Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 28 July 2021 (HL2254), what progress they have made, if any, to manufacture satellites in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Details of satellite production and manufacturing are a commercial matter for the company.
The Government is using its position on the board of directors to encourage expansion of OneWeb’s UK content including onshoring the manufacture of its Generation 2 satellites.
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 28 July 2021 (HL2257), what is the investment to date in (1) Spaceport Cornwall, and (2) Saxa Vord in Shetland; what is the state of launch operations at both sites funded by grants to (a) Virgin Orbit, and (b) Lockheed Martin respectively; and when they anticipate that there will be any launches from sites in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Spaceport Cornwall:
Saxa Vord Spaceport:
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their golden share in OneWeb enables them to influence policy decisions, or whether they are limited to preventing disposals of shares; what percentage of the share capital in OneWeb they hold; and what financial benefits have been received since their purchase of the company.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s golden share in OneWeb provides us with the final say over any future sale of the company and over future access to OneWeb technology by other countries on national security grounds. The Government will own an approximate 17.6% stake in OneWeb when Hanwha System’s investment closes later this year.
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 28 July 2021 (HL2253), whether OneWeb is still using the Soyuz launcher at Vostochny in Russia for heavy launches; and what plans they have, if any, to use other facilities instead of Russian ones.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
OneWeb’s launches are currently contracted with Arianespace, a French-headquartered multinational company. Arianespace use Russian launch vehicles, launching from the Far-East in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what department or organisation (1) is responsible for reporting on, and (2) determines the funding to be made available for, innovation in the space industry in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) oversees Government’s investment in civil space programmes.
The UK Space Agency, a BEIS executive agency, is responsible for developing and delivering programmes to support innovation in the UK space industry. These include:
UK Research and Innovation also invests in multi-disciplinary research and development across the UK, which supports the exploitation of space technologies and pioneering scientific discovery.
The Ministry of Defence oversees Government’s investment in military space innovation.
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their agreement with the government of the United States of America regarding space launches from the UK will permit launches by US companies in competition with those based in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) establishes the principles under which US spaceflight technology (including launch vehicles, equipment, information, spacecraft) may be licensed for export by the US authorities to the UK for use in spaceflight activities.
The TSA was negotiated to deliver maximum possible commercial benefit to the UK, permitting spaceports to utilise both US and non-US operators.
The UK has a lot to offer and a lot to gain from working with the US. With the necessary export licences in place, of which the TSA provides the security framework under which the US export approval process can be made easier and quicker, it will allow US satellite customers to launch on UK launchers therefore providing great opportunities for UK launch providers to increase their access to customers from the US.
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Frost on 4 March (HL Deb, col 504GC), when they expect to publish their report on the new national space strategy.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government is committed to making the UK a global science and technology superpower and a meaningful actor in space. This will be achieved through the UK’s first comprehensive national space strategy that unleashes growth and innovation in the UK space sector. The strategy is progressing and will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their acquisition of a share of OneWeb on 3 July 2020, what loss was made by OneWeb at the time of purchase; how many directors are on the board of OneWeb; how many of those board members they have appointed; who they have appointed to the board of OneWeb; and whether they have a veto in relation to OneWeb’s (1) company policy, or (2) disposal of shares.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
OneWeb has now raised $2.4bn of equity commitments from investors and while the most recent funding rounds are going through standard regulatory approval processes, we expect the company to begin generating revenues and profit in the coming years following the introduction of commercial services.
There are currently eight directors on the board, of which the Government holds three seats. These roles are currently filled by Hugo Robson (BEIS), Tom Cooper (UK Government Investments), and Rob Woodward (Chair of the Met Office). The board will expand in the coming months as recent investments receive regulatory clearance and independent directors are appointed.
The Government benefits from a number of board and shareholder reserved matters including some specific Government-reserved matters related to, among other things, the future sale of the company, future access to OneWeb technology and veto rights on the grounds of national security.
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 7 December 2018 (HL11885), whether the UK Space Agency has yet developed options for a UK Navigation Satellite System; if so, (1) what those options are, and (2) whether their costs are within the £92 million set aside for the Engineering and Design studies.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing Programme (SBPP) is on track and is continuing to explore innovative ways of delivering space-based Position Navigation and Timing (PNT) services to the UK. The programme will advise on options to Government for a space-based solution to improve our PNT resilience, as part of a mix of technologies, in November this year.
SBPP follows on from the work of the UK Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Programme, which concluded in September 2020. The cost of this programme was contained within the £92m allocated. In conjunction with industry, the GNSS programme developed detailed designs for a Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) PNT satellite system. SBPP is now looking at a broader set of innovative concepts for securing global space-based PNT services, to meet the resilience needs of our Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and wider economic and domestic users.
Asked by: Lord Bowness (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their acquisition of a share of OneWeb on 3 July 2020, how many satellites OneWeb have launched since that date; where were those satellites manufactured; what launch vehicles were used; and from where they were launched.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Since the Government’s investment, OneWeb has launched 180 satellites, bringing the total number of satellites launched to 254.
OneWeb satellites are currently manufactured in Florida, USA. The payload (the active component), for the satellites is manufactured in the UK.
OneWeb currently utilises heavy launch via their ArianeSpace contract executed through the Soyuz launcher at Vostochny in Russia.