The computer image released by SaxaVord shows a rocket taking off from Lamba Ness in Unst, Shetland. Photo: SaxaVord UK/PA
A A year ago, on a frozen runway in Cornwall, engineers at Sir Richard Branson's rocket company Virgin Orbit were making final preparations for what would be the first orbital space launch from British soil.
But in January, September 9, this launch ended in failure: the company's Launcher One rocket fell into the Atlantic Ocean. Days later, the vast majority of Virgin Orbit's employees were laid off, and the company filed for bankruptcy in the US in April.
Virgin Orbit's sad end dashed UK hopes of a pioneering space launch from British soil in 2023.Now, after 12 months of false starts, many in the industry are hoping that 2024 will be the year the UK finally becomes “Galactic Britain” – a phrase championed by Boris Johnson as prime minister. Several new first-orbital launch attempts are in the works.
However, with memories of failures fresh and delays common, there is a risk that the coming year will turn into a repeat of the previous one. has just ended for the space industry.
A week before Christmas, Saxaward in Shetland became the UK's second official spaceport after Cornwall Spaceport in Newquay.
“This marks the start of a new chapter in British space as rockets could soon launch satellites into orbit. from Scotland,” said Tim Johnson, director of space regulation at the Civil Aviation Authority.
There remains huge pent-up demand for space launches, with thousands of new communications satellites and smaller spacecraft being launched every year.
< img src="/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/db86c5f4fc3b900387e1bfc1d2c31366.jpg"/>Virgin Orbit's failed mission took off from Spaceport Cornwall, Britain's first spaceport. Photo: UK Space Agency/PA
But Britain's hopes have many hurdles to overcome, and investors are now even less forgiving than they were in the Virgin days. The orbit was preparing for launch. Funding has dried up as interest rates soar.
“The market has been used to release money for 15 years,” says one industry source.
Small spaceports and start-ups, such as those planning launches from the UK, are “under pressure”, the source adds, while Elon Musk's dominant rocket company SpaceX threatens to “choke them all out”.
Virgin Orbit launch, originally scheduled for its platinum anniversary in 2022, it has been delayed multiple times. The failed mission eventually took off from Spaceport Cornwall, the UK's first spaceport.
The rocket launched from under the wing of a Boeing 747, which was then supposed to fly into space. However, shortly after the mission took off, an anomaly occurred that doomed it to failure.
The delays and eventual failure of the mission upset many in the sector. One industry executive even told MPs that the UK is now considered a “toxic” country for launching rockets.
Cornwall will not host the UK's next mission, with a number of other places vying to be the first.
The leading candidates are Saxaward, the launch site on the island of Unst in Shetland, and the Scottish launch base at Sutherland.
On the Shetland Islands, construction work is actively underway in Saxaward. This remote northern corner of Britain now hopes to host Britain's first orbital mission.
“Our license should allow us to launch 30 missions a year,” says Frank Strang, chief executive of Saxavord.
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Strang, who bought the site 15 years ago with his wife Debbie, hopes Shetland will become the site of Europe's first vertical space launch mission.
He claims that Saxaward is “years ahead of [competitors] in our development.” A 12 meter high launch chair was built to launch future rockets.
The first rocket is set to launch from SaxaWord in Shetland islands in April 2024. Photo: SaxaVord UK/PA
Although the island is remote and windswept, it is considered a useful location for “polar”, sun-synchronous satellite orbits.
However, there were delays here too. Earlier this year, Strang told MPs that Saxaward was close to securing debt financing of up to £139 million. That never happened, he confirmed to The Telegraph.
“We have been fundraising consistently and successfully over the past few months,” Strang says. “But yes, the US infrastructure fund has failed us.”
Saxaward has seen complaints from some suppliers that they were not paid on time. Strang says the site is now “funded right out of the gate.”
So far, Saxaward has relied on private financial backers, including Anders Holch Povlsen, a Danish billionaire and major Scottish landowner. (Holch Povlsen is also Asos' largest investor.)
Some clients are still keeping their options open. Plans for German rocket startup Hyimpulse's first suborbital mission have been moved from the Shetland Islands to a site in Australia, a spokesman confirmed, although future launches could take place from the UK.
The spokesman said “discussions are ongoing for suborbital launches over the next two years and entry into orbit at the end of 2025 or during 2026.”
Another startup, Germany's Rocket Factory Augsburg, remains committed to launching a UK mission from Shetland in the second half of 2024, a company spokesman confirmed. It recently received £3.5 million from the UK Space Agency to prepare for its first launch.
Another potential client is US rocket company ABL, which is partnered with Lockheed Martin. However, the mission failed in January this year, delaying plans for subsequent missions.
Saxaward has received a spaceport license from the CAA but still needs to complete construction of the spaceport, which bosses say will be around 60 to 80 PCs complete.
On the Scottish mainland, Sutherland Spaceport on the A'Moines peninsula is also hoping to secure its first launch from British soil by starting work on its construction site in May. There is hope that the cosmodrome will be ready by the end of the year.
Among the companies hoping to launch from Sutherland is Orbex, the British rocket company which has just received £3.3 million from the UK Space Agency to develop environmentally friendly fuel for its rocket. Orbex has raised £40 million in venture funding in 2022.
Elsewhere in Scotland, Prestwick Airport is hoping to host “horizontal” space launches, where a rocket is launched from an aircraft into space. Although he had hoped to begin missions as early as 2023, that deadline has also slipped.
Kevin Seymour of Astraius, which hopes to use Prestwick, said in November that the project was “back on track.”
Whoever launches first will hope for a smoother takeoff than Virgin Orbit. But space is tight and there's little room for error.
Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy protection in April Photo: Christopher Smith /AP
Matt Archer of the UK Space Agency says Virgin Orbit's failure should not be a cause for concern across the industry. However, the worsening financial situation has made it more difficult for high-risk space businesses to raise capital, he admits.
“What has made this year very difficult is mainly the changes in the financial markets and the ease with which investors can access cash,” he says.
Investors are less willing to bet on high-risk space startups – not least because they will have to compete with Musk's SpaceX.
Next year, according to Archer, the UK “We will see the completion of the construction of two spaceports.”
“Exciting times lie ahead. But in terms of actual launches, that will happen later in 2024.”
Amid the long wait for the first successful mission, Strang notes that Musk's SpaceX had several launch failures before his Falcon rocket finally achieved space.
“If you look: Elon Musk and SpaceX failed three times. Once you get past that barrier, this industry will explode.”
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