When you think of the world’s great space nations, no doubt the usual suspects come to mind. There are the classic two, the USA and Russia, followed by recent explorers China. And while the UK has had a space program since the 1950s, it hasn’t quite got the rep of those massive superpowers.
But that could all soon change. In a summit in Los Angeles earlier this month, Scotland apparently unveiled plans to become ‘Europe’s leading space nation’. Sounds cool, eh?
The plans were laid out by Scotland’s Innovation Minister Richard Lochhead, who travelled to California to seek US investment and show how the country can have a sustainable space industry. Lochhead was set to visit several companies, as well as attend the Space Economy Summit on October 11.
If you’re thinking that Scotland sounds like a bit of a random choice for a space industry, well, it isn’t really. In figures from 2019 to 2020, apparently a fifth of all UK space jobs were in Scotland. The Scottish government wants to more than double its number of space sector jobs to 20,000 by 2030.
So, could Scotland actually become the continent’s leading space nation? Could north of the border become a land of rockets and launchpads? Maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Did you see that RIBA’s prestigious ‘house of the year’ shortlist has been announced for 2023?
Plus: Glasgow has just been named one of the best cities in the world.
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