Next Gen News

Nor is the Surrey University group alone – for space has recently been revealed to be a real bread-winner for the UK, with news that our out-of-this-world activities are now adding ?7.5bn a year to the national economy, while providing jobs for 25,000 people. Surrey Satellites build innovative spacecraft; universities such as Leicester and Surrey have strong space science and engineering departments; the nation plays a key role in constructing major European probes such as the Planck telescope; and its software and computing companies are renowned for their data-handling expertise.

Doctor Who

"Our next stage is to build a test engine," says Bond. That will need an investment of ?200m, which he says has already been promised by investors. "Then around 2014, we hope to begin construction of the first full-sized Skylon. That will cost ?7.5bn. It is a Channel Tunnel-sized sum of money. We are looking for institutional investors for all of that and are confident about getting them. This is a commercial enterprise, completely. After that, the first Skylon craft should be flying in space by 2017 and by 2025 there should be about 30 up there."

This point is backed by Dr Craig Underwood, of the Surrey Space Centre. "When we really open up space, all sorts of things like that become feasible. The great thing is that Britain has a chance to be a player."