Growth plan backs space exploration role for RAF base

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen, Scotland): Growth plan backs space exploration role for RAF base

Plans to develop a space industry in Moray received official backing last night from the Treasury.

A Budget document setting out the government’s Plan for Growth says: “In the long term, RAF Lossiemouth has the location, facilities and infrastructure for space tour-ism flights and the potential to become the European centre for space tourism.”

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said: “We will do everything we can to make this happen.”

And Moray SNP MP Angus Robertson, who has long championed the idea, said: “This is very encouraging.”

He said he hoped the Scottish Government would use some of the extra funding to which it will be entitled – expected to total more than £100million – from UK Government plans to create 21 enterprise zones in England to create a zone in Moray, particularly after withdrawal of the RAF from Kinloss.

Mr Robertson said it could form the basis for the development of a space industry, but he warned Lossiemouth would have to remain open as an RAF base.

He said “the real prize would be the development of space technology involving low-level small satellites”, as well as the provision of flights for super-rich tourists.

Virgin Galactic, which originally considered future operations for Lossiemouth, has said it has no plans to proceed – but that was before the disclosure of Treasury support for the idea.

It is included in a section buried in the document, revealing the global space industry is worth £160billion and is expected to grow at 5% a year for the next 20 years.

The document concluded: “The government wants the UK to be the European centre for space tourism and will work with the international regulatory authorities to define regulations for novel space vehicles that offer low-cost access to space.”

Virgin Galactic is developing a craft capable of reaching orbit at a base in the US