UK announces two new space facilities

BBC : The UK’s Harwell Science and Innovation Campus near Oxford is gaining two more space-related facilities. The European Centre for Space Applications and Telecoms (ECSAT), the European Space Agency’s first major research center in the UK, will be a center for innovation and cutting-edge research in different space and terrestrial technologies, particularly telecommunications. The Satellite Applications Catapult will develop new satellite-based products and services. Harwell already houses several major companies and organizations, including the Diamond synchrotron facility and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, which builds satellite equipment. The new facilities are expected to boost the UK’s economy and strengthen the country’s presence in space.