Despite sitting atop a duopoly enjoying the longest, uninterrupted run of annual growth in history, Airbus and Boeing executives seem gripped by a heightened sense of healthy paranoia these days.

One prominent British aerospace champion looks to have dodged a Brexit bullet, with Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) seeing off fierce competition to build the payloads for Europe s next batch of navigation satellites.

Europe s bid to slash the cost of access to space got another boost at Paris today in the form of a reusable rocket engine intended to cost just 1 million ($1.1 million) compared to the 10 million cost of the disposable Vulcain2 that powers the Ariane 5 heavy lifter.