£100m spent on space facilities will allow kit tests in UK

The UK government will invest more than £100 million, mostly from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, on space testing facilities, Jo Johnson, the universities and science minister, has announced.

Some £99m will be used to create a national satellite testing facility at Harwell in Oxfordshire, which is due to open in early 2020, Johnson said on 11 July.

Another £4m will be spent on building a national space propulsion facility at Wescott Venture Park in Buckinghamshire.