Britain will launch on Tuesday its national space agency, becoming the last of the major space-exploring nations to establish its own executive body responsible for space activities, BBC has said.
The new organization is expected to take control of the money spent on space by government departments and science funding agencies, the British broadcaster said. The agency will also coordinate cooperation with international partners.
Britain's space industry has been successfully developing despite the economic crisis, growing at an average of 9% a year, with the estimated revenues reaching 6 billion pounds (more than $9 billion) annually, BBC said.
According to BBC, the country currently spends some 270 million pounds ($407.5 million) a year on its civil space program, most of it via Britain's membership of the European Space Agency.
Once established, the agency will bring more coherence to space policy, enabling the available monies to be spent more effectively, the British broadcaster said.
Last month, British space industry and Whitehall officials published a major report on the future of the U.K. space industry, proposing steps to be taken to grow the sector still further over the next 20 years.
LONDON, March 23 (RIA Novosti)
