One giant £136k leap for Filton's space industry

Metro Mayor Dan Norris has secured funding to boost the growing West of England space industry.

The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority has secured £136,000 from the UK Space Agency to fund work on Space West - the region’s “space cluster” - while the cash boost will double the 1,000 people working in the region's space industry in just four years.

Mayor Norris made the announcement ahead of opening the UK Space Agency’s Ignite Space forum at Aerospace Bristol in Filton in March, attended by over 300 of the UK’s best and brightest space thinkers and companies.

There are more than 100 top notch West of England organisations involved in space activities right across the region like the University of Bath, and

Bristol’s Thales Alenia Space who have built satellite technology used in important space missions like the European Space Agency's ‘Copernicus’ to track the health of the planet.

Meanwhile the National Composite Centre in Emerson

Green acts as a base for scientists, researchers and businesses to work collaboratively across labs and offices.

Mr Norris added: “The West of England space sector is a success story. From the