UK inches closer to rocket launches from home soil

The UK took another step toward launching the first rockets from its own soil when commercial space launch company Orbital Express Launch Ltd., also known as Orbex, applied for a launch license from the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

On 3 February, the Forres, Scotland-based Orbex, applied for a CAA license to lift off its Prime launch vehicle, a small rocket designed to launch small satellite payloads of up to 150kg into low-Earth Orbit. The small satellite industry is growing, with more than 1,000 small satellites launched in 2020 alone.

Orbex plans to begin “dress rehearsal” launch tests with the Prime rocket at the company’s LPI launch platform in Kinloss later this year, but ultimately hopes to fly regular launches from Space Hub Sutherland, the spaceport Orbex plans to begin building in Sutherland, Scotland sometime in 2022.

It’s not yet clear when Orbex plans to conduct its first Prime launch, but the CAA website notes that the approval process for a launch license may take between nine and 18 months. The CAA became the UK’s space launch regulator and licensing body in July 2021.

But a Prime rocket launch from either Kinloss or Sutherland that delivered a payload to orbit would make history as the first launch vehicle to do so from UK soil. The short-lived Black Arrow rocket developed on the Isle of Wight in the 1960s launched from the Australian outback.

The Sutherland spaceport may not be the only UK location aerospace companies can choose from when planning space launches. In May 2021, the UK Government announced support for the construction of spaceports and the launching of satellites from British soil, and spaceports are now under development in Cornwall and Wales as well as Scotland.