The British already have a foothold in the manufacture of small satellites. Now they are moving quickly to build the rockets necessary to launch them.

The United Kingdom Space Agency, working with British companies in the sector, has established how intends to grow its 6.5 percent stake in the $350 billion space economy over the next 12 years.

"We want to get to a place where the U.K. has 10 percent of the global space economy by 2030 and we're working in partnership to deliver it," Claire Barcham, the director of the agency's satellite launch program, told CNBC at the 34th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

A 10 percent stake could be worth more than $109 billion in 2030, according to Bank of America last year.

To achieve that growth, UKSA is working to attract rocket companies which specialize in launching small satellites, Barcham said. The U.K. currently produces about 44 percent of the world's small satellites and has extensive facilities to operate those satellites once active. But Britain lacks any spaceports or launchpads to put the satellites in orbit.

"The one bit that we're missing is the launch," Barcham said, adding that UKSA wants "to use launch capabilities to make the U.K. the European hub for small satellites."

In the next couple of months, the agency is expected to announce funding grants worth millions for the development of launch facilities.

"We're conscious of the need to move quickly. There is a lot of focus on the crystallization of demand from 2020 on," Barcham said.