SaxaVord Spaceport, previously known as Shetland Space Centre, is a UK

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...

located on the Lamba Ness peninsula on

Unst Unst (; ) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Shetland Mainland, Mainland and Yell (island), Yell. It has an area o ...

, the most northerly of the inhabited

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

off the coast of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The site is near the RAF Saxa Vord radar station and the settlement of Skaw.

History

A report from the

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initially identified the site as offering clear northbound trajectories for polar and

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orbits, with the highest potential payload of any location in the UK.

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initially expressed interest in flying their UK Pathfinder satellite launch system from the proposed spaceport. The proposed launch vehicle under this programme is the RS1 from ABL Space Systems, a US-based company developing 27 m tall rockets capable of carrying payloads up to 1000 kg into a sun-synchronous orbit. The UK Pathfinder Launch programme is supported by £23.5 million of UK Space Agency grants. The launch site is also planned to be used by HyImpulse Technologies, a

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rocket maker, who were initially aiming for engine and suborbital testing by the end of 2021, with orbital launches originally hoped for by 2023. In October 2021, Skyrora signed a multi-launch contract over the next decade for SaxaVord, originally intending to begin satellite launches in 2022.

Development

Plans for the spaceport were submitted to Shetland Islands Council by Farningham Planning in January 2021 to enable up to 30 launches per year. The proposal is for three rocket launch pads on Lambda Ness peninsula with additional infrastructure such as a satellite tracking facility, rocket hangars and integration facilities. The plans also document proposals for a Range Control Centre at the former RAF SaxaVord complex, fuel storage facilities at Ordale Airport at Baltasound, and improvements to the launch site's approach roads. On 29 March 2021,

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

(HES), a statutory body, refused consent for the development of the spaceport on the grounds it would impact a scheduled monument of national significance – the

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal early warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

radar station at Skaw. The refusal of consent carried significant legal weight, as it is a criminal offence to carry out works to a scheduled monument without such authorisation. Due to the almost one-to-one overlap of the monument location with the proposed spaceport, this refusal led to concerns being voiced about the viability of the spaceport project. In January 2022, HES withdrew the objection, stating "We recognise the benefits that this development will bring to the community in Unst".

Proposed operators and licencing

In January 2023, German company Rocket Factory Augsburg signed a multi-year launch agreement which would give exclusive access to the northernmost launch pad of the spaceport, Launch Pad Fredo, with testing of the RFA One core stage beginning in mid-2023 and a first launch scheduled as early as late 2023. In May 2023, spaceport CEO Frank Strang announced a new $137million debt financing package during a UK Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee hearing. The source of the funding was not revealed. On 28 July 2023, the Civil Aviation Authority granted HyImpulse permission to launch its SR75 suborbital

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...

for the first time from SaxaVord between 1 December 2023 and 30 November 2024. HyImpulse subsequently moved the maiden flight of the SR75 to Koonibba Test Range in

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, citing delays to infrastructure at SaxaVord. The Civil Aviation Authority announced on 17 December 2023 that SaxaVord had nevertheless been granted a spaceport licence "to host up to 30 launches a year", making it "the first fully licenced vertical spaceport in Western Europe." In April 2024, the spaceport was granted a range licence by the Civil Aviation Authority, allowing them to control the sea and airspace to the north of the site around orbital launch trajectories. In May 2024 Rocket Factory Augsburg's orbit-capable RFA One conducted an engine hotfire test at the spaceport site. On 19 August 2024, a

static fire Launch vehicle system tests assess the readiness of a launch system to safely reach orbit. Launch vehicles undergo system tests before they launch. Wet dress rehearsals (WDR) and more extensive static fire tests prepare fully assembled launch veh ...

test of the RFA One

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with all nine engines was conducted, on the stage that was slated to fly on the maiden flight of RFA One. The test experienced an anomaly that resulted in a fire, subsequent explosion, loss of the stage, and major damage to the launch mount.RFA first stage destroyed in static-fire test

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, 19 August 2024.Rocket engine explodes during test at Shetland spaceport

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, 19 August 2024 In October 2024, UK rocket manufacturer Orbex announced their intention to mothball their proposed Sutherland spaceport on the Scottish mainland near

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and relocate planned launches to SaxaVord (citing its more advanced state of development). On 16 January 2025, the CAA granted a launch licence for the RFA One rocket to reach orbit, the first of its kind in the UK and Europe. This licence is limited to 10 launches per year as well as no more than two in any given month, and must give 60 days' notice for range safety purposes.

In popular culture

The site is adjacent to the Saxa Vord distillery, which released spaceport-themed products in response.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Spaceport Shetland Unst Spaceports in Europe Space programme of the United Kingdom