The final investment frontier

This inevitably led the nation's top engineers and space enthusiasts, such as Francis Thomas Bacon, to work with Nasa on developing the Apollo 11 flight that sent Neil Armstrong to the moon. Another hall of famer is Helen Sharman, who in 1991 - 30 years after the Soviet Union first put a man into space - was the first Briton to be sent into orbit. The Sheffield-born chemist successfully fended off 13,000 applications to gain access to the Anglo-Russian Project Juno, yet like Mr Bacon her experience came courtesy of overseas technology.

Away from the spotlight, however, Britain steadily carved out a reputation as a leader of satellite and probe construction. Though not quite as exciting as sending a man, monkey or dog into space, this mostly culminated in co-operation on a number of smaller-scale European projects, like the ill-fated Beagle 2 one that failed to land on Mars.

That all changed by 2014, though, when Britain's reputation as a peripheral player in space exploration finally came to a grinding halt. After millions of miles of travel, the 10-year Rosetta mission's finale gripped the entire world and ended in glory when the Philae lander unit achieved its goal of docking on the comet's surface.

The players

As well as firing up interest in space, this European mission also put Britain's technology on the map, particularly as several UK businesses developed many of the systems critical to its success. This list includes Aim-traded SciSys (SSY), the computer software and services specialist responsible for the mission control system development and maintenance, and better-known companies such as e2v Technologies (E2V) and BAE Systems (BA.).

Europe's largest defence contractor, BAE, has its fingers in a number of space-related pies, including producing a smartphone for Rosetta's communication at its technology centre in Essex. While tightening military budgets have caused the group all kinds of problems, other areas like space and cyber security have provided some respite. This includes a $540m (£346m) arrangement with the US Air Force Space Command to maintain space radars used for missile warning and space surveillance operations.

Nonetheless, at 462p, shares in the aerospace and defence group trade on a modest 12 times forecast earnings, making it cheap relative to peers like Lockheed Martin (US:LMT) and Thales (FR:HO). That's certainly not bad for a company that has outperformed the FTSE 100 in each of the last three years and a yield of 4.4 per cent.

Another company enjoying extraterrestrial success is niche electronics producer e2v (buy, 170p, 04 Dec 2014). The Chelmsford-based manufacturer of radio frequency and microwave components supplied the camera systems used to capture images of Rosetta's journey and the comet's surface, while even helping to map the landing spot.

In fact, pretty much all the images you saw of the mission came courtesy of e2v's imaging business, which has now been involved in over 150 space missions since the 1980s. What's more, the technology firm is so enthusiastic about the growth potential of space that its semiconductors division, too, has got in on the act.

Increasing demand for bandwidth used to transmit information between satellites in space underpins demand for e2v's radiation-resistant semiconductors, says Marc Saunders, president of space imaging at the firm. According to him, space has become the "fastest growing segment" of its business, with operating margins at the interim point of 22 per cent for semiconductors and 10 per cent for imaging.

If anything, worldwide coverage of events like Rosetta has driven even more orders for space products, in what he describes as "the most extreme of any technology market" with "a high barrier to entry". From a personal and business view, Mr Saunders is delighted that the world is starting to take space science seriously, and believes the UK's potential has been reinforced by growing investment from overseas companies.

"People may talk about saving money on healthcare and other pressing things, but Rosetta was a good news story for the world," he says. "There is a hunger for people to know how the universe works and where we originate from. These are big questions that are very important.

"There is also an increasing level of investment in UK space, particularly in the upstream technology end of it. Airbus (FR:AIR), Thales and Lockheed have all invested in UK facilities, which goes to show that the UK is one of the places to be."

Over the years, other international names, too, have been snapping up innovative British companies that played an integral role in piecing together the Rosetta probe. ABSL Space Products, for example, produced innovative batteries that are smaller, lighter and more reliable than the traditional nickel-cadmium ones for the spacecraft, as well as developing systems to examine dust from the comet.

Operating out of a site in Oxfordshire, the UK-based company is now owned by US battery manufacturer EnerSys (US:ENS). And Bradford Engineering - bought by US control specialist Moog (US:Mog.A) in 2011 - developed the tanks used to store helium in Philae out of its UK base. Engineers there also developed a Ptolemy gas analyser the size of a shoebox to examine similarities between water ice on comets and Earth's oceans, plus monitor organic material on the comet.

And then there's ERS Technology, another UK-based business under foreign ownership that played a pivotal role in the mission. Under the umbrella of consulting company Arcadis (NL:ARCAD), ERS developed numerous subsystems, including the reaction wheels, solar array drive motors, Philae harpoon motors and the lubricant for the atomic force microscope.

In addition, satellite expert Telespazio, a joint venture between Finmeccanica (IT:FNC) and Thales, helped with the overall design and on-board software from its Bedfordshire office, while Airbus-owned Satellite Technology designed a momentum wheel that stabilises the probe as it descends and lands on the comet. The Sevenoaks-based satellite specialist is a spin-off company of the University of Surrey that was acquired by EADS Astrium in 2009.

As the world's second-biggest space technology company, Airbus oversees an industrial network bringing together more than 550 companies in 12 European countries. Despite its recent difficulties in aerospace, the French conglomerate has been making headlines for its innovative European Ariane 5 launcher and played a key role in developing the technology for Rosetta from its base in Stevenage.

Another company that regularly makes the headlines for its space operations is Lockheed Martin. The Pentagon recently retained the US defence giant's key space systems programs in its proposed fiscal 2015 budget, encouraging the group to expand its coverage through technological innovation and acquisitions.

One region it has been focusing on is the British Isles. Indeed, this summer executive vice-president of Lockheed's space systems unit, Richard Ambrose, said he wanted to set up a space company in the UK on account of the British government's "vision of cultivating an even stronger space industry".

The sky is the limit

Given the UK's long history of shunning space spending, Mr Ambrose's comments may come as a surprise to many. But on closer observation, a recent chain of events actually suggests that the government here is starting to take solar system exploration very seriously.

Since Britain joined the rest of the industrialised world in 2010 by opening a national space agency, the industry has become a strategic growth area for policymakers determined to salvage a broken economy. Indeed, the government hopes the £11bn UK space industry will be worth £30bn by 2030, and to illustrate its faith just recently pumped over £200m into Europe's space programme.

Of these funds, £47.7m has been set aside for Europe's Mars mission, £49.2m on giving UK researchers access to the $100bn International Space Station programme, £130m on developing satellite telecommunication technologies and £56.9m on developing a new low-cost Quantum-class satellite.

According to David Parker, chief executive of the United Kingdom Space Agency, the world space market is likely to grow to at least £400bn by 2030, which is why such investments are fundamental if the UK is to "stay in the game and build on its growing success".

Universities, Science and Cities Minister Greg Clarke, meanwhile, was keen to discuss how this investment could boost employment levels. "We have achieved an outcome that will keep British science and industry at the forefront of the global market for satellite technology and services," he says. "The real benefits that come back to the UK from our investment with key telecommunications projects will help us achieve our ambitious target to create 100,000 new jobs by 2030."

Mr Clarke also believes that a growing financial commitment to ExoMars, the UK-led mission that will see a non-US rover deployed on the red planet for the first time, can overhaul Britain's reputation as a bit-part player in space. Labelling it an "inspirational project", he reckons the expedition can support the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills' claim that the UK is now second only to the US in the space science sector.

This lofty assertion may seem a little far-fetched, but the ADS Group's latest batch of data does certainly suggest that the growth prospects are huge. The trade body representing the nation's aerospace, defence security and space companies insists that the industry grew by 7.3 per cent last year and has now generated in excess of 100,000 jobs.

But space clearly isn't for everyone. Defence systems and training company Cohort (CHRT), for example, sold its struggling space division earlier in the year to French heavyweight Thales for up to £6.5m. According to chief executive Andrew Thomis, the space segment, which was acquired in 2007, continually made losses as it was low-margin and required way too much investment.

"We are now completely out of space as for a number of reasons it didn't suit us," he told us. "We acquired a business in 2007, but it had low margins and project problems and required a lot of working capital. The problem is there are a lot of special requirements for space that are not needed in other parts of the business."

The misfortunes of some, however, have not deterred other smaller specialist names from shooting for the stars. Indeed, companies like Reaction Engines, a private aerospace company from Oxfordshire, give credence to ADS Group chief Paul Everitt's claim that Britain is behind some of the most innovative new technology.

As part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) bid to lower the costs of launch services, Reaction's innovative 3,500mph Skylon spaceplane could be commissioned for blast off in 2019. Skylon's new engine, Sabre, is reportedly capable of accelerating aircraft up to five times the speed of sound, with chief engineer, Alan Bond, formerly of Rolls-Royce, claiming that the technology is the biggest step in air travel since the jet engine.

By using a combined-cycle, air-breathing rocket propulsion system, Mr Bond says an aircraft carrying 300 passengers could fly from Europe to Australia in about four hours, or carry 15 tons of cargo out of the atmosphere without using rockets.

What's more, its new technology can cool air entering an engine from 1,000C to -150C in one hundredth of a second, allowing the engine to use air as fuel, rather than oxygen from a tank. Because existing space rockets must carry tanks of oxygen with them - and the weight slows everything down - Reaction believes its new technology could make space travel 95 per cent cheaper.

Reaction isn't yet publicly listed, funded so far by a mixture of private and government investment. But it provides yet another example of the great leaps being made by British companies in the new race into space. Meanwhile, space exploration is already big business for a myriad of listed companies - Earthbound investors could be missing out on the huge growth the industry is set to experience in the years ahead.

Star Wars

Space has fascinated scientists and adventurers for centuries; no wonder a handful of eccentric businessmen are racing to conquer the final frontier. Unsated by global success, Amazon (US:AMZN) boss Jeff Bezos is toiling to make space travel cheaper and more reliable at Blue Origin, his rocket and space exploration company. PayPal founder and Tesla Motors (US:TSLA) chief Elon Musk is busy developing reusable rockets that can land precisely at SpaceX. Facebook (US:FB) leader Mark Zuckerberg plans to use a combination of satellites, drones and lasers to beam Internet to far-flung parts of the planet. And Virgin founder Richard Branson wants to ferry people to suborbital space and back for $200,000, although the crash of a Virgin Galactic spaceship in the California desert suggests he still has work to do.

Private sector ventures are a relatively new phenomenon; space has historically been the domain of government agencies such as Nasa. But the technological challenges and exorbitant costs haven't deterred satellite companies such as Inmarsat (ISAT) or Avanti Communications (AVN). Perhaps they couldn't resist the potential for profit: Inmarsat recently partnered with Alcatel-Lucent (FR: ALU) to provide fast in-flight broadband to airlines, and it plans to launch the world's first high-speed 'Ka-band' broadband network next summer. And Avanti, whose satellites provide data capacity to mobile operators such as Vodafone (VOD), is expanding its fleet to cover fast-growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere. TM