UK Space Agency Launched 125
krou writes "Today saw the launch of the new UK Space Agency (UKSA), which will officially come into being on the 1st of April. Its stated goal is to lead to more coherency in space policy, and better decision making, by gradually assuming control over the various budgets and management functions of various government departments and science funding councils. Lord Drayson, the minister for science and innovation, said that 'People in the UK are not aware of just how good Britain is both at space research and in terms of our space industry; [a space agency] is going to make people more aware of that. But in practical terms, it's going to make the decision-making by government in all aspects of space policy much more joined up, better co-ordinated — a single point within government which has responsibility for making sure that we get everything in alignment such that the space research we do, the space industry that we're building, fulfils its true potential.' The government also announced that it is adding £24m to the £16m put up by business to create an International Space Innovation Centre at Harwell in Oxfordshire."
Failure is not a bloody option, blokes! (Score:1)
"OK, Harwell, we've had a problem here!..."
"This is Harwell. Say again please?"
Re:Failure is not a bloody option, blokes! (Score:5, Funny)
A true Englishman would describe the catastrophic failure of an oxygen tank as "a spot of bother".
Re:Failure is not a bloody option, blokes! (Score:5, Funny)
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Whereas the US reported it as "we've had a problem" .... a masterful piece of US understatement ....
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I dunno.. have a look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppXlVjRD5lY [youtube.com]
Warm beer and computer jokes (Score:2)
Finally, they found a way to make spacecraft leak oil: Lucas Aerospace!
UK Space Agency Launched (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:UK Space Agency Launched (Score:5, Interesting)
Not only that, but we made some interesting indigenous technologies of our own; for instance we made the worlds only RP-1/HTP orbital rocket. This propellant combination was storable at normal temperature and pressure, hypergolic (if you preheated the HTP, which you did anyway in an expander cycle) was very efficient at driving turbopumps, and non-toxic. The engines that used it were also very reliable, and didn't suffer a single failure in over 100 firings.
Buy hey! Here comes a Tory government! We can save the nation pennies if we can this innovating technology! Go self-interest!
Fucking Tories.
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The final decision rested on a Tory minister (Frederick Corfield) - and whilst he could certainly have had some "Yes, Minister" style assistance from civil servants, he was ultimately responsible in my eyes.
Its too easy for politicians to gut important programs in the name of short term savings, because ultimately the long term losses aren't the problem of the decision maker (the minister in question wasn't in his position for very long).
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The really sad thing about the UKSA is that it doesn't seem to include developing rockets or things of that sort. From the announcement, it seems to be about creating a new government position for someone's nephew to fill....
Gary Neville Day (Score:2)
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Blackadder for the win!
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...and Lord Flashheart will be the test pilot...
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Actually it was Captain Darling...and of course he would be the PA to the head of the UKSA one General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett
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Now now, just because it has a consultant who goes by the name of "the Doctor", and the first interplanetary cruiser to be named "HMS Camden Locks" doesn't mean it has to be all fanciful..
I was hoping it would be called... (Score:1, Insightful)
I was hoping it would be called Her Majesty's Space Agency (HMSA), it sounds much better then UKSA.
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I was hoping it would be called Her Majesty's Space Agency (HMSA), it sounds much better then UKSA.
(Great British Space Agency) GBSA* also sounds better. They picked the worst possible name from those available...
*Yes, yes I know... [wikimedia.org] but how much input will come from Northern Ireland, really?
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*Yes, yes I know... but how much input will come from Northern Ireland, really?
Who do you think contributed the Advanced Micro-gravity Guinness Tap Module to the ISS?!
Missed opportunity (Score:3, Funny)
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Space
Headquarters for
Advancement and
Defense
Organization.
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Could've called it the Royal Space Agency (Score:2)
But Rivest, Shamir and Adleman might have been annoyed. :P
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*SA (Score:3, Informative)
NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/ [nasa.gov]
ESA = European Space Agency
http://www.esa.int/ [esa.int]
CSA = Canadian Space Agency
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp [asc-csa.gc.ca]
JAXA = Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(ooops)
http://www.jaxa.jp/ [www.jaxa.jp]
Tons more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_agency [wikipedia.org]
What is it with this government and trying to... (Score:1, Troll)
... bankrupt us? They spent nearly a billion pounds reorganisng and creating agencies in the last few years, many of which don't even exist any more. Then they try to deflect attention by blaming the bankers for the recession when it was their own policies of raising both spending and taxes and running a deficit when the economy was at its peak that is the real cause of our pain. Their "quantitative easing" means the Bank of England has delete 200 billion pounds from its accounts at some point. I don't
Why fragment Europe even more? (Score:4, Insightful)
This is pretty pointless, the UK could raise their contribution to the ESA and ESA would need to hand more contracts back to the UK. There really is no point to having their own space agency, compared to ensuring our common European interests.
And the same goes to the rest. If they need one, set it up as the Swedish Space Agency, they don't really do anything except oversee the Swedish contribution to ESA and some research. There really is no need to develop launchers or satellites locally.
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The Brits have been generally less keen on the whole EU thing than the continent has. They haven't moved to the Euro, for instance. Among other things, if they're more closely tied to the EU, then the UK has to play second-fiddle to Germany and France. So I wouldn't be surprised if part of this is a subtle anti-EU move.
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Moron, thats exactly what it is going to do. You didn't seriously think that this Agency will spend any money on Space activities? Fool, thats not how we do things in the UK these days.
What we do is create a load of bureaucrats with the power to fine you if you arn't doing Space right - and the fines pay for the bureaucrats to sit on their arses and dream up new ways of fining people. Trust me they will just leach off of any money streams being spent by commercial enterprises trying to buy ESA services.
God,
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In that case, what is the difference between the UKSA and the BNSC?
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I understand part of this has useful implications of budgeting. Specifically, space agency stuff will have a different budget pot to some of the other scientic work, which (given we like to put lots of money in to get the return investment from ESA) is useful as it protects the funding of other sciences a bit more. AIUI from someone in non-space programme science.
No idea why they're not using the BNSC but the stories I'd seen on the UKSA do claim that it's just a co-ordinating umbrella for existing space
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The European Union does not have more than 20 years left. It will be fragmented and get back to the way things were right after WWII and before the European Coal and Steel Community. The reason is that the EU is an economic union but not a social and cultural union.
The UKSA is one example of such a trend.
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Sometimes I wonder why people are so blind, the EU is culturally tied together. This stem from more than a thousand years of common history.
For example, I practice Historical European Martial Arts, especially focused on longswords. There are two major schools of longsword in Europe, the German and the Italian. But do you know what the difference is? Well, practically nothing (major) except the terminology (there are also British and Spanish schools, but they do not differ to any larger aspect either). Why i
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The will not break up due to 'cultural issues'.
They will break up due to 'printing press issues' related to the Euro.
It will be in less then 20 years.
I'm guessing about 10 when the baby boom retirements get into serious volume.
Of course the dollars (US, Aus and Loony) and pound will be tanking at the same time for the same reason.
Bad as it is there is only one entity (maybe 2, the fed and the mint) that can print dollars. I'm guessing at 50% rapid devaluation for single debtor nation currencies.
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It's not just about contracts being handed back to you. You might also want to determine the direction of research, which is simpler this way.
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The reason is we do have our own projects ....
Beagle 2 was a UK only project, launched on an ESA rocket, although largely unsuccessful it means that three countries have landed anything on Mars and the UK is one of them ...the other two countries don't have a very good success rate of landings .....
I don't believe it (Score:2)
Political Consolidation (Score:2)
Someone needs to take the reins and start doing something IN space. Fine, fine, fine, increased data analysis on the ground of satellite-based observation - boring!
Where's our space elevator? Where are material launch platforms designed to get things (not necessarily people) to orbit and back? Where's microgravity manufacturing, power generation and transmission, orbiting biodomes, space litter remediation - enoug
See website, move along (Score:2)
Is this it http://www.uk-space.com/ [uk-space.com] ??
Sounds like a grand day out! (Score:1)
...perhaps they can harvest some of that cheese from the moon again [imdb.com]?
Let me be the first to welcome... (Score:1, Flamebait)
Let me be the first to welcome the U.K. to the 1950s!
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Oh, come on... do I really have to put [joke] tags or smiley faces on that to convey that it's supposed to be a humorous comment?
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Regardless it is a joke and they picked an appropriate day to start it.
New Financial Year (Score:5, Informative)
In the UK the public sector (and a lot of provate firms too) begins the new financial year on 1st April, so this date is commonly the day that new government agencies start operating, and old ones are wound up. It's because until 1752 New Year's Day in Britain and its colonies was March 25th. In 1752 we adopted the Gregorian calendar, and New Year's Day moved to January 1st. Since then the tax year in the UK starts on April 5th (March 25th + 11) because moving from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar meant an adjustment of 11 days, but the Inland Revenue didn't want to lose any revenue from their annual accounts. April 1st became the common financial new year as it was the nearest whole-month start to that date.
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Other theory is that the modern holiday was first celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar; the term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar, which it replaced
from wikipedia
So, still appropriate.
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Wrong, sir. The tax year ends on April 5th, and begins on April 6th.
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Re:We're still a big powerful country! (Score:5, Informative)
You should probably stop watching Noels HQ and reading the daily mail.
British Crime Survey 2008-2009 states -
The BCS and police recorded crime differ in their coverage of crime. Overall, crime as measured by the BCS shows no change compared with the 2007/08 BCS with no change in most crime types. Crimes recorded by the police show a five per cent decrease compared with 2007/08, with decreases in most crime types.
HOW HAVE LEVELS OF CRIME CHANGED OVER THE LONGER TERM?
Long-term trends show that BCS crime rose steadily from 1981 through to the early 1990s, peaking in 1995. Crime then fell, making 1995 a significant turning point. The fall was substantial until 2004/05. Since then, BCS crime has shown little overall change with the exception of a statistically significant reduction of 10 per cent in 2007/08 (the lowest ever level since the first results in 1981). The apparent increase of five per cent in BCS crime this year is not statistically significant. Trends in BCS violence, vehicle-related theft and burglary broadly reflect the trend in all BCS crime.
the full report is here [homeoffice.gov.uk]
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Re:We're still a big powerful country! (Score:4, Insightful)
Reported crime is very different from low level intimidation by welfare bred chav thugs who know exactly how far they can push it before they will get in serious trouble, which is what I was talking about
In other words, you're a coward who's scared shitless of everyone around him, and you get your kicks out of whining on slashdot. Well, as long as you're willing to admit that, I guess I can't really argue with you.
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Isn't the solution to smack them down while they are still in their pre-/lowteens to learn them to shape up before they become adults?
All the symptoms should already be there.
And for the older kids out there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O6MchAeAkc [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fll10R1o16Q [youtube.com]
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Re:We're still a big powerful country! (Score:5, Insightful)
As a matter of course? Wow. It's really funny that this is your perception. A small anecdote for you. I'm South African, and I'm living in the UK (have been here for 9 years). My parents still live in South Africa. A recent phone conversation from my dad went something like this:
Dad: Where's [your wife]? ...
Me: She's out in [local city], she'll be back tonight at 11.
Dad: Good grief, will she be okay?
Me: What do you mean?
Dad: I mean, is it safe?
Me: Of course, she'll be fine.
Dad: But crime is so bad over there, are you sure?
* A brief pause while I ponder on the amazing situation of my Dad living in South Africa telling me crime is bad in the UK *
Me: Umm, it's really not that bad Dad.
Dad: God, I watch Sky news all the time, it sounds like a war zone. People getting stabbed all the time
Me: Uh, Dad, do you watch the news about South Africa at all?
Dad: Yeah, but it sounds much worse over there!
And that's the crux really: it seems much worse than it is because its sensationalised. Here's a tip: stop reading rags like The Sun, or the Daily Mail, and stop watching Sky News, or at the very least start analysing the "facts" these news outlets trot out. Most of the major news outlets in the UK rely on xenophobia and fear to sell their papers. It's really peculiar that people seem to lap it up and create this world of fear that really doesn't exist. Yes, I've seen "mindless" intimidation from a hoodie. I can probably count the number of instances on one hand, and that's having lived here for 9 years, some of them in some fairly "dodgy" parts of London. But that's hardly representative of life in the UK to generate the irrational fear you're exhibiting.
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Me: Uh, Dad, do you watch the news about South Africa at all?
Dad: Yeah, but it sounds much worse over there!
OK, I'm probably making a similar mistake the other way round, but isn't South Africa meant to have one of the highest car-jacking rates and some of the highest rates of violent crime in the world? I couldn't imagine here (the sleepy South of England) being worse than many places in the world in terms of crime levels, let alone South Africa.
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Here's a tip: stop reading rags like The Sun, or the Daily Mail, and stop watching Sky News, or at the very least start analysing the "facts" these news outlets trot out.
Heres another tip, don't trivialise serious social problems by using the red tops as a fig leaf or by comparison to third world hellholes.
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Re:We're still a big powerful country! (Score:4, Insightful)
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That was exactly the point I was trying to make - SA has one of the worst crime rates in the world, and yet my Dad's perception was that the UK was worse because of Sky's media coverage.
Seriously? Even Sky isn't that bad is it? I know that they dumb down the news (that's why I stopped watching it), but now it seems I should watch it for the same reason I watch Fox*; comedy.
*For the non-Brits: Yes, we get Fox on Satellite in the UK.
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when the country is running through one of the most serious economic crises of its existence.
Technological investment seems like a pretty good way to encourage long term economic growth and stability to me. It sure beats paying people to do fuck all, like the rest of our unelected socialist dictator's [wikipedia.org] retarded policies.
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Thats my interpretation of it. This will presumably mean that any university research project that wants to fly an instrument in some other nations spacecraft will now have to go through an endless round of paperwork with the "Strategic Space Agency" who will check that it fits with their political mandate to fly a second rate television celebrity into space in order to promote the socialist ideals of our barking mad government.
In other words the UK is going in the diametric opposite direction to the USA wh
Re:We're still a big powerful country! (Score:5, Insightful)
You clearly said "crime rates skyrocketing out of control". This is demonstrably untrue, and the fact that you made this claim indicates quite clearly that you have little actual knowledge of what you're talking about, and are just pulling vitriol out of your arse.
Yes, chavs intimdating people is unacceptable, and no it isn't as rife as you think it is, just because you watch police..camera..wankers every night on channel 5.
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You clearly said "crime rates skyrocketing out of control". This is demonstrably untrue
Really. Economic problems lead to social instability, which in turn lead to increased crime [bbc.co.uk] - so why would the UK government waste money on doing something the ESA can do better, for less, when they could be dealing with more important problems? Oh yes, because we're still a big powerful counttryyy, and if the Indians can do it why aren't we?
are just pulling vitriol out of your arse.
Explain that one to me. Explain how a mortally bankrupt country with endemic social problems can justify starting a space program when contributions to the ESA will pro
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I'm sure your gut-reaction objections to funding a space program are fascinating, but this entire post is a non-sequitur that does nothing to defend your claim that crime in the UK is "skyrocketing out of control". I've given you a clear, authoritative citation that says this isn't true.
You aren't paying attention to what I'm saying.
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Well done. You could also have pointed out that the Machine Gun [wikipedia.org] wasn't invented by the French, but even without that you managed to make him look like a complete tool.
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....
You know, this is the first time I've seen the "Offtopic" mod used correctly.
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There are lots of incentives for police forces to cook the books. Solving a murder takes lots of officers lots of time. Arresting someone for riding a bike without lights on and cautioning him or issuing a spot fine takes five minutes.
Both count as one crime solved when the KPIs are totted up.
I'd trust those figures the same way I'd hire a programmer based on LOC/day.
Now before any Grauniadista fires off the "Daily Mail reader" ad hominem, that doesn't mean that I think the opposite "this country's going
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> Yes we are! We have a worse economic situation than the worst of the PIIGS
Bollocks, Citation needed, I call bullshit and you made that up.
Re:Pigs are flying. (Score:5, Funny)
If you've ever experienced our climate, you should realise we'll put up with anything.
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If you've ever experienced our climate, you should realise we'll put up with anything.
Or believe in climate change?
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Perhaps that is the reason my ancestors decided to hop on the next ship to America to get out of there. About half of my ancestry is from the British Isles, mostly from England but it includes Wales, Scotland, and Ireland too.
I guess those that stayed behind could put up with anything :)
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The first positive news that comes out of the UK for ages. How do those people cope? Sheesh.
The amount of positive British news reported in the British media is roughly the same as the amount of positive American news reported in the American media.
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Still, my local has put the price of beer up before the budget is formerly announced, and no doubt will do so afterwards too. Guess I'll have to start drinking in a Wetherspoon's with the rest of the proles.
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Re:Pigs are flying. (Score:4, Insightful)
If you want an international perspective try watching the UK news on events in the USA .... we don't see many good news stories from the US either
You do have a School shooting most weeks, can't walk the streets in safety and are likely to get caught in the crossfire of an armed robbery most days .... or is this just (as I suspect) media hype and most Americans would not recognise their own country as portrayed in the UK Media
I suspect that the US Media do the same, and show the UK as nothing but doom and gloom and more restrictions and scandal, but the reality is very different
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based on my visits to the UK: beer
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Well me old China, we generally have a knees up round the old Joanna while eating marmite sandwiches, drinking warm beer and lamenting the loss of our Empire.
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Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace (Score:5, Funny)
"Euston, we have a problem!"
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Re:Quangos in Spaaaaaaaace (Score:4, Insightful)
Hmmm
They have already chosen the logo and colour scheme.
As for your references to Soviet UK, it should be noted that nepotism exists across the political spectrum. Yes we have too many quango's under the current Labour Government, just as we had too many quango's under the previous Conservative government...
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They seem to already have a logo [wikipedia.org], and a pretty nice one too.
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Although the "outer space is up" claim probably will require a cite.
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If UKSA so much as picks a logo and a colour scheme for its web site in its first year of existence, I'll be flabbergasted.
The first thing I noticed was the logo.
I would suggest that perhaps a significant portion of the agency's funding so far has been spent on the logo and branding.
Now that's in the bag, I suspect they'll be aiming their sights on improving their IT infrastructure.
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Blazingly hot or just a few K above 0?