Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is investing $33 million (€30m) in Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) which is building rockets for launch from Scotland’s SaxaVord spaceport. “The investment will facilitate RFA’s upcoming integrated first stage test and complete the company’s launch pad at SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland, to eventually bring the RFA ONE microlauncher to the launchpad,” said […]
Scotland’s SaxaVord Spaceport has secured funding to the tune of £139 million (€159.6m) to complete site development and prepare for multiple rocket launch missions. The cash comes in the form of a bond issue, and was reported to the UK parliament at a meeting on May 17th. The extra cash comes on top of £28 […]
Despite Virgin Orbit’s setback in Cornwall, Scotland’s SaxaVord Spaceport is moving rapidly ahead with its own plans. SaxaVord is materially different to Cornwall’s Newquay spaceport in that it is planning to loft conventional rockets vertically and directly into orbit from its launch pad. SaxaVord has announced a partnership with Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA). This partnership […]
Construction of the SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, where the UK’s first vertical rocket launches will take place next year, is ahead of schedule. History was made earlier in November when the first concrete base for a launch stool at the Lamba Ness site in Unst was completed. Rocket stage testing is expected to begin there […]
The SaxaVord spaceport in Scotland is seeking to win ‘Freeport’ status helped by a “strategic partnership” with the North-East Scotland Green Freeport bid. The UK is in the process of establishing Freeports around the country and SaxaVord wants to be a ‘subzone’ of the North-East Scotland Green Freeport (NESGF) should it be successful in its […]
Skyrora has successfully completed the static fire test of the second stage of its flagship Skyrora XL orbital rocket. Discover Space UK at Machrihanish Airbase hosted the biggest integrated stage test to be held in the UK since those of Black Arrow and Blue Streak in the 1970s. Achieving this latest milestone moves Skyrora one […]
Scottish satellite launch operator SaxaVord, which is developing a satellite launch facility at Unst in the Shetland Isles, has received its final planning approvals. The Scottish Government has confirmed that it will not call-in plans for SaxaVord Spaceport’s Launch and Range Control Centre (LRCC) and for a new section of road to improve access to […]
Scotland’s SaxaVord Spaceport has announced a new partnership with Astra Space. Not to be outdone, Spaceport Cornwall at the other end of the UK has enjoyed the British government confirm that it will handle its first satellite launch this summer. Nasdaq-listed Astra, whose mission is to improve life on earth from space, successfully completed its […]
On the heels of last week’s planning approval Scotland’s SaxaVord (at Unst in the Shetland isles) spaceport has now applied to the aviation regulator for an operating licence. SaxaVord says it has formally submitted its Spaceport and Range Licence applications this week to the industry regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Once regulatory approval has […]
The plan to start launching rockets and small satellites from SaxaVord on the island of Uist in Scotland has moved much closer to achievement with Historic Environment Scotland (HES) withdrawing its objections to the scheme. SaxaVord has still to achieve Planning Permission from the Shetland Islands Council. SaxaVord chief executive Frank Strang said: “We are […]