The UK is writing a new, dynamic chapter in the history of space. From the pioneering days of space exploration to the dawning of commercial exploitation, we are now entering a third era – personalised space.

The cost of accessing space is coming down, small satellites are cheaper yet more capable, and the opportunities for space-based solutions continue to increase. New applications enabled by satellites are changing the way we communicate, farm, travel, manage resources, protect environments, search online and even stay healthy.

With space data increasingly available, a host of young, creative companies is defining a New Space Age and changing the way we see the world. Space technology remains a powerful engine of development and empowerment, one that has forever changed our expectations of connectivity, mapping and insight.

Over the next decade, our relationship with space will change dramatically. It will increasingly become ‘ours’ and not just the preserve of nation states.

Tourists will go into orbit, taken there by private companies; new launch vehicles will take off, different in design but sharing the goal of slashing the cost of getting into space. Data will rain down from satellites of all sizes, some owned by companies, others by schools; many networked together to create an ‘internet of the sky’. New businesses – and entire industries – will spring up in response, and we will access this new space age in our homes and cars, and even through our clothes.

If this seems unlikely, simply consider the transformative effect of smartphone technology. The original iPhone was launched in 2007; imagine where we will be in 15 years’ time…

SMART CITIES

By 2030, Galileo and GPS services will be embedded in all manner of intelligent devices. Everything and everyone will have awareness of their precise location at all times, whether they are in a city centre building or the middle of an ocean. Innovative UK firms, outside the traditional space sector, generate smart solutions and are seeing the potential for rapid growth of geolocation data.

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT

In 2030, the UK’s long-term focus on satellite applications will have given us a head start in creating intelligent transport infrastructures and selling them to the world. Road traffic automation enabled by satellite navigation and integrated communication networks will prevent accidents, reduce congestion, save energy and give us back our time. Motorways will feature driverless car lanes where vehicle movements are effortlessly synchronised from space, and the UK’s automotive industry will lead the world in the manufacture of integrated autonomous navigation systems.

CLIMATE & RESOURCES

Space is already transforming the way we view the Earth and use its resources. By 2030, methods would have evolved even further. Millions of low-cost sensors on land and at sea are connected via satellite to continuous Earth monitoring networks, which in turn provide greatly enhanced levels of global insight that power scientific discovery and new business models. Earth observation satellites will provide highly precise, first early warning systems of impending geohazards.

AGRICULTURE

Satellites will soon be able to provide us with means to monitor change in soil moisture, crop height, fish stocks and across the globe, in real time and over extended periods. In 2030, the modelling of the Earth’s physical processes will be enhanced by the wealth of data from space-enabled sensor networks and British companies are at the forefront of turning this information into valuable commercial products.