By BlueShift | 2026-01-09

Scientists, engineers, innovators and officials will come together January 20 at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to celebrate decades of scientific discovery and space exploration made possible by the close US-UK partnership.

The UK-US Space Collaboration Symposium will honor and reaffirm the longtime partnership between the two nations and the joint successes it has fostered, and "provide inspiration for new UK-US missions that will build on this legacy."

The event is co-hosted by Greater Together LA, the Keck Institute for Space Studies at Caltech, the British Consulate General in Los Angeles, the UK Space Agency and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

It will feature a keynote address by reserve astronaut Meganne Christian of the UK Space Agency, and a panel discussion on science collaboration in space.

And it will highlight "how UK ingenuity in instrumentation and design has paired with NASA’s mission platforms and operational excellence to deliver some of the most iconic achievements in modern space science."

These include the UK’s leadership on the MIRI instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its pioneering roles on the Solar Orbiter mission, Cassini-Huygens, which studied Saturn, and the newly launched IMAP mission.

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe is a NASA project launched in late 2025 to study the heliosphere, the protective bubble carved out by the solar wind that shields our solar system from interstellar space.

Developing and protecting satellites

US-UK space cooperation dates from the late 1950s, with the development of the world's first internationally conceived and executed satellite, Ariel 1.

Designed and built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the satellite, which launched on April 26, 1962, carried six British experiments designed to study the ionosphere and its relationship to solar radiation into space.

Flash forward to September 2025, and US-UK satellite collaboration is still front and center. Between September 4 and 12, US Space Command and UK Space Command conducted their first-ever coordinated satellite maneuver.

During the Rendezvous Proximity Operation (RPO), a satellite operated by US Space Command was used to check whether SKYNET 5A, a UK military communications satellite, was operating in orbit as intended.

The maneuver demonstrated "our alliance’s readiness to conduct dynamic, responsible and integrated space operations at a time and place of our choosing," the US Space Force said in a September 22 statement.

The operation was conducted under Multinational Force – Operation Olympic Defender (MNF-OOD), a US-led space coalition that includes Australia, Canada, France, Germany and New Zealand.

The UK was among the first nations to join MNF-OOD, which aims to unify combined space operations should they ever be needed in conflict.

The "expertly executed" operation was "a first of its kind for UK Space Command and represents a significant increase in operational capability," said UK Space Command head Maj. Gen. Paul Tedman.

"I could not be more pleased or proud of the rapid progress we are making with our allies in Multinational Force – Operation Olympic Defender," he said.

"We are now, with our allies, conducting advanced orbital operations to protect and defend our shared national and military interests in space."

"The UK and the US are historic allies, and now this alliance extends into space," the Royal Air Force said in a September 18 release.

Continuous security cooperation

The long-standing interoperability between the United Kingdom and the United States extends into space through continuous security cooperation, information sharing and exercises, the US Space Force statement said.

In December, the US and UK joined other members of the Combined Space Operations Initiative (CSpO), a 10-nation space coalition spanning four continents, in the French city of Toulouse to discuss the security of space.

In an increasingly contested and volatile space environment, CSpO aims to enhance coordination of defense space operations, tackle emerging challenges in space, and advocate for the responsible and lawful use of space.

The 10 nations, which include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and Norway, shared their concerns regarding the threat posed by increasingly irresponsible and hostile behaviors from some countries.

"These actions undermine the stability of the space domain on which our societies rely for economic prosperity and national security," CSpO said in a statement following the meeting.

"Further, such actions can create confusion -- jeopardizing the safety and security of the space environment -- which could lead to escalation due to miscalculation, in space and on Earth."

Facing such challenges, the 10 nations "restated their roles as responsible actors in preventing conflict, ensuring a stable and viable domain, and opposing activities that threaten operations in, from, to, and through space."

"The CSpO Initiative nations will not stand by in the face of increasing space threats," the statement said.

"Senior leaders remain committed to improving cooperation, coordination, and information sharing; to building a greater shared understanding of space threats; and to strengthening interoperability to enhance resilience at every level."