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The company, based in Forres, Moray, has signed a lease with development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) for the spaceport location on community-owned land on the A’ Mhoine peninsula in north-west Sutherland.
Orbex will oversee the construction and assume full operational management of the new facility. Up to 12 orbital rockets per year will launch from the 10-acre site, carrying satellites into low Earth orbit.
The HIE has developed plans since 2018, and planning permission was granted in August 2020. Orbex will have a 50-year lease, with the option to extend for another 25 years.
The partners intend for Sutherland Spaceport to be the ‘world’s greenest spaceport’, in both construction and operation. Peat lifted during the construction will be reused to repair large areas of peatland that have degraded over centuries, for example, while the Orbex Prime rocket will use renewable biofuel Futuria Liquid Gas, supplied by Calor. The fuel should allow significant emissions reductions compared to other launchers of a similar size.
The land is owned and managed by the Melness Crofters’ Estate, who have worked closely with HIE.
“We have collaborated closely with them over the past few years, and we are completely aligned in our vision of delivering a sustainable spaceport that will bring jobs and prosperity to the region,” said Orbex CEO Chris Larmour.
International engineering services company Jacobs will be the prime construction contractor, on behalf of Orbex. The firm will also collaborate with Orbex to provide spaceport operations support, operations consultancy and engineering services, drawing on its experience managing sites and providing services for NASA.
“The Orbex Prime rocket promises to be a gamechanger for small satellite developers and operators, enabling them to launch light satellites much more efficiently and cost-effectively,” said Karen Wiemelt, Jacobs senior vice-president of Energy, Security and Technology.
“Sutherland Spaceport is an important development for the European space industry and will bring major economic and social benefits to North Highland and Moray, where our business has been active for decades in supporting operations, decommissioning and remediation at the Dounreay nuclear site.”
Orbex’s role in the spaceport will stimulate significant private investment, the company claimed, benefiting the local community through job creation, supply chain opportunities and other economic benefits. Total private investment over the initial three-year period is expected to reach £20m. The rocket firm expects to create up to 40 technical and non-technical full-time equivalent jobs to support operation and maintenance of the site.
Construction will begin "imminently", an Orbex spokesperson told Professional Engineering. The company aims to begin launches in 2023.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.