The new organisation is expected to have a budget and will represent the UK in all its dealings with international partners.

The announcement, made by the Science Minister Lord Drayson, follows a 12-week consultation held with academia, industry and government departments.

Britain spends about £270m a year on space, most of it via its membership of the European Space Agency (Esa).

But it also has a highly successful industry which currently contributes some £6.5bn a year to the UK economy.

“Our space sector hasn’t missed a beat during this recession,” said Lord Drayson.

“This is the classic story of outstanding UK science and entrepreneurship continuing to create jobs and achieve exceptional growth.

“The new space agency is about making sure that the UK fully exploits its competitive advantage in satellites, robotics and related technologies.”

Whereas Germany, France and Italy have national space agencies that speak with single voices backed up by single budgets, the UK’s approach has been to devolve space policy decisions to a club of “users” facilitated by a civil service unit called the British National Space Centre (BNSC).

These users are the government departments and research councils that have interests in space science or space-borne services.