polar platform).
The polar platform, for which British Aerospace is
positioned to act prime contractor, is central to our priority space
objective of exploiting earth observation techniques for commercial and
environmental purposes.
7. The UK participated fully in negotiating the terms of the Agreement.
It lays down the essential ground rules for this highly ambitious
collaborative programme. Given the high cost of space activity,
international collaboration is the only practicable way forward if the
potential of space as a tool - including in this case support for our
environmental policy is to be realised.
Without the necessary
legislation UK interests would be damaged. Legal advice is that such
legislation should be in place prior to ratification.
If the UK does
not ratify the Agreement by the due date, we would risk opening the IGA
to re-negotiation and casting doubt on our commitment to the Columbus
programme and the future of the polar platform. This would be a serious
blow to our national space policy, be politically highly embarrassing
and weaken our credibility as a partner in international space activity.
Expenditure and manpower implications
8. The Bill would have no implications for government expenditure and
manpower over and above the 150 million referred to in paragraph 6.
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