The UK will “overcome” European fears of an emerging rival in the space industry, according to David Morris. The Conservative Chair of the Parliamentary Space Committee discussed the future of the UK’s involvement with ESA and the Galileo project after Brexit with Express.co.uk. He responded to comments from Jan Woerner, the boss of the European Space Agency (ESA), who described British plans to develop a rival to Galileo, the EU’s satellite navigation, as a “bad idea”.
Mr Morris said: “I know that Jan was very concerned about how things would be going.
“But the reality is that the UK is leaving Europe.
“We’ve now got to start looking at how best to utilise not just space capabilities but trade capabilities across the board.
“So even though ESA has its concerns, I’m sure we can overcome them.”
READ MORE: WATCH: SpaceX rocket booster fails to land correctly – misses ship
Mr Woerner had told Express.co.uk: “I don’t like Brexit, to be very blunt.
“I don’t like it, because this is artificial, what we are doing.
“There might be some effects, for instance, through the Galileo programme, which is implemented through ESA, or the Copernicus programme.
“We will do our utmost to reduce all the impact as much as we can from our point of view.”
He added: “We are interfacing with a space command that is in America. I went out there to see them six months ago.
“We’re starting to not just look into one area or one country or one nation’s capabilities.
“We’re starting now to cross-pollinate in space so that we work together on different projects.”
Around £400million has been staked in satellite constellation company OneWeb by the UK Government.
OneWeb promises global broadband services, something Boris Johnson is especially keen to deliver now that the UK’s relationship with Chinese tech giant Huawei has soured.