Orbital Express Launch Ltd., or Orbex, is a United Kingdom-based
aerospace company that is developing a small commercial orbital rocket called Prime. Orbex is headquartered in
Forres
Forres (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the County of Moray, Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin, Moray, Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several ...
,
Moray
Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...
, in Scotland and has subsidiaries in Denmark and Germany. Orbex may build its future launch complex,
Sutherland spaceport, on the
A' Mhòine
A' Mhòine (), variously anglicised as the Moine, the Moin, or the Mhoine, is a peninsula in the north of Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands, Scotland. The peninsula is bounded to the west by Loch Eriboll, and to the east by the Ky ...
peninsula in the county of
Sutherland
Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...
, northern Scotland, if and when deemed necessary.
Overview
The company was founded in 2015 as Moonspike Ltd., with the goal of crowdfunding a private spacecraft mission to the Moon. A
Kickstarter
Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign running from 1 October to 1 November 2015 raised less than £79,000 out of a goal of £600,000, rendering Moonspike ineligible for the funds. Moonspike was renamed Orbital Express Launch Ltd. in 2016, with the company now aiming to provide commercial launch services of nano- and microsatellites, especially
CubeSat
A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...
s, to
polar
Polar may refer to:
Geography
* Geographical pole, either of the two points on Earth where its axis of rotation intersects its surface
** Polar climate, the climate common in polar regions
** Polar regions of Earth, locations within the polar circ ...
and
Sun-synchronous
A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...
low Earth orbits. In July 2018, Orbex secured £30 million in public and private funding for the development of its orbital rocket system, named Prime.
[ In October 2022 Orbex closed a £40.4 million Series C funding round.] Orbex has opened a factory for Prime in Forres, Scotland that employs 150 people. Currently, the company is working on developing the Prime vehicle, while preparing for the initial launch from SaxaVord Spaceport
SaxaVord Spaceport, previously known as Shetland Space Centre, is a UK spaceport located on the Lamba Ness peninsula on Unst, the most northerly of the inhabited Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland. The site is near the RAF Saxa Vord ...
.
Orbex initially intended to share the Sutherland spaceport in northern Scotland with Lockheed Martin, who at the time did not have a launch vehicle, but their strategic shareholding in Rocket Lab led to speculation that they would launch with the Rocket Lab Electron rocket
Electron is a two-stage, partially reusable orbital launch vehicle developed by Rocket Lab, an American aerospace company with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. Servicing the commercial small satellite launch market, it is the third most l ...
, but since the two vehicles (Electron and Prime) use different propellants, the two companies would have separate launch pad
A launch pad is an above-ground facility from which a rocket-powered missile or space vehicle is vertically launched. The term ''launch pad'' can be used to describe just the central launch platform (mobile launcher platform), or the entire c ...
s while sharing some common infrastructure. The planning application for the site, however, includes only one launchpad. Lockheed Martin then moved their launch plans to a competing site, SaxaVord Spaceport, in the Shetland Isles. Orbex also plans to launch from a future spaceport in the Portuguese Azores
The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...
.
In April 2024, it was reported that the company received $20.7 million in a Series D funding round, with the bulk of the funds going towards development of the Prime launch vehicle. In November 2024, Orbex announced that the first launch of Prime would be conducted from SaxaVord Spaceport instead of Sutherland.
Prime
Orbex is currently developing a light launch vehicle called Prime, and its booster (first stage) is planned to be reusable. The rocket's diameter is , and will use a non-toxic bi-propellant consisting of liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing.
Physical ...
and propane
Propane () is a three-carbon chain alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but becomes liquid when compressed for transportation and storage. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum ref ...
. One cited advantage of using propane is that it remains liquid at cryogenic temperatures, which enables a design where a central carbon-fibre tank of propane is surrounded by an outer tank of liquid oxygen, creating a light structural mass. First stage reuse is planned to be achieved by a combination of a parachute and four ‘petals’ which will fold out prior to atmospheric reentry to induce drag and passively reorient the vehicle. It will be capable of launching payloads up to to a standard 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...
.
The maiden flight of Prime was expected to occur in late 2025, subject to the availability of SaxaVord Spaceport
SaxaVord Spaceport, previously known as Shetland Space Centre, is a UK spaceport located on the Lamba Ness peninsula on Unst, the most northerly of the inhabited Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland. The site is near the RAF Saxa Vord ...
and a Civil Aviation Authority launch licence, for Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, is a company involved in the manufacture and operation of small satellites. A spin-off company of the University of Surrey, it is presently wholly owned by Airbus Defence and Space.
The company began o ...
. Orbex also announced it was chosen by nanosatellite
A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites c ...
startup Astrocast to launch their communications satellites. The first flight is currently planned for early 2026.
See also
* Skyrora, another British launch service provider
*Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Corporation is a Public company, publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and List of launch service providers, launch service provider. Its Rocket Lab Electron, Electron orbital rocket launches Small satellite, small satellites, and ha ...
, a US and New Zealand based smallsat launch provider
*Black Arrow
Black Arrow, officially capitalised BLACK ARROW,Gibson and Buttler 2007, . was a British satellite expendable launch system.
Black Arrow originated from studies by the Royal Aircraft Establishment for carrier rockets based on the earlier Blac ...
, a retired British rocket
*PLD Space
Payload Aerospace S.L. (PLD Space) is a Spanish company developing two partially-reusable launch vehicles called Miura 1 and Miura 5.
Miura 1 is designed as a sounding rocket for sub-orbital flights to perform research or technology development i ...
, another European smallsat launcher based in Spain
*Private spaceflight
Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA.
During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pionee ...
References
{{Reusable launch systems
Microsatellite launch vehicles
Private spaceflight companies
Space launch vehicles of the United Kingdom