It gave the world the non-stick saucepan, and now Government ministers are hoping space science will work its magic by blasting away the unemployment figures. Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts, is supporting the launch of a new £40m centre on the Harwell campus.

The hope is that the International Space Innovation Centre, to be joined by the European Space Agency business incubation centre, will create a ‘critical mass’ of space-related activities, linking industry, academia and Government researchers.

The space industry wants the Government to double its annual civil space budget to £550m over the next ten years. In the context of huge public spending cuts, that may seem like — well, sending banknotes into outer space.

But supporters say it could put a rocket up the economy, since the UK space industry is growing by an average of ten per cent a year, despite the recession, according to Oxford Economics, with employment in the sector rising about 15 per cent a year.

In the meantime, space scientists at the nearby Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have been beavering away for more than 20 years to develop ways of making electronic circuits that can work at wavelengths that can ‘see’ through cloud, fog, dust — and clothes.

So-called ‘terahertz’ waves will spark a new electronics industry over the next decade, according to Byron Alderman and fellow RAL space scientists. They won £10,000 for their business plan to commercialise electronics developed for astronomy, which is now being spun out for use in security scanners, telecoms and cancer detection.

Teratech’s cutting-edge laboratory was high on Mr Willetts’ tour of Harwell, and its scientists will use the Research Councils UK business plan competition prize money to kick-start their plan to commercialise so-called ‘terahertz electronics’.

Astronomers are fascinated by terahertz waves — halfway between microwaves and the infra-red — because they can ‘see’ through space dust to distant stars. Emitted by everything, the waves penetrate dry, non-metallic materials such as clothing or sand, but are absorbed by water and metal.

Dr Alderman said: “The ability of terahertz to see through dust clouds to look for a new star forming behind them is exactly the same as seeing underneath clothes in an airport scanner.”

Traditional electronic circuits such as transistors no longer function at the high frequencies of terahertz, and the RAL scientists are already selling their cutting-edge technology worldwide.

According to Dr Alderman, the potential is enormous, from counter-terrorism security to telecoms and non-destructive testing, from examining cells for medical research to detecting cancerous tumours.

His device could also be used for high-frequency radar, for example to allow helicopters to land in an Afghan duststorm.

The company has already had inquiries from rail companies wanting a detector for the front of trains to alert the driver to obstructions on the line.

“At the moment, the technology is too expensive, but we hope to drive down the cost,” he said.

The same technology is being used by another Oxfordshire company, ThruVision, also spun out of the RAL space science team, in security scanners used in airports, border checkpoints, entrances to public buildings, shopping centres, sporting events and by the police.

They avoid the problems of other scanners, such as harmful radiation, nor do they reveal high levels of intimate body details.

Dr Alderman said Teratech already had £2m of European funding to develop its detector to monitor the earth’s atmosphere for climate change predictions.

He said: “We are ahead of the game, but this technology will be everywhere in future.”

The equipment to make the company’s ‘Schottky diodes’ costs £1m, so Teratech scientists will start by hiring lab space at RAL.

Dr Alderman said: “It's a clean room where you wear masks and so on, like a mini fabrication plant for semiconductor chips. We specialise in making components for very high frequencies, and at normal room temperatures, which means we don't need expensive cooling equipment.”

The scientists have been selling their components for several years, with the money going to the Government's Science and Technology Funding Council, which runs the laboratory.

“We sell them to other research labs and to German and Irish companies for lab test measurement.

“Hundreds of these things are being used already and companies like ThruVision use this kind of technology.”

He said the RAL scientists had built up enough scientific know-how to beat competitors. “There is one US company which is the market leader, and a German company, but in terms of selling these devices we are the leaders in Europe.

“We need to take care of this technology. We will be bringing income in from industry, both as a way of pushing the technology, and to fund growth.”

Teratech will start with Dr Alderman and three other staff, hoping to build up to 11 staff within a few years.

And if the newly-formed UK Space Agency succeeds in its aim of establishing the country as a world leader in the space industry, the sector — which contributed about £6.2bn to GDP in 2008-09 — could be the final frontier to economic regeneration.