Isle of Man aims to be power in space commerce

London: The Isle of Man has become an unlikely competitor in the space race with the unveiling on the island last month of two Soviet-era space stations and a team planning a moon landing.

The offshore jurisdiction between Ireland and the UK aims to move off-earth as it becomes a power in space commerce after attracting a host of pioneers.

It has been named the fifth most likely country to return to the moon — after the US, Russia, China and India — and is helping develop a space tourism industry.

Excalibur Almaz, a US-Russian company, has bought the tested but unused space stations, part of an abandoned secret military reconnaissance programme, to refurbish as hotels and launch into orbit from Russia.

Chris Stott, chairman of ManSat, the private sector agency that markets the island's space offering, said it aimed to be a "Venetian Republic of space", reflecting the role that the small Italian city state played in world commerce in the 14th and 15th centuries.

"Space is one of the world's largest industries that nobody's ever heard of," he said, with annual turnover of $175 billion (Dh643.65 billion) a year.

Odyssey Moon, a competitor for the £30 million (Dh182.4 million) Google Lunar X Prize, is based on the island. The prize goes to the first private venture to land a vehicle on the moon and send back images.

Ascend, an industry analyst, rated the island 50-1 to win the race back to the lunar surface.

The island of 80,000 is also home to manufacturers such as CVI Technical Optics, which supplied parts for the camera used by the Mars lander in 2008 to send back pictures of snow on the planet.

Four large satellite operators, SES, Inmarsat, Avanti and Telesat, have operations on the island.

Tim Craine, head of space at the Department of Economic Development, said there was money to be made from the industry. An analysis by PwC found that it brought in £33 million of government revenue from 2006 to 2010.

Back in 2006, a space industry on the island seemed like science fiction, he admitted. Now Futron, a US consultancy, says the island "punches above its weight". "It is part of our efforts to diversify the economy," he said. "We can be very quick when we spot a niche to exploit it."

With financial services accounting for 38 per cent of the £3.1 billion economy, the government is keen to attract new businesses.

Allan Bell, economic development minister, said space also helped the island stand out from its peers in the competition for inward investment. "It gives us a USP [unique selling point]. I can say we have financial services and manufacturing and they say, ‘Okay that's nice but so have other jurisdictions.' Then I say the bookies have us fifth most likely to get back to the moon and they get really interested."

Excalibur Almaz is working closely with MIC JSC NPO Mashinstroyenia, the Russian company that designed the stations, as well as contractors including EADS Astrium, the Franco-German aerospace company. Money was raised from international investors but Buckner Hightower and Art Dula, the founders, are now the sole shareholders. They require another fundraising of hundreds of millions of dollars before beginning commercial flights from 2013.

Until then EA will use an ex-Soviet capsule for three-day stays. It has flown into space nine times and is the only spacecraft to have done so now the shuttle is being decommissioned, said Brendan Hightower, chief executive of EA's US arm. "No one else has a proved re-entry vehicle. We are ahead of the competition."

Andrew Corlett, a partner at Cains law firm and lawyer for EA, said the UK government was backing the island, which is independent but has the Queen as sovereign."It is a small island but people in the space industry seem to have a different perspective of earth."

— Financial Times