Meet the British space entrepreneur helping to break Europe's reliance on Musk
In a small factory in the Highlands of Scotland, near the wind-swept beaches of the Moray Firth, a British attempt to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX is nearing completion.
Nestled 30 miles from the legendary Loch Ness and close to Cawdor, the historic fiefdom granted to Shakespeare's Macbeth, it is a world away from SpaceX's sprawling Starbase in Texas.
But it is here that Phillip Chambers, chief executive of space start-up Orbex, believes Europe could begin to loosen Musk's grip over the space industry and end its over-reliance on America for access to the stars.
Orbex, which last month received £20m from the British taxpayer for its maiden mission, is hoping to reach space with its Prime rocket later this year.
Prime would be the first British-made rocket to to reach orbit since Black Arrow, which last flew in 1971 from a launch site in the Australian outback. Unlike Black Arrow, Orbex is hoping to use a launch site in the United Kingdom. SaxaVord Spaceport on the Shetland Islands will host its first mission.
Chambers, who leads Orbex, says Britain's ability to reach space should not be 'taken for granted', adding: 'We're in a world where we can't depend on the US for everything any more.'
Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, where access to communications satellites has proved crucial and a growing rift between the US and EU, Mr Chambers says: 'I think we would be foolish not to own our own [space launch] capability.'
But the path to building a domestic British launch industry has been anything but smooth.
The Conservatives injected millions of pounds into the space sector and began efforts to find a suitable home for a British launch base almost a decade ago. Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, later promised to turn the UK into 'Galactic Britain'.
However, a first attempt to send a satellite into orbit from UK soil ended in failure, as Virgin Orbit fired a rocket from a converted Boeing 747 in a mission from Cornwall in January 2023. Weeks later, the company was bankrupt.
Since then, a clutch of start-ups, including Orbex, have made it their ambition to launch a rocket from the UK and finally bring the country into the space race. Other rivals, such as Scotland's Skyrora or Germany's Rocket Factory Augsburg are also hoping to launch from Britain.
Orbex has been the beneficiary of Labour's largesse in the form of a convertible loan – debt that can turn into equity – meaning the taxpayer could ultimately become a shareholder in the business.
However, success in space is never guaranteed. In addition to the government cash, Chambers says Orbex will need to raise a total of £50m in the medium term. Orbex's latest company accounts, signed off in September, say the cash is necessary to turn the loss-making start-up into a revenue-generating launcher. Without it, the business's going concern status would be in doubt.
SpaceX may be worth $350bn (£278bn), but in its early days, the company came close to running out of cash multiple times, needing bailouts from Elon Musk. It had three failed launches until its first success with Musk's Falcon 1 rocket in 2008.
Orbex's Chambers says SpaceX has 'executed really well', but points out it also had 'tens of billions of dollars' of US government support, including 'very important early contracts' as the business scaled up.
Funding for new space companies is tight, with private funding rounds falling from $18bn in 2021 to $5.9bn last year, according to consultants Novaspace.
Chambers, a 44-year-old former software entrepreneur, says the government funding 'takes us roughly halfway, we are still absolutely out fundraising' with an aim to 'achieve our first launch towards the end of this year.' It is ultimately aiming for 10 launches from Shetland per year.
For Orbex and rival companies hoping to launch from Britain, the thinking is that the UK and the EU can become anchor customers for their businesses.
'Given what's happening politically, I do think there's now an even bigger impetus to build sovereign capability,' says Chambers.
Europe previously used Russia's Soyuz launchers for its missions but the war in Ukraine ended that relationship.
More recently, Musk's erratic behaviour, political interference and close ties to Donald Trump's White House have left Europe looking for alternatives to SpaceX, despite its track record.
The European Space Agency (ESA), meanwhile, has suffered significant delays with its home-grown heavy-lift rockets, such as Ariane 6, which are typically launched from French Guiana in South America.
Chambers says there was a recognition from the British Government and Europe that abandoning sovereign launch capabilities would be a 'massive mistake'. The UK has since 'changed tack', with Chambers saying: 'We do want to have a national capability, and we at least want to give ourselves an option.'
The company's first attempt to reach space will be made with its Prime rocket, a 62ft launch vehicle that uses biofuels to reach space. It is capable of carrying about 150kg to low-earth-orbit, which is around 300 miles above the Earth. The vehicle has been built in Scotland, in a factory in Forres in Sutherland, which employs 140 people.
Should the mission be a success, Orbex has a more ambitious goal. The company is preparing to build a medium-sized launch vehicle, called Proxima, which Chambers says could be a European 'workhorse' that would be 'close to being able to compete with the likes of SpaceX'.
To do this, Orbex is hoping to win a share of business from the European Space Agency launcher challenge, which could award space companies €150m (£124m) to build new domestic rockets.
The ESA is not an EU body and counts the UK as a member. If it fails to secure the funding, it is not clear if the project could progress. The company is in talks with the National Wealth Fund about further investment.
Chambers says this could support 500 jobs in Scotland and could ultimately launch missions from bases such as Kourou, in French Guiana. He even suggests the UK's Ascension Island, in the Atlantic, as a possible future launch base.
But the project has not been welcomed by everyone. Orbex dismayed the Scottish government in December last year when, with little warning, it pulled the plug on building its own spaceport, in Sutherland.
The project had previously enjoyed millions of pounds in Scottish funding.
This was a 'purely commercial' decision, says Chambers and the 'most capital-efficient, short-term solution'. The company will be keeping its lease and Chambers says it hopes to one day build its planned base, although he notes the UK 'doesn't need the capacity for two spaceports right now'. The question is, will it ever?
Chambers joined Orbex in 2024, replacing the company's founder, Chris Larmour. There are no aerospace or rocket companies on his CV. After working as a software entrepreneur he later worked in investment at Denmark's Heartcore Capital, an Orbex shareholder. He founded Peakon, a workplace software business which was sold for $700m in 2021.
'The learning curve is absolutely steep,' says Chambers, 'it's an incredibly complex job and I feel incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to run the UK's launch company.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Photos capture South Africa's emotional WTC final victory over Australia at Lord's
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Satellite photos reveal damage to Iranian missile bases after Israeli strikes
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference.
Spectator
2 hours ago
- Spectator
The British right is embracing direct action
First, it was Robert Jenrick tackling fare dodgers. Then it was Gareth Davies pursuing a thief. You might be forgiven for thinking that copies of Marvel's Justice League were circulating in Portcullis House. But among elements of the British right there is a renewed appreciation of the benefits of direct action. Shut out of office until at least 2029, Tory and Reform politicians are finding ways to channel their frustrations into novel, low-cost, forms of protest. Nigel Farage's aides have embraced humorous stunts such as beaming their membership numbers onto CCHQ and handing out blank books to journalists titled Highlights from my first 100 days, by Kemi Badenoch. Others, like Jenrick, try to think of new ways to land messages. He is vox-popping voters and leading a rally against China's super-embassy. Badenoch has also sought to position herself as the leader of the family farm tax protests, speaking as the keynote speaker at the London rally in November. Lawrence Newport's 'Looking for Growth' group has meanwhile taken to filming themselves cleaning up graffiti on the London Underground. This tactic is not completely new. At the Margaret Thatcher conference in Buckingham in March, older attendees talked fondly of 'Operation Pony Express'. This was a reference to the 1976 Grunwick strike, in which postal workers refused to handle deliveries for a photographic laboratory at which there was a strike. Volunteers – such as members of the newly-formed Freedom Association – wanted to help the business survive the strike, to strike a blow against trade union power. They smuggled mail out of the Grunwick depot and transferred thousands of processed films to plain envelopes to prevent the unions from identifying them. The orders were then reposted in hundreds of post boxes across the country, to keep the mail-order business going. It served as a way of energising activists and giving heart to a cause. Good politicians recognise that the legislative process is just one route to achieve their ends. But in the internet age, there is an obvious incentive to produce moments or clips of the unusual or subversive, which are more likely to be shared by fans and critics. A right wing MP is unlikely to secure a legislative triumph in the current House of Commons; a viral clip online is a much more realistic goal. Elite media gatekeepers no longer serve as a block on ambition. The use of such tactics could be seen as an indictment of impotence. Yet, in a highly cynical age, there is a merit to the 'show, don't tell' approach to politics. It is not enough, now, for politicians to simply claim to care about crime; they need to demonstrate it too. Some stunts, like Farage's book, are purely humorous; others, such as LfG's graffiti clean, aim to shame Transport for London into stepping up their game. At a time when a powerful sense of hopelessness is gripping much of the right, such case studies offer a way of empowering individuals and cheering their supporters. Expect to see more non-violent direct action in future.
