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Theresa May is to launch Britain’s own space project as the UK faces being frozen out of Europe’s multi-billion-pound programme after Brexit.

The Prime Minister asked the UK Space Agency to lead a taskforce of engineering and aerospace experts to draw up options for a British Global Navigation Satellite System.

The system is expected to have the capability to guide missiles and power satnavs.

UK firms may be barred from bidding for contracts on its Galileo programme on security grounds, the EU has indicated, while British armed forces and emergency services could be denied access to encrypted signals.

Before the Brexit vote, Britain played a major part in the development of Galileo, a 10 billion euro (£9 billion) European rival to the US GPS system, which is expected to be fully operational in 2026.

But UK pleas for continued full involvement have so far fallen on deaf ears, and the project's security monitoring centre has already been moved from London to Madrid.

Downing Street said specialists from the Government and private industry will take part in the new taskforce, with the goal of launching the UK system by the mid-2020s.

They will develop options for both civilian and encrypted signals, providing a similar range of commercial and security applications as the US system.

The British system is estimated to cost around the same each year as the UK's contribution to the EU's Galileo programme.

Under the proposals, the UK's Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies would provide a global network of locations needed for the necessary ground-based infrastructure.

Business Secretary Greg Clark wrote last month to the European Commission to protest about the UK's exclusion from secure elements of the Galileo programme. The EU has said the UK will be able to use Galileo's open signal.

SpaceX launches planet-hunting satellite - in pictures 6 show all SpaceX launches planet-hunting satellite - in pictures 1/6 The Falcon 9 rocket blasts off towards space SpaceX/YouTube 2/6 A live stream showed it powering up before shooting out of the atmosphere SpaceX/YouTube 3/6 Elon Musk's private firm launched the rocket on Wednesday SpaceX/Twitter 4/6 The Falcon 9 could be seen shooting into Space from the Florida space station SpaceX/YouTube 5/6 The rocket on the launchpad before take off SpaceX 6/6 The Nasa satellite was attached to the Falcon 9 SpaceX 1/6 The Falcon 9 rocket blasts off towards space SpaceX/YouTube 2/6 A live stream showed it powering up before shooting out of the atmosphere SpaceX/YouTube 3/6 Elon Musk's private firm launched the rocket on Wednesday SpaceX/Twitter 4/6 The Falcon 9 could be seen shooting into Space from the Florida space station SpaceX/YouTube 5/6 The rocket on the launchpad before take off SpaceX 6/6 The Nasa satellite was attached to the Falcon 9 SpaceX

Secure and robust position, navigation and timing information is increasingly vital for Britain's defence, critical infrastructure and emergency response.

A recent review estimated that a failure of navigation satellite service could cost the UK economy £1 billion a day.

Britain builds 40% of the world's small satellites and one in four telecommunications satellites, with Glasgow alone building more satellites than any other European city, said Downing Street.