The British National Space Centre (or BNSC) is a voluntary partnership between eleven UK government departments and research councils. It was formed in 1985 in order to coordinate UK civil space activities. The UK civil space programme focuses on space science, Earth observation, satellite telecommunications, and global navigation (e.g. using systems like GPS and Galileo). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ... Dr Ian Phares Pearson (born 5 April 1959, West Midlands) is a politician in the United Kingdom. ... Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ... Space science is an all-encompassing term that describes most all of the various science fields that are concerned with the study of the Universe, generally also meaning excluding the Earth and outside of the Earths atmosphere. Originally, all of these fields were considered part of astronomy. ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ... The Galileo positioning system, referred to simply as Galileo, is a planned Global Navigation Satellite System, to be built by the European Satellite Navigation Industries for the European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA) as an alternative to the United States operated Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian...

Rather than being a full space agency as maintained in other countries, the BNSC consists of around fifty civil servants on rotation from other government departments. Much of Britain's yearly space budget of US$414 million is contributed by the Department of Trade and Industry or controlled by the partnership rather than the BNSC, and over half of that budget flows directly to the European Space Agency.^[1] The budget for BNSC headquarters is nearer US$2 million.^[2] The Department of Trade and Industry is a United Kingdom government department. ... Paris headquarters The ESA control room in Darmstadt, Germany The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1974, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 17 member states. ...

BNSC Partners

• Department of Trade and Industry, and its subsidiary Office of Science and Technology
• Department for Transport
• Ministry of Defence
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• Department for Education and Skills
• Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
• Natural Environment Research Council
• Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council
• Meteorological Office

The Department of Trade and Industry is a United Kingdom government department. ... The Office of Science and Technology is a non-ministerial government department of the British government, headed by the Chief Scientific Adviser, currently Sir David King, who took over from Sir (now Lord) Robert May in 2000. ... In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the transport network. ... The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Whitehall, seen from St. ... The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in England. ... The Department for Education and Skills is a department in the United Kingdom government created in 2001. ... Aerial view of Rutherford Appleton Lab. ... NERC logo The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British research council. ... PPARC is an abbreviation for the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, and is the UKs strategic science investment agency based in Swindon. ... The new building on the edge of Exeter The Met Office (originally an abbreviation for Meteorological Office, but now the official name in itself), which has its headquarters at Exeter in Devon, is the United Kingdoms national weather service. ...

See also

• National Space Centre
• Douglas Millard, An Overview of United Kingdom Space Activity 1957-1987, ESA Publications.

The National Space Centre is the UKs only visitor attraction devoted to space science and astronomy. ... This article is about the European Space Agency. ...

References

1. ^ BNSC - How we work, BNSC website, retrieved 9 March 2007: "In the year 2005-6, BNSC's partners spent £207 million on space programmes - about 65% of which was the UK's contribution to European Space Agency projects like Cassini-Huygens, Envisat and Galileo."
2. ^ British Audit Finds Strengths, Needs in Space Program, Peter de Selding, Space News, 29 March 2004.

External links

• British National Space Centre