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Star wars: alarm at space agency's 130 meetings with MoD
Senior officials from the UK Space Agency held over 130 meetings with the Ministry of Defence in 2024, prompting renewed concerns about the "weaponisation" of space.
The meetings discussed the spaceport being built at SaxaVord on Shetland, using nuclear reactors in space and collaboration with the US, NATO and arms companies. Two members of the agency's advisory board also work for the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The subject of one meeting was kept secret because it was about a project that was "highly confidential and not in the public domain". Releasing its title risked "compromising our nation's security", said the agency.
The meetings, revealed in response to a freedom of information request, have been criticised by campaigners. Though Scotland's bid to build spaceports is marketed as scientific research, it is driven by the defence industry, they say.
They warn that space could become a "new frontier of conflict" that would put humanity at risk. They fear that spaceports could be "a trojan horse for the arms industry" and demand transparency.
The Space Agency and the MoD both stressed it was necessary to work together "to protect critical national infrastructure from space-based threats".
SaxaVord, on the northern tip of the most northerly inhabited Shetland isle, Unst, is leading the race to open a spaceport in Scotland. It told MPs in February that it would be ready for its first launch in July.
The Shetland News also reported in February that Scotland's richest man and biggest private landowner, Anders Holch Povlsen, had increased his stake in SaxaVord from 25 per cent to over 50 per cent, making him the majority shareholder.
The Ferret reported in 2021 that Povlsen secretly lobbied the Scottish Government against building another spaceport on the A' Mhoine peninsula in north Sutherland, near one of his estates.
Revealed: how landowner lobbied minister on spaceport
In December 2024 work on the Sutherland spaceport was put on hold, with initial launches planned from SaxaVord instead. There are also spaceports planned for Machrihanish on the Kintyre peninsula, Prestwick in South Ayrshire and North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.
The UK Space Agency was asked to list all meetings by six of its senior staff with the MoD in 2024. The agency responded under freedom of information law with a six-page list taken from calendar records, showing over 130 meetings. Some were attended by more than one agency official.
Nine meetings of the agency's advisory board and its audit and risk assurance committee in 2024 also involved people who work for the MoD. According to the agency's register of interests, two of its non-executive board members, Kevin Shaw and Peter Watkins, are paid advisors for the MoD.
Most of the 130 meetings were given a title, summarising their purpose. On 15 January 2024 the Space Agency's chief executive, Dr Paul Bate, met the MoD for a "discussion on SaxaVord and next steps for His Majesty's Government".
Earlier the same month, agency director, Matt Archer, discussed SaxaVord with the government's National Security Strategic Investment Fund, which invests in defence. On 27 March 2024 Archer met the MoD with Orbex, the Scottish space company that switched its planned launches from Sutherland to SaxaVord.
Archer attended four meetings in 2024 with the MoD to discuss NATO space plans. Along with the MoD, he also met with the US Space Force and at the US Embassy.
Chief executive Bate met four times with Major General Paul Tedman, for "catch-ups", lunch and a discussion on the MoD's strategic defence review. Tedman was appointed as the UK's military space commander in May 2024, having previously been a deputy director at US Space Command.
The Space Agency's two deputy chief executives, Annelies Look and Chris White-Horne, also had lunch with Tedman on 22 October 2024. In addition, Look and Bate had meetings with the MoD about the use of nuclear power in space, and White-Horne discussed "space defence civil alignment"...
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Senior officials from the UK Space Agency held over 130 meetings with the Ministry of Defence in 2024, prompting renewed concerns about the "weaponisation" of space.
The meetings discussed the spaceport being built at SaxaVord on Shetland, using nuclear reactors in space and collaboration with the US, NATO and arms companies. Two members of the agency's advisory board also work for the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The subject of one meeting was kept secret because it was about a project that was "highly confidential and not in the public domain". Releasing its title risked "compromising our nation's security", said the agency.
The meetings, revealed in response to a freedom of information request, have been criticised by campaigners. Though Scotland's bid to build spaceports is marketed as scientific research, it is driven by the defence industry, they say.
They warn that space could become a "new frontier of conflict" that would put humanity at risk. They fear that spaceports could be "a trojan horse for the arms industry" and demand transparency.
The Space Agency and the MoD both stressed it was necessary to work together "to protect critical national infrastructure from space-based threats".
SaxaVord, on the northern tip of the most northerly inhabited Shetland isle, Unst, is leading the race to open a spaceport in Scotland. It told MPs in February that it would be ready for its first launch in July.
The Shetland News also reported in February that Scotland's richest man and biggest private landowner, Anders Holch Povlsen, had increased his stake in SaxaVord from 25 per cent to over 50 per cent, making him the majority shareholder.
The Ferret reported in 2021 that Povlsen secretly lobbied the Scottish Government against building another spaceport on the A' Mhoine peninsula in north Sutherland, near one of his estates.
Revealed: how landowner lobbied minister on spaceport
In December 2024 work on the Sutherland spaceport was put on hold, with initial launches planned from SaxaVord instead. There are also spaceports planned for Machrihanish on the Kintyre peninsula, Prestwick in South Ayrshire and North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.
The UK Space Agency was asked to list all meetings by six of its senior staff with the MoD in 2024. The agency responded under freedom of information law with a six-page list taken from calendar records, showing over 130 meetings. Some were attended by more than one agency official.
Nine meetings of the agency's advisory board and its audit and risk assurance committee in 2024 also involved people who work for the MoD. According to the agency's register of interests, two of its non-executive board members, Kevin Shaw and Peter Watkins, are paid advisors for the MoD.
Most of the 130 meetings were given a title, summarising their purpose. On 15 January 2024 the Space Agency's chief executive, Dr Paul Bate, met the MoD for a "discussion on SaxaVord and next steps for His Majesty's Government".
Earlier the same month, agency director, Matt Archer, discussed SaxaVord with the government's National Security Strategic Investment Fund, which invests in defence. On 27 March 2024 Archer met the MoD with Orbex, the Scottish space company that switched its planned launches from Sutherland to SaxaVord.
Archer attended four meetings in 2024 with the MoD to discuss NATO space plans. Along with the MoD, he also met with the US Space Force and at the US Embassy.
Chief executive Bate met four times with Major General Paul Tedman, for "catch-ups", lunch and a discussion on the MoD's strategic defence review. Tedman was appointed as the UK's military space commander in May 2024, having previously been a deputy director at US Space Command.
The Space Agency's two deputy chief executives, Annelies Look and Chris White-Horne, also had lunch with Tedman on 22 October 2024. In addition, Look and Bate had meetings with the MoD about the use of nuclear power in space, and White-Horne discussed "space defence civil alignment"...