One of the fastest growing government space organizations in the world, the UK Space Agency is responsible for managing the United Kingdom’s civil space program. Founded in 2010, it is one of the youngest space agencies in the world, started with the aim of coordinating and promoting development in the Earth science, telecommunication, space exploration, and other space related sectors.

The agency is involved in a range of space activities, including:

1. Developing and launching satellites into space under the UK Satellite Launch Program
2. Development of spaceports, supply chains, and other support services for the Satellite Launch Program
3. Scientific study and research missions in space, including the monitoring and study of the solar system
4. Space exploration missions, including the launch of robotic and/or (one day) manned missions
5. Promoting the consumption of products and services produced by the UK space industry
6. Partnering with other international space programs, for example, the ISS and ESA

The UK Space Agency has been involved in a number of space missions, with the most notable ones including:

1. ExoMars – a space exploration mission to Mars
2. Gaia – a mission to study and map the stars in the galaxy
3. Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) – exploration mission to Jupiter
4. Solar Orbiter – a spacecraft to be launched in 2017, which will orbit the sun and provide close-up views of the polar regions of the sun

Even though the UK Space Agency does not have a website that is dedicated to its specific needs, the section of the UK government’s website that is reserved for the agency is likely to grow into a dedicated site that will better help communicate the agency’s efforts in the space industry.

Logo & Branding

By adapting part of the Union Flag (or to some, Union Jack) to include an arrow pointing towards the heavens, the agency’s logo creates quite a striking image. The red and blue graphic is complemented with the name of the agency in a standard type-face. Although using the flag is a cute idea and the logo is unmistakable to those who are acquainted with it, problems arise when it is implemented on a blue, red or black background. To sidestep this unforeseen issue the logo is often placed on its own white background. Not ideal, but it still kind of works.

Layout & Content

Despite the relatively moderate recent investment by the UK Government in the space sector, the UK Space Agency has yet to set aside budget to build a dedicated website on its own domain. This piggy-back ride on the UK Government’s website means that the agency’s web pages are pasted into a standard website theme. As such, it doesn’t have a spacey feel or any real branding. Navigating the site isn’t easy as it doesn’t have its own menus and some links send visitors off to other sites in order to learn about recent missions, events and news.

Usability & SEO

Because the site cannot be properly crawled by SEO tools (without including errors and stats from the governement’s main website), SEO scores and domain stats have been omitted or estimated. These values are based on the number of incoming links from authority websites and the average number of broken links, missing images and duplicate content issues discovered on the main site. Hopefully the UK will get a Google friendly site together in the near future – probably after new Chief Executive, Graham Turnock has a good sit down and a nice cup of tea.

Site Stats – 2017

Call to Action

The website features a call to action in the lower region which links to various social media profiles for the agency – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. The call to action also includes their address, contact information and links to the agency’s blog and subscriptions for email alert and newsletters.