Sutherland Spaceport to be mothballed as Orbex makes shock announcement about move to SaxaVord
The company behind the development and operation of Sutherland Spaceport has made a shock announcement that it is abandoning the project.
Orbex says it is halting construction work on the £20 million spaceport and instead is mothballing the project, which has received a £14.6 million public investment package.
The space company, which was to have made the Sutherland Spaceport its home port, will now launch its rockets carrying commercial satellites from another north spaceport - SaxaVord on Unst, Shetland.
Sutherland landowner Anders Holch Povlsen, who opposed planning permission for Sutherland Spaceport, and his company Wild Ventures Ltd, are investors in SaxaVord Spaceport.
The announcement has come totally out of the blue, with Orbex advertising for contractors just days ago.
It will come as a blow to communities along the north coast who had hoped that the spaceport would create jobs and bring an economic boost by attracting visitors to the area to watch rocket launches.
Orbex chief executive Phil Chambers said the decision had not been “taken lightly”, adding that the company was “incredibly grateful to the Sutherland community for being so supportive of our initial plans to build our first spaceport there”.
MP Jamie Stone has vowed to hold talks with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), which originally launched the spaceport project, to “find an alternative rocket launch enterprise to take the place of Orbex”.
Orbex has signed a 50-year lease with Highlands and Islands Enterprise to manage and take full operational management of the facility, which is located on the Melness Crofters Estate.
The company announced in May last year that a £14.6 million public investment package had been confirmed for the project, with more than £9 million coming from HIE, £3 million from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and £2.55 million from the UK Space Agency.
Construction of an access road to the spaceport site began in May last year and at an open day in September, spaceport programme manager John May said that a mile-and-a-half stretch of floating road, which includes bridges over watercourses, was around 90 per cent finished.
Mr Chambers said that the company would retain its lease at A’Mhoine in order to give it “flexibility to increase launch capacity in the future”. He added that it would be “kept under continuous review”.
He said: “Orbex is first and foremost a launch service specialist. Our primary goal is to support the European space industry by achieving a sustainable series of satellite launches into low Earth orbit.
“This is best achieved by focusing our resources and talents on developing launch vehicles and associated launch services.
“This decision will help us to reach the first launch in 2025 and provides SaxaVord with another customer to further strengthen its commercial proposition.
“It’s a win-win for UK and Scottish space.”
Mr Chambers added that Orbex now plans to increase the size of its manufacturing capacity in Forres to ensure it can meet demand for its 19-metre rocket, called Prime, and to develop a new medium launch vehicle called Proxima to put more and larger satellites into orbit.
“Medium-sized rockets will play an important role in the European space industry in years to come,” he said. “It is part of our strategic plan to offer the market a medium-sized launcher that will compete in Europe for larger payloads. Pausing the construction of our own spaceport enables us to now focus on developing this offering.”
Orbex will be consulting with the three staff employed on the Sutherland Spaceport project to identify options for relocation of new roles.
SaxaVord chief executive Frank Strang said: “We’re delighted to welcome Orbex to SaxaVord. Given the scale of their ambition and the evolution of their offer to include a medium-sized launch vehicle, it makes sense for Orbex to start operations from SaxaVord Spaceport, which is already licensed and in a position to support their upcoming launches.”
The depute chief executive and operations director of SaxaVord Spaceport, Scott Hammond, earlier this year questioned the need for two spaceports in the far north of Scotland.
Mr Hammond told a parliamentary committee in January that he did not believe two such facilities were needed.
He said then: “Do we need two vertical launch spaceports? No, we do not. We can accommodate the demand up in SaxaVord. I don’t see that we need to have these extra spaceports.
“We have got to get away from the view that we have to have spaceports everywhere. I just do not think you need that. America has about 40 spaceports, and of those only 14 are actually licensed, and last year only three of those 14 actually did any launches.”
SaxaVord was granted a licence by the Civil Aviation Authority for orbital launches at the end of 2023.
MP Jamie Stone said: “This most unwelcome news has come completely out of the blue. Only in recent days Orbex was talking confidently about their first launch from Sutherland next year.
“This will be incredibly disappointing for the communities on the north coast - including much of Caithness - as high-quality future employment is the only way to halt and reverse the age-old spectre of depopulation in the Highlands.
“However, I have invested a great deal of time and energy in backing the Sutherland Spaceport since I was first elected to the House of Commons seven years ago, and I owe it to my constituents to make every effort I humanely can to ensure that this is not the end of the story for Sutherland Spaceport.
“Highlands and Islands Enterprise have been fantastic in their support for the project, and I will be meeting with them at the earliest opportunity to find an alternative rocket launch enterprise to take the place of Orbex.”
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