Explanatory note

Section 3(1)(a) of the Space Industry Act 2018 (“the Act”) prohibits a person from carrying out spaceflight activities in the United Kingdom except under the authority of a licence under that section. Section 1(6) of the Act defines “spaceflight activities”. Under section 3(2) of the Act, an “operator licence” is a licence authorising a person to carry out spaceflight activities.

Section 7(1) of the Act provides that range control services may only be provided by the Secretary of State or a person authorised by a range control licence to provide the services. Section 6 of the Act sets out the meaning of “range control services”.

Sections 4(2) and 7(4) enable regulations to be made exempting persons or activities, either by the regulations themselves or by the regulator, from the requirement to hold an operator licence or from the prohibition on unlicensed persons providing range control services, but only if the Secretary of State is satisfied of certain matters.

Regulation 3 exempts a person who falls within the definition of an authorised person in regulation 2, from the requirement to hold an operator licence. The exemption granted to an authorised person is for military-related activities. Further, the spaceflight activities an authorised person is permitted by regulation 3 to carry out are limited to permitted activities as defined in regulation 2.

Regulation 4 sets out the circumstances in which a person is exempt from the prohibition in section 7(1)(b) from providing range control services without the authorisation of a range control licence.

Regulation 5 amends the Space Industry Regulations 2021 to exclude a ship in regulations 3(c) of these Regulations from references to “space site” in the Space Industry Regulations 2021.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.

An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.