The King opens UK Space and Defence Gateway at Harwell

His Majesty The King has officially opened the UK Space and Defence Gateway at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, marking a new milestone for the UK’s space and defence sectors.

The Gateway will act as a dedicated hub for collaboration between government, academia, innovators, investors and industry. Based in a new co-working and events space at the heart of the Harwell Space Cluster, it is intended to help businesses start, grow and scale in the UK while connecting innovation with investment.

The initiative is aligned with the principles of the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Astra Carta, a framework launched by His Majesty, as Prince of Wales, to support a sustainable future for the space sector.

During the visit, the Sustainable Markets Initiative announced a partnership with Harwell Science and Innovation Campus to advance the Astra Carta principles and establish an investment council. The Astra Carta Seal will also be installed in the UK Space and Defence Gateway.

Harwell strengthens UK space and defence collaboration

The King was welcomed to Harwell by Dr Barbara Ghinelli, founder of the UK Space and Defence Gateway and director of innovation clusters and Harwell Campus at UKRI-STFC; Space Minister Baroness Liz Lloyd; Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, Chief of the Air Staff; and Marjorie Glasgow BEM, the Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.

His Majesty visited STFC’s RAL Space facility, the UK’s National Space Laboratory, before touring the Quad, which will be home to the new Gateway.

RAL Space has supported space missions for more than 60 years and has contributed to more than 200 instruments in orbit. Its work includes Earth observation capabilities used to support climate action, biodiversity monitoring and environmental resilience.

Harwell is home to Europe’s largest concentration of space organisations, supporting more than 120 public and private space organisations. These include national research laboratories, sovereign test facilities, start-ups, scale-ups and multinational companies. The campus also sits alongside more than 330 defence and security organisations within the OBC Defence and Security Cluster.

Space companies demonstrate capability to The King

During the visit, the King saw demonstrations from fast-growing space companies including Astroscale, Magdrive, Open Cosmos, Orbit Fab, Oxford Space Systems and Space Solar, as well as the European Space Agency.

Dr Barbara Ghinelli said the Gateway was “not only a physical hub with access to multidisciplinary cutting-edge facilities” but “a new way of working” across civil and defence space.

She said it would bring together stakeholders across government, industry, academia and the investment community to create a clearer pathway between innovation and scale-up.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth said the Defence Investment Plan’s funding for space would enable the UK to back innovative companies and help deliver technologies that underpin national prosperity and security.

He said: “We’re ready to work with industry, through this gateway, to keep space safe, for the mutual benefit of all nations.”

Dr Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, welcomed the Gateway as a new neighbour for ESA, whose UK base at Harwell houses its climate, telecommunications and integrated applications teams.

The visit concluded with the King unveiling a plaque made from a sustainable material based on recycled plastic to mark the official opening.