The UK Space Agency has announced funding of more than £6.7 million (€7.7m) to further Scotland’s spaceports ambitions. Scottish-based HyImpulse, a launch company working with SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, will receive £3.4 million. And Orbex, which is working with Sutherland Spaceport on the A’ Mhòine peninsula, will get more than £3.3 million.

Both spaceports plan vertical launches of small rockets carrying commercial satellites. There are plans for five spaceports in Scotland, all at different stages of readiness.

The front-runner in the race to space is seen as SaxaVord, based on Unst – the UK’s most northerly inhabited island and home to fewer than 700 people.

Working with rocket firm HyImpulse they intend to begin sub-orbital launches next year, and are currently waiting on approval from the Civil Aviation Authority to launch rockets out of the earth’s atmosphere and into orbit.

Sutherland spaceport on the north coast of Scotland is behind SaxaVord in terms of construction but it aims to be the first carbon-neutral spaceport in the world, both in construction and operation.

Community consultation on the site is still under way but they are working with Forres-based rocket firm Orbex to launch small satellites into space.

The UK Space Agency says the cash for HyImpulse is to help to undertake their hybrid propulsion test programme before launching from Shetland, while Orbex will be given cash to undertake activities to ensure it is environmentally sustainable, including an on-site facility where they can manufacture a clean propane produced from plant and vegetable waste.

Orbex says it will use the funding to undertake activities to build the Ultra-Green Launch Complex at Sutherland Spaceport, located on the north coast of Scotland. The spaceport is being designed with sustainability in mind and is intended to be the first spaceport globally to be carbon-neutral in its construction and operation. The site will see the launch of up to 12 orbital rockets per year, with several commercial launch contracts with satellite manufacturers already secured.

HyImpulse anticipates their UK operations will support up to 200 direct jobs in Scotland and a further 1,500 across the wider UK supply chain including in Shetland and at the spaceport.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise anticipate the Sutherland spaceport will support 613 full-time equivalent (FTE) posts throughout the wider Highlands and Islands, including an estimated 44 FTE posts at the site itself.

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Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: orbex, scotland, Spaceport, UK Space Agency