United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System


The United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System is in development to rival the European Union’s Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System after Brexit.
The system will be run by the United Kingdom Space Agency. Satellites are planned to be launched from the proposed spaceport in Sutherland, Scotland using a vertical launch platform in 2025, with the United Kingdom GNSS planned to be fully operational by 2030. In 2019, it was estimated that the cost of the project would be £5 billion.
The United Kingdom government has said that it wants the United Kingdom GNSS to be openly compatible with the United States' Global Positioning System and Five Eyes. Both the United States of America and the other Five Eyes nations are contributing their expertise to assist the planning and construction, and in exchange these nations will gain access to the United Kingdom's GNSS encrypted area after it is launched.

History

The United Kingdom GNSS was first discussed by the UK government in May 2018, after the European Union told the United Kingdom that it would no longer be able to use the secure component of the EU's Galileo, the equivalent of the USA's GPS. One suggested name for the UK Global Navigation Satellite System GNSS is Newton, after the English mathematician Sir Isaac Newton.
In November 2019, the United Kingdom's Space Trade Association released a United Kingdom Space Manifesto, in which they state that the United Kingdom "participation in a new global satellite navigation system must be secured".
In July 2020, the United Kingdom Government and India's Bharti Enterprises were successful in a joint bid to purchase the bankrupt OneWeb satellite company, with the UK paying $500m for a 45% stake.