The awarding of the UK’s first commercial vertical launch license in December marked a significant milestone on the path to developing Scotland as a European launch leader. Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) plans to conduct its inaugural orbital launch from UK soil this year, with other companies currently awaiting their licenses to extend Europe’s access to space.
Meanwhile, the UK Government has invested further into UK launch company Orbex, as part of its Series D fundraising, to build and launch its Prime rocket from the shores of Scotland.
SaxaVord Spaceport is situated on the island of Unst, the northernmost of the Shetland Islands, 80 km to the northeast of mainland Scotland. Built on the rugged and rocky landscape of the SaxaVord Peninsula, the spaceport’s name is understood to have Norse origins, translating to “rocky hill”.
The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) granted the Spaceport its range control license in April 2024, authorizing the management and surveillance of hazardous areas and the progress of rockets in flight. Since then, the CAA has been monitoring the site and conducting negotiations with several launch providers.
Render of the RFA ONE launching from SaxaVord (Credit: RFA)
Significantly, the CAA issued the UK’s first-ever vertical launch license to German company Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) in December 2024. This authorizes RFA to conduct launches from the spaceport. The company is planning the maiden launch of its RFA One rocket later this year and, with it, hopes to achieve the first successful orbital launch from the UK.
Virgin Orbit previously attempted this feat from UK soil in January 2023, taking an air-launch-to-orbit approach. Its two-stage LauncherOne rocket was deployed from Cosmic Girl, a modified Boeing 747 that took off from Spaceport Cornwall, located at Newquay airport, and operated under a different type of CAA license.
Following an anomaly with its upper-stage engine, LauncherOne failed to reach orbit, resulting in the loss of its payload. Four out of five earlier flights of the vehicle, each launching from the Mojave Air and Space Port between 2021 and 2022, had successfully carried CubeSats to low-Earth orbit (LEO). Nonetheless, the “Start Me Up” mission proved to be the first and last attempt from the UK, and the company ceased operations in May of that year, following financial difficulties. Spaceport Cornwall, now without a launch provider, has continued to expand and attract aerospace businesses and satellite operators to its Space Systems Operations Facility.
SaxaVord’s vertical launch license increases Europe’s access to orbit, which was previously limited to launches from the Guiana Space Center. Also known as Europe’s Spaceport, the site is situated northwest of Kourou in French Guiana – an overseas territorial region of France on the northern coast of South America, between Brazil and Suriname. The site has launched missions since 1970, including, more recently, Arianespace’s Vega-C and Ariane 6 vehicles.
Aerial shot of the SaxaVord site, which is located at the very tip of the island of Unst (Credit: HyImpulse)
“We are very proud and very happy to receive the launch license”, RFA’s co-founder and Chief Commercial Offer Jörn Spurmann told the UK Government’s Scottish Affairs Committee on Feb. 5. “We are very far behind the other space-faring nations, and if we want to catch up, we need speed”. He observed that there is a “fairly clear scheme” in the UK in terms of regulations and licenses, and a clear distribution of responsibilities. While the process was new and quite lengthy, he described the awarding of the license as a “groundbreaking moment for RFA and for Europe’s space industry”.
“Securing the first-ever launch license outside ESA’s established site in Kourou is not just a regulatory milestone – it’s a powerful endorsement of our technical excellence and a turning point for European space innovation. This license marks Europe’s bold step toward independent, competitive, and sustainable space access.”, he added, “By enabling cost-effective and flexible launches from European mainland, we are laying the foundation for a new era of space exploration and commercialization, ensuring Europe remains at the forefront of the global space race.”
RFA One static fire at SaxaVord in May, 2024 (Credit: Rocket Factory Augsburg)
The company performed a successful 20-second hot-fire test of four Helix engines last May, including all engines running for eight seconds. These engines burn rocket-grade kerosene, also known as RP1, and liquid oxygen. A subsequent static fire test in August experienced an anomaly that destroyed its first stage, which RFA described as an early engineering model. The company has since implemented more than 100 improvements on the second constructed first stage, which will now be used for the maiden flight. These upgrades include enhancements to the propellant manifolding and pressurization system. These should mitigate losing the stage, even if an engine was to sustain major damage in flight or on the pad. Nine of these Helix engines will power the three-stage RFA One, which stands 30 m tall and 2 m in diameter. It will be capable of lifting 1,600 kg into LEO or 1,300 kg into a sun-synchronous orbit of 500 km.
SaxaVord’s Deputy CEO, Scott Hammond, was one of several presenters who updated the February committee. He noted that the spaceport’s integration hangar has been the recent focus of attention and should be completed by the start of July. This facility will include two rocket halls with overhead cranes and two clean rooms for payload integration. A second pad is expected to be completed this summer, with plans ‘soon’ for a third pad and another two integration hangars.
“I cannot stress how vanishingly rare these [launch] locations are”, Hammond adds. “America has got 40 spaceports, of which 14 have a license and, of those, only four actually launch because they’re the only commercially viable places to launch from.” Positioning themselves as the Cape Canaveral for the UK, Scotland, and Europe, Hammond adds that the competition for launches in mainland Europe is between SaxaVord and the Andøya spaceport, which is situated on the Norwegian island of Andøya.
Andøya Spaceport received its Launch Site Operator License in August 2024 (Credit Andøya Spaceport / Isar Aerospace)
The Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries issued a Launch Site Operator license to the Andøya Spaceport last August. This permit allows for up to 30 launches per year from the spaceport, only four of which can be conducted at night. Launch provider Isar Aerospace signed a 20-year agreement in 2021, securing exclusive access to Andøya’s first launch pad, from which it intends to fly the inaugural launch of its Spectrum rocket in the next few months. Currently, the company must apply for a permit each time it conducts a launch of its 28 m tall vehicle, which can deliver up to 1,000 kg to LEO. The spaceport was officially opened by the Crown Prince Haakon of Norway in November 2023, although the site has operated over 1,000 suborbital flights since 1962.
SaxaVord can similarly launch up to 30 times per year, though it more realistically expects two to three in 2025. The spaceport is keen to attract more customers who would otherwise look to launch providers in the US, including the UK’s Ministry of Defence. “The UK has probably only got two satellites, so we do rely on Uncle Sam very much for all that,” Hammond pointed out. “I believe their thinking at the moment is to piggyback onto a SpaceX launch because they see it as a cheaper option. We would encourage against that for a variety of reasons,” he added, noting that the US Space Force has effectively booked up all the missions until 2030, “so if we want to get UK satellites up there, we’re going to have to find another way of doing it.”
Render of Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket on the pad at Andøya (Credit: Isar Aerospace)
SaxaVord already has several launch providers on board, including UK companies Skyrora and Orbex, in addition to German companies RFA and HyImpulse, which also has a Glasgow base. Orbex announced a decision in December 2024 to switch from the development of a spaceport in Sutherland to launching initially from SaxaVord, describing it as a win-win for UK and Scottish space.
Orbex CEO, Phil Chambers, noted that the move to SaxaVord was “a purely commercially driven decision, based on the amount of capital that would be required to finish the spaceport, versus how much capital would be required to finish the rocket”. Currently pre-revenue, Orbex projected a further £15m to complete the spaceport – the company’s single biggest expense. “I made the decision that it made the most financial sense to pause construction at Sutherland for now,” he added.
The company began work on the Melness Crofters Estate site in 2022. It continues to sub-lease the land through the Highlands and Islands Enterprise, which also agreed to a £6.5m grant in 2023 to support the construction, of which a third has been drawn to date. The local community had expressed frustration with the move, which was anticipated to generate employment and boost the local economy. Orbex currently has permission for 10 launches per year from Shetland and intends to complete the construction at Sutherland when additional capacity is required. It is currently projecting 2028 for this, which implies that construction could continue in 2027, pending successful missions from SaxaVord.
Orbex Prime rocket on the launch mount (Credit: Orbex)
The Sutherland site was originally expected to be shared with Lockheed Martin, each using a dedicated pad, though the UK Space Agency announced in late 2020 that Lockheed Martin had also selected the SaxaVord site. Orbex continues to pursue spaceport range and launch licenses for Sutherland with the CAA, in addition to the modification of its launcher license for SaxaVord, which it expects to receive in time for launch. “The CAA have been great to work with”, Chambers said. “It’s new for them, and it’s a fairly complex task”.
The UK government has invested £20 million in Orbex as part of an initiative to establish the UK as a leading destination for small satellite launches in Europe and to attract launch investment into the UK. The funding, granted through the UK Space Agency, was announced in late January 2025 and has secured over 150 high-tech jobs in Scotland. Orbex has been developing its own UK-manufactured two-stage launch vehicle called Prime. The company plans to launch up to 24 times per year, starting in the last quarter of this year. Similar in size to Rocket Lab’s Electron, the rocket is a little larger, standing 19 m tall and measuring 1.45 m in diameter.
With European demand for satellites up to 2033 forecasted to be worth $50 billion, even 2% of this would bring around $1 billion in revenues for the UK economy alone, the UK’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology stated this month. “Supporting Orbex’s launch will also turbocharge the country’s position in the space sector and inspire our next generation of space professionals, who will be able to design, test, build and launch British rockets, carrying British satellites, from British soil.”, said Technology Secretary Peter Kyle.
Render of Orbex Prime’s second stage deploying a payload to orbit (Credit Orbex / Anders Bogglid)
Asked if Orbex can compete with the likes of SpaceX, Chambers replied, “Due to physics, a small launcher won’t be able to get the same cost per kilogram that a Starship will. To get cost competitive with SpaceX, you need to build bigger rockets, and is where our product roadmap comes in.” The company has plans to propose a medium-lift launcher capable of carrying around 8,000 kg to LEO and also conducting missions to medium- and geostationary-Earth orbits, as well as lunar and interplanetary missions.
This new vehicle, which he says could be thought of as a Soyuz replacement, would help drive that cost per kilogram down due to economies of scale. The proposal has been submitted in response to the European Launch Challenge laid down by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ESA member states will decide on the exact parameters and funding at this year’s ESA Ministerial Council in November.
“The UK’s participation with ESA’s European Launcher Challenge will be key to securing the future of the UK launch industry”, adds Ruari Brooker, UK Business Development Manager for HyImpulse. Its small satellite launcher will be powered by an innovative hybrid engine running on a paraffin-based fuel.
Render of the HyImpulse SL1 in flight (Credit: HyImpulse)
HyImpulse is not expecting to launch to orbit this year but says SaxaVord is its primary launch site, and it is not looking elsewhere. “Everyone is very keen to see this happen”, he adds, noting there is a lot of enthusiasm from various Government agencies to make space, and particularly launch, a growth area for the United Kingdom. “We are well supported by the UK Space Agency and others. There are no launch companies in the world which have become successful without some kind of government intervention.”
This was echoed by Nik Smith, Lockheed Martin’s Regional Director for UK & Europe, who also describes last week’s £20m investment into Orbex as a “really positive sign”. Worldwide, there are no purely commercial space industries, he observed, all of which enjoy government support in some capacity. Governments see the space market as a strategic sector, he noted, both economically and for security and prosperity. “Our intent with the ABL/Lockheed Pathfinder program was always about how we stimulate the broader business, stimulate the ecosystem,” he said.
Render of the Moog SL-OMV ready to deploy six payloads (Credit: Moog).jpg
Their program had two parts, one of which was working with a spaceport, while the other was to “bring across” a launch provider. This launch provider was intended to be ABL Space Systems, which announced last November that it was exiting the commercial space industry. Citing the challenges competing with its containerized RS1 rocket against the likes of SpaceX, ABL has shifted its focus to developing missile defense programs for the US military.
Lockheed Martin is subsequently in conversations with a number of other launch providers, says Smith. Meanwhile, the company continues the development of its Orbital Manoeuvring Vehicle (OMV). Manufactured in Reading by Moog, the OMV will be used to deploy up to six cubesats measuring 6U into LEO.
UK-based Skyrora also intends to launch from the SaxaVord site, though its license has been delayed on several occasions since the process began in 2019. Alan Thompson, Skyrora’s Head of Government Affairs, remarked that getting the licence will be “an enormous achievement” and acknowledges that the CAA is doing this for the first time. Initially hoping to launch last Spring and then last Autumn, Skyrora’s timeline has been repeatedly pushed back, with the license process being extended. They remain hopeful they can sit down with the regulators and finalize the license, but that “up until this point we haven’t really managed to get there”.
SaxaVord is Europe’s only fully licensed vertical launch spaceport (Credit: SaxaVord)
As they experienced during a previous launch campaign in Iceland, with a northern location, there’s a lot of wind. “The one factor that supersedes any regulatory challenges is the wind”, he adds. “When you can’t manage the wind, you can’t launch when you want to.”
SaxaVord’s location affords launches with Arctic inclinations that avoid flying over populated areas. “There’s no-one else getting into orbits over the Arctic at the moment”, said Thompson, noting that satellite manufacturers in and around Glasgow are looking to target sun-synchronous and pole-to-pole orbits. “We need to be looking at polar orbits. I think that’s the end-to-end join out piece as to why SaxaVord, why launch, why Scotland.”
Skyrora’s Skylark L on the pad (Credit: Skyrora)
Skyrora decided to conduct a suborbital launch of its Skylark L from Iceland in October 2022 while the company continued to wait for its CAA license. The 11m high rocket experienced an anomaly after launch and landed in the Norwegian Sea approximately 500 metres away from the mobile launch site in Langanes. The vehicle is capable of reaching 125 km in altitude and four times the speed of sound, according to Skyrora.
The company is planning a re-run of its Iceland launch when it first flies from SaxaVord in the summer, license permitting. This would be the company’s final suborbital launch before it moves on to orbital missions with its three-stage Skyrora XL vehicle. Standing almost 23 m high with a diameter of 2.2 m, the rocket will be capable of placing payloads into sun-synchronous orbits between 500 km and 1,000 km, in addition to polar orbits.
The company is also highly committed to growing its manufacturing and production facility in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. This is where the Skyrora vehicles are built, tested, and assembled in-house, including the company’s SkyForce engines, which feature 3D-printed components.
Render of the Skyrora XL (Credit: Skyrora)
Skyrora is considering a proof of concept this summer to replace receiving vehicle telemetry through ground stations with space-based assets. “We don’t think that we need to be limited by heavy, cumbersome infrastructure going forward, particularly from an environmental point of view. We undertook a test launch from Iceland because we have the entire infrastructure that we think we need, which is mobile, to allow us to undertake this concept of responsive launch.”
ABL had also identified this as a potential market, with each stage of its RS1 designed to fit into standard shipping containers. “We remain open to customers requirements and how we are able to respond to them.”, said Thompson, who says the UK has a big opportunity with NATO’s Starlift program. “We’re championing this concept of responsive launch and believe this is something incredibly valuable that we can demonstrate here and represent, with the entire country capability, into a NATO engagement”.
(Main image: Aerial view of the SaxaVord launch site – Credit: SaxaVord)
