Glasgow has quietly become the small satellite capital of Europe, with the Scottish Government saying more of the compact spacecraft are built in the city than anywhere else on the continent. Now that position is being tested, as governments across Europe commit billions to space programmes of their own and start buying satellites directly from domestic suppliers.
The cluster grew without a master plan. Clyde Space, founded by engineer Craig Clark in 2005, bet early on CubeSats, the shoebox-sized satellites built from 10cm modules that can be stacked and fitted with cameras, sensors and radios. Working alongside the University of Strathclyde, the company built Scotland’s first satellite, UKube-1, and drew others to the city, including Alba Orbital, Craft Prospect and the US operator Spire, which opened its European base in Glasgow in 2015. Scotland’s wider space sector earned £335 million in 2022-23, up 69% in five years, and employs more than 2,800 people outside satellite broadcasting.
The competition is getting better funded. Germany’s defence ministry plans to spend around €35 billion on military space capability, including more than 100 encrypted communications satellites, while Finnish radar satellite firm ICEYE raised more than €1 billion in June at a valuation above €10 billion, with the Finnish state lifting its stake to roughly 12%. Analysts say that kind of public purchasing matters because companies with a large home customer tend to keep an edge, and UK public space funding trails both France and Germany.
Some movement is already visible. Clyde Space is now part of Sweden’s AAC group, Alba Orbital has moved its headquarters to the United States while keeping a Scottish team, and Spire has added manufacturing in Munich. Prof Malcolm Macdonald of Strathclyde describes the situation not as decline but as rivals catching up, warning that other parts of Europe are moving faster and investing more aggressively.
There are still signs of confidence. South African-founded camera maker Simera Sense is opening a production site at EastWorks in Dalmarnock with 20 skilled jobs, and SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland could eventually give Scotland launch capacity to match its manufacturing base. Industry figures argue the answer is government contracts rather than grants, giving young firms paying customers and a track record they can sell abroad. The question for Glasgow is less whether it can build a space industry, which it already has, and more whether its next stage of growth stays in the city.
