Brexit casts doubts on future of UK Earth-observation industry

Earth-observation companies in the UK have warned that leaving the European Union could harm the industry, even if the country retains access to data from the EU’s Copernicus satellite programme.

In a survey circulated among the members of the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies (Barsc), nine of 10 respondents said Brexit would have a negative or very negative impact on the British remote sensing industry.

Asked what impact Brexit might have, many said they feared that the UK’s influence on the future development of the Copernicus programme would diminish.