Imperial professor set to steer the UK Space Agency

Professor David Southwood is appointed Chair of the Steering Board for the UK Space Agency as it navigates Brexit and celebrates Tim Peake's success. Professor David Southwood is a Senior Research Investigator in the Department of Physics at Imperial, focusing on solar-terrestrial physics and planetary science. He has also been the Director of Science and Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency and President of the Royal Astronomical Society. He now takes on a new role as Chair of the Steering Committee for the UK Space Agency , which advises the agency on its strategic direction. Hayley Dunning sat down with him to discuss the strengths of the UK space industry and what the future holds. Congratulations on the new role! What are you looking forward to? It's particularly exciting to take it on at the moment where we have to redefine everything and redesign it because there's been a vote to leave the European Union. Space is one thing this country hasn't been able to do on its own, ever. In the early 1960s we chose to go with the Europeans, so we have more than 50 years of cooperation with Europe. We will remain in the European Space Agency and we will remain in the EUMETSAT [European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites] but we will not remain in the EU, and that's increasingly where space for everyday life is being organised - navigation systems and environmental monitoring, and so on. So we've got a real challenge, and I guess I like living a difficult life! What areas of space is the UK involved in?