U.K. commercial spaceport.
An artist's concept of a U.K. commercial spaceport. Credit: UK Space Agency

The British government is offering grants for ventures that want to launch from new spaceports in the country.

The UK Space Agency announced the program Thursday that will provide grants worth up to £10 million ($12.5 million) to joint ventures of British launch companies and proposed spaceports.

The ventures have to demonstrate that they will be ready to begin launches by 2020.

The government is also expected to introduce supporting legislation later this month. [BBC]


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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...