Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what level of (a) cooperation, (b) coordination and (c) deconfliction takes place between UK Space Command and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

There are several cross-Government forums where capability roadmaps are discussed and developed between UK Space Command and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Most notably, this includes the new ‘One Government’ approach to Space, which looks to support the alignment of UK priorities for the Space domain.

UK Space Command and the UK Space Agency (part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology) have daily cooperation, coordination, and deconfliction as part of the National Space Operations Centre, a joint military and civilian organisation which coordinates civilian and military Space Domain Awareness capabilities, across multiple sites.

As part of the UK Space Agency’s Unlocking Space for Government programme, which aims to harness space to improve UK public service and strengthen national security, UK Space Command and UK Space Agency recently announced funding of £500,000 towards the development of a project for new detection technology to spot lasers that adversaries may use to dazzle satellites and intercept communications.