambitious space strategy: in November 2019, NATO foreign ministers recognised space as a new operational domain for the establishment of international governance and infrastructure. As \u2018Global Britain\u2019 becomes a reality, space will increasingly become a key frontier for the UK\u2019s redefinition of its role in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our panellists, from a range of areas of the industry, made some really interesting points on the sector, its future, and how it translates into foreign policy conversations. Michelle Howard, of our sister company the D Group, made the point that disruption of the space industry to our economy cannot be overstated, suggesting that disruption could cost \u201c\u00a31million per day.\u201d Dr Alice Bunn, Director of International Programmes at the UK Space Agency, made some predictions on the geo-political nature of space. She said: \u201cWe\u2019re coming back full circle – Trump is laying out his plans for boots on the moon and China is showing huge capabilities. We are coming back to a more competitive space – but I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be as binary as the 60\u2019s.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Liz Seward, Senior Strategist for Airbus Europe, agreed that the world of space is no longer as binary as it used to be. She pointed out India as an example, and asked \u2018is that something we should be looking at?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Joanna Hart, of the Harwell Space Cluster, argued that there\u2019s a huge new opportunity for Britain post-Brexit, to forge new connections – and that there\u2019s now more of a political will to do so. She said: \u2018space is global, and its expensive. We have to look at collaboration and the key things that we want to do.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Harriet Brettle, Head of Business Analysis at Astroscale, pointed out that we take space for granted and don\u2019t appreciate the extent to which it\u2019s already influencing our lives – in terms of the technology that relies on space. She also pointed out that space is \u2018like any other environment on earth\u2026 and we need to look at how the space industry can move to a more sustainable future.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about our upcoming events or research, please sign up to our newsletter<\/a> or go to https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk.<\/p>\n

The British Foreign Policy Group is an independent, non-partisan think tank based in London. Through dynamic research, events and networks, we seek to strengthen the UK\u2019s international engagement, and advance our understanding of global affairs in the 21st Century.<\/b><\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]On 12th March, the British Foreign Policy Group hosted an insightful discussion on the future of the UK\u2019s foreign policy in space, and where things stand in the rapidly growing policy area of space.\u00a0 Half a century after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":21537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-past-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}