THE space industry in Oxfordshire got a major boost yesterday as its multi-million pound new home was officially opened.

The European Space Agency’s Roy Gibson Building will be a home for years to come to nine or more small companies exploring the business opportunities of the space age.

Among them are satellite imaging companies and firms such as Oxford Space System that build technology for space craft.

The new building at Harwell Campus, a joint enterprise with the Science and Technology Facilities Council, will provide those companies with state-of-the-art facilities.

It is named after Roy Gibson, the ESA’s first director general who helped form the agency in 1975, who spoke about his experience of doing so.

Delegates from the UK space industry were also treated to a talk from the ESA’s first British astronaut Tim Peake.