Advancing UK Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space Solutions Worldwide
  • Home
  • /
  • Space
  • /
  • HM The Queen and HRH The Princess Royal visit Spire's Glasgow facility

Space Events

HM The Queen and HRH The Princess Royal visit Spire's Glasgow facility

Her Majesty The Queen and Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal today visited the Glasgow facility of Spire Global (Spire), a provider of space-based data, analytics and space services.

Image courtesy Spire

The visit was part of a series of engagements carried out by The Royal Family across Scotland this week.

Whilst touring the facility, Her Majesty and Her Royal Highness were met by Joel Spark, co-founder and Vice President of Engineering, Space Services at Spire and Dr Hina Khan, Senior Project Manager. In addition to getting a glimpse of where Spire makes its satellites, The Queen and The Princess were presented with an overview of the technology and shown how the data harnessed from the current constellation is leveraged to solve real world problems facing governments, businesses and humanity.

Advertisement
Gulfstream RT

Joel Spark, VP Engineering, Space Services at Spire, said: “It was an honour to welcome Her Majesty and Her Royal Highness, where we were able to demonstrate the benefits of our technology and how these cutting-edge capabilities are used to better inform our understanding of the world. At a critical time for our planet, continuous technological advancements are needed to tackle the impending threats posed by climate change. The space industry in Scotland, and across the wider UK, has ambitious targets for growth over the coming decade. At Spire Global, we are determined to play our part in realising those ambitions.”

Spire designs and manufactures all its satellites in-house at its Glasgow facility in Skypark, where it has been present since 2015. Spire has announced plans to swap the existing 11,000 sq ft site for a 29,500 sq ft space, also located at Skypark, later this year.

UK Space Agency Chief Executive Dr Graham Turnock said: “From space-based earth observation and data analysis to world-class satellite design and manufacture, Scotland is pivotal to the UK’s ambitions in space. Thanks to its science and engineering strengths and geographical position, Scotland is at the heart of our plans to launch satellites into orbit from home soil in 2022, and we’re proud that the Scottish space sector is growing fast and creating the high-skilled jobs that will power economic growth. I’m delighted that The Queen and The Princess Royal have chosen to visit space businesses today, and I hope Her Majesty and Her Royal Highness will be as thrilled as I am about this extraordinary success story.”

The Scottish Government has publicly backed the goal of growing Scotland’s space sector to £4 billion by 2030, and the UK Government has set a target to grow the UK’s share of the global space market to 10% over the same timeframe. According to Scottish Development International, Glasgow manufactures more satellites than anywhere in the world outside of the United States.

Advertisement
ODU RT

 


 

Advertisement
General Atomics LB
Serco appoints Keith Williams as Chair

Aerospace Defence Security Space

Serco appoints Keith Williams as Chair

4 July 2025

Serco has appointed Keith Williams to the Board as a Non-Executive Director and Chair designate.

UK launches tender for space debris removal

Space

UK launches tender for space debris removal

3 July 2025

The UK Space Agency has launched a major new procurement process to tackle the growing threat of space debris, initiating a £75.6 million tender for the nation’s first mission to actively remove defunct satellites from orbit.

Boeing appoints Stephen Parker as CEO of BDS

Defence Security Space

Boeing appoints Stephen Parker as CEO of BDS

3 July 2025

Boeing has appointed Stephen (Steve) Parker as president and chief executive officer of its Defense, Space & Security (BDS) business, effective immediately.

UK students to launch international space mission

Space

UK students to launch international space mission

3 July 2025

A team of students from the University of Surrey, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Southampton are working to fit equipment they designed, made and tested to a suborbital launch vehicle which aims to launch 900km into space.

Advertisement
Gulfstream RT
Airbus-built Sentinel-4 launched onboard MTG weather satellite

Space

Airbus-built Sentinel-4 launched onboard MTG weather satellite

2 July 2025

The European Space Agency (ESA) and its partners have confirmed the successful launch of the Airbus-built Sentinel-4, a cutting-edge air quality monitoring instrument hosted on the third generation Meteosat (MTG-S1) weather satellite.

Teledyne CIS120 sensors launch on GOSAT-GW

Space

Teledyne CIS120 sensors launch on GOSAT-GW

1 July 2025

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, a provider of advanced imaging solutions, has confirmed that two CIS120 sensors designed and manufactured by Teledyne Space Imaging will play a major part in the third in a series of Japanese climate change and Earth observation satellite missions.

Advertisement
Leonardo RT