WASHINGTON — A launch facility under development in the Shetland Islands has become the first licensed vertical spaceport in the United Kingdom, although exactly when it will host its first launch remains uncertain.
The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced Dec. 17 that it issued a spaceport license for SaxaVord Spaceport, located on the island of Unst in the Shetland Islands. The license allows the spaceport to host up to 30 launches a year, including four in any month.
SaxaVord is the second spaceport to be licensed by the CAA and the first capable of hosting vertical launches. CAA issued a spaceport license in November 2022 to Spaceport Cornwall, located at Newquay Airport Cornwall in southwestern England, for launches by the now-defunct Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne air-launch system.
“Granting SaxaVord their license is an era-defining moment for the U.K. space sector,” said Tim Johnson, director of space regulation at the CAA, in a statement. “This marks the beginning of a new chapter for U.K. space as rockets may soon launch satellites into orbit from Scotland.”
“The award of our spaceport license is both historic for Shetland, Scotland and the U.K., and places us firmly at the leading edge of the European and global space economy,” Frank Strang, chief executive of SaxaVord Spaceport, said in a statement. “There is much to do still but this is a fantastic way to end the year and head into Christmas.”
The announcement of the license, though, provided few details about when the first launch from SaxaVord would take place. The spaceport noted in its statement that companies planning to launch from the spaceport include ABL Space Systems, HyImpulse, Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) and Skyrora.
Of those four, only ABL has attempted an orbital launch: its first launch in January from Alaska failed seconds after liftoff. It is preparing for a second launch in the near future, also from Alaska. ABL’s launch from…
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