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SaxaVord

UK awards £100m for space R&D

The UK’s government is awarding £100 million (€117m) in grants to British-based space organisations in particular focusing on the development of low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. In addition, it is also granting £10 million to Scotland’s SaxaVord rocket launch site. The intention is to highlight development of on-board data processing, laser optical links for satellite-to-satellite […]

March 7, 2024By Chris Forrester

Scotland’s SaxaVord spaceport pays old invoices

Following on from the granting of permissions by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Scotand’s SaxaVord rocket launch facility has raised an additional £2.25 million in funding and helping to pay contractors who quit the site back in July complaining of unpaid invoices. The CAA permission was crucial and allows SaxaVord to handle 30 launches […]

January 8, 2024By Chris Forrester

SaxaVord gains CAA approval to launch

Scottish spaceport SaxaVord has been licensed to operate rocket launches by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. The site is at Unst on Shetland and is scheduled to host the UK Space Agency’s UK Pathfinder launch, which will be delivered by Lockheed Martin and ABL Systems. SaxaVord has a roster of clients including Rocket Factory Augsburg, […]

December 19, 2023By Chris Forrester

KKR invests in Augsburg/SaxaVord

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 […]

August 9, 2023By Chris Forrester

SaxaVord Spaceport gets £139m in funding

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 […]

May 23, 2023By Chris Forrester

SaxaVord partners with rocket maker

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 […]

January 12, 2023By Chris Forrester

Scotland’s SaxaVord “ahead of schedule”

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 […]

November 25, 2022By Chris Forrester

SaxaVord seeks Freeport status

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 […]

August 25, 2022

Skyrora nears UK launch

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 […]

August 18, 2022

SaxaVord gets full building permission

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 […]

May 26, 2022By Chris Forrester