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 […]
SaxaVord Spaceport says it will mount a planned site-wide dress rehearsal which will culminate with a small rocket lifting off from their Lamba Ness site in Unst, Shetland, later this year. The rehearsal is being done in preparation for the UK’s first commercial vertical space launch which continues. The trial launch, named Operation Freya, will […]
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 […]
Virgin Orbit, which is focused on taking small-to-medium sized satellites into low Earth orbit, has won a contract from Japan’s Q-Shu Pioneers of Space for its iQPS craft. The satellite is a scientific Earth observation mission and is expected to launch “early” in 2023. Selected for Virgin’s LauncherOne rocket-plane combination and its ability to provide […]
The UK House of Commons parliamentary Defence Committee, with a role to examine British government action, has complained over the UK’s handling of the recent OneWeb predicament in having to switch rocket launchers. OneWeb had contracted with Arianespace which itself used Russian-built Soyuz rockets. The rockets were supposed to launch 6 batches of OneWeb satellites […]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit rocket plane project has signed a contract with European in-space manufacturing tech start-up Space Forge to launch a Welsh-built small satellite from Cornwall. The satellite will be launched as part of a broader joint UK-US mission to open the country’s first domestic space port in summer 2022 out of Spaceport […]
A planned spaceport in Unst, Shetland, in the far North of the UK, has received planning permission to go ahead. Shetland Islands Council says work to prepare the Saxavord Spaceport can proceed provided Scottish ministers don’t call the project in for further review. Three rocket pads would be built at the Lamba Ness peninsula in […]
Spaceport Cornwall, the UK’s horizontal launch site, and Sierra Nevada Corp, which will be engaging through its wholly owned subsidiary Sierra Space, have signed an MoU to explore future collaboration opportunities following the completion of UK Space Agency funded Concept of Operations for Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane. Spaceport Cornwall and Sierra Space say they […]
Spaceport America, which operates out of a desert location in New Mexico, has reportedly removed its CEO/Executive Director, Dan Hicks. Spaceport America is home to the likes of Virgin Galactic, UP Aerospace, Exos Aerospace and others. Its owner is the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The Authority’s board members reportedly voted 6-1 to remove Mr Hicks […]
The UK is keen on establishing so-called Spaceports, whether in Scotland or the West of England. It has just signed a Treaty-level agreement with the US which allows use of US-built rockets from British locations. The UK’s Space Agency (UKSA) says that a US-UK Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) agreed in June potentially opens up activity […]