The future of the UK Space space
Polling the UK public on national space investment
In July, the National Space Council met for the first time since its reinstatement. Created three years ago, and disbanded by former Prime Minister Liz Truss during her brief tenure in office, the body aims to offer ministerial leadership on developing the UK's space sector. July’s conference highlighted the significant benefits that the space sector brings to the UK, including over £16.4 billion a year and 45,000 jobs. Here at Public First, we wanted to ask firstly, what is the public’s perception of the space industry in the UK, and secondly, what this may mean for the future of UK politics. As part of our August omnibus, we decided to find out.
The first key finding of the poll was how little the public is aware of the UK’s current investment into space and the National Space strategy. 46% claim to be somewhat aware of the UK's presence in the space sector and 20% claim to know a little, but 43% claim to know nothing at all. Only 4% of respondents say that they know a lot about it. The data did display some variation, with men (+15% more likely than women to know something), younger people (50%+ of people aged 45-64 said they didn't know anything at all), and those with higher formal educational attainment (a bachelor's degree and more) proclaiming higher awareness.
Secondly, the public was more likely to consider future investment in the space industry important than current or past investment: 43% of respondents said it was important in the past, 46% in the present, and 58% in the future. At the present, the cost of living and economic uncertainty hold the public back from declaring space investment a priority for right now. Only 29% of the UK public believed that investing in the space sector is a priority for the UK right now. People were more likely to disagree (40%) that it is a priority. This trend excludes Conservative voters, who were consistently more in favour of the space industry and prioritising space investment throughout the polling (38%).
It is notable that the UK public considers public investment in space to be the most important in the future, with a quarter (24%) of which choosing to describe it as ‘very’ important. Thanks to an excess of space-related TV and movies, the space sector is often associated with ideas of the distant future and science fiction. Thanks to movies Star Wars and Interstellar, the idea of space and our future in it is fantastical, exotic, and futuristic. ‘Oh well, we will be living on Mars by then’ is a phrase too often used when discussing our planet and climate change. As a consequence the British public think of space as an inevitable in our future. When asked, 49% of the UK believes we ‘must invest in the space sector to prepare for the future’, as previously detailed, almost the same percentage who claim to know nothing at all about space. This view was most strongly held by young people (53% of 25-44-year-olds) and men (53%).
Why do the public think investment is important?
At last month's conference, the military capabilities of space investment was the key topic of discussion for then Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace, who claimed that “the war in Ukraine has highlighted just how critical space is to military operations”. When we asked the public if the UK should have a military presence in space, 46% agreed. Despite such strong support from the public, 33% of this group also admit that they also didn't quite know what space militarisation meant and an extra 30% didn’t know enough to make a judgement.
Conservative voters were the most defence-minded when it came to the benefits of space investment, +10% more likely than the general public to be in support of a UK military presence in space. Moreover, later in the poll when given multiple options, Conservative voters were most likely to choose defence as the biggest benefits of the UK’s investment into space (43% of respondents). Conservatives were +15% more likely than the public to identify defence as a benefit of investment.
Along with Conservative voters, men were also +7% more likely than women to support a military presence in space and +9% more likely to recognise the defence benefits of a strong space sector.
After defence, Conservative voters were also conscious of the benefits of employment within the space industry, as a creator of jobs (40%), and an instigator of skill development (31%). The sector has been seen, especially by Conservatives (66%) and young people (72% of 18-24-year-olds), as a motivator for many young people to pursue careers in science and technology.
Although less confident than Conservative voters, the public were most likely to rank scientific discoveries and technological developments for use outside of the space industry as the top benefits of space investment by the general public.
During the Cold War, the high volume of national investment in the space race led to a significant number of scientific and technological developments, such as LED lighting, cordless vacuums, solar panels, new forms of insulation, and medical imaging techniques, to name a few. Our polling has shown that the public is aware of the industry's wider benefits. When asked, 57% of the UK public believe that technological developments made by the space industry benefited other industries, including climate change research (44%), and satellite-based services like communications, weather forecasting, and navigation systems (53%).
Where should investment come from?
Although national investment has been the typical model of space funding in the past, does this model fit the future? Back in 2021, while the rest of the world was battling a virus pandemic, three billionaires (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sir Richard Branson) and their respective empires, were battling to be the first to commercialise space travel. Now in 2023, space is becoming increasingly commercialised with 1,293 space organisations in the UK in 2021. If Britain wants to remain on course to become a "global power in space", as defence Secretary Ben Wallace has claimed it should, it will need the necessary investment.
Yet, the British public are not convinced space investment should come from the Government. When asked, 71% of the public would like to see some form of private investment in space - either equally matched by Government spending (43%), or as the entire funding source (19%). This is particularly true of men (78% would like to see private investment, 23% entirely financed by the private sector), and respondents from higher social grades (75% of both AB and C1). Only 8% of the public thought that space investment should entirely come from the Government.
In conclusion…
Our polling has shown that the UK believes the space industry to be crucial to the future of the UK, with half of those asked confident that ‘we must invest in the space sector to prepare for the future’. When asked about the national benefits, respondents were able to identify defence, employment, and both scientific discoveries and technological developments as some of the most significant results of a national space investment.
Despite an overwhelming positive view of the merits of the sector, the UK public has also demonstrated a shockingly low level of understanding of what investment in the industry would mean for the UK. It was discovered that while 24% claim to know a little or more of the sector, the majority (43%) know nothing at all. This finding reflects the peculiarity of the UK space industry, which has been able to inspire strong support within the UK public, despite being understood by so few. A phenomenon rare in modern politics and arguably caused by the futuristic and fantastical way that the public thinks about space.
Lastly, our polling has also revealed that a hub of support for space investment can be found within the young, male, and Conservative demographic groups, who’ views consistently reflected higher interest and support for the industry. More research is needed to understand the trends within these groups, as well as further study into how much the public is willing to finance space development in the future. So, we plan to keep digging!
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