Scottish space company gets launch licence but is still searching for a pad
The company, which has a factory in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, have been granted a launch licence for its suborbital rocket, Skylark.
Later, the company hopes to use a much larger rocket called XL to deliver satellites into orbit.
The licence enables Skyrora to launch from the UK's licensed 'vertical launch' spaceport: SaxaVord on the northernmost point of the Shetland Islands.
But there are not currently any pads free there.
Volodymyr Levykin spoke to the PA news agency just before the launch licence was announced by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
He said Skylark, a single-stage rocket measuring almost 12 metres long, would go 'up and down' when it launches – taking a 50 kilo payload to an altitude of about 500 kilometres (310 miles).
If successful, this will mean it crosses the boundary into space but it will not deliver a satellite into orbit.
Mr Levykin said of the licence: 'This is a huge milestone for us because at least half of the work, maybe 70% has been done. Looking forward to actually launching.
'The whole application was based on SaxaVord in Shetland Isles as a launch location, however, there are some room for adjustments and flexibility.'
Mr Levykin said SaxaVord 'is not available any more for us to launch, this year at least'.
Earlier this year, another space company called Orbex announced it would move its launch operation to SaxaVord from the under-construction Sutherland Spaceport on Scotland's north coast.
Mr Levykin said his company is now considering other options, including potentially using the Sutherland site vacated by Orbex.
He said: 'At the moment we're trying to figure out – what is the legal structure, what is owned, what is not owned?
'What is the capacity of the current management, the jurisdiction?
'But you take this apart – practically, it's absolutely do-able because we have the mobile launch concept.'
He said this would allow Skyrora to launch its rocket in a variety of locations around Europe with just a few days of preparation.
In October 2022, the company attempted to launch Skylark from Iceland, but a software problem led to it falling into the sea just after lift-off.
Ultimately, Skyrora wants to use its 23-metre XL rocket to launch about eight times a year, to capitalise on the burgeoning global demand for small satellite launches.
They are aiming to do the initial test-firing of this rocket's first stage this year, though the location has not yet been revealed.
It would involve nine engines firing at the same time.
Rob Bishton, chief executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: 'Granting a home-grown company, Skyrora, its launch licence is a major milestone for our space sector and our nation.
'Our work as the UK's space regulator is enabling the burgeoning launch industry to safely grow, bringing new jobs and investment with it.'
Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Government's business minister, said: 'Securing the UK's first launch operator licence is a landmark moment in Skyrora's plans to become the first company in the UK to build and launch a rocket into space.'
UK aviation and space minister Mike Kane said: 'I am thrilled we've reached this important milestone in the UK space sector, and I congratulate Skyrora for being the first UK company to receive a rocket launch licence.'
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: 'This launch licence isn't just one giant leap for Skyrora – it's a massive boost to the whole of Scotland and the wider UK's space sector.
'Becoming the first British company to manufacture and send a rocket into space from the UK will be a hugely significant moment.'
UK space minister Sir Chris Bryant said: 'The award of the first-ever licence to a UK firm to launch satellites from British soil is a landmark moment for our burgeoning space sector – as well as a clear statement of intent.
'Demand for satellites in Europe alone is expected to be worth 50 billion US dollars (£37 billion) by 2033 and having the homegrown capacity to launch satellites stands to pull lucrative contracts and investment into the UK.
'But this isn't all just jam tomorrow. This is an industry that is creating jobs and driving growth right across the UK right now, including Scotland where Skyrora is based and from where their rockets will launch.
'As part of our modern industrial strategy, we are determined to unleash the space industry's full economic potential – rocket-boosting the plan for change.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Western Telegraph
an hour ago
- Western Telegraph
Truss ‘carries quite a lot of blame' for Tory record, Badenoch claims
The current Tory leader said she was 'very focused on what the Conservatives are going to do now', after former prime minister Ms Truss accused her of 'repeating spurious narratives'. Speaking on a farm near Saffron Walden in her constituency, Mrs Badenoch also described herself as an 'Essex girl', and added that people from the county 'are grafters; they work hard'. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch wipes away grain dust after trying her hand at harvesting wheat (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The Leader of the Opposition faced questions about Ms Truss's claim that under the Conservatives, 'the economy was wrecked with profligate Covid spending by (Rishi) Sunak' and that 'the huge increase in immigration has been a disaster'. Mrs Badenoch told ITV Anglia: 'I know that, as a former prime minister and a former foreign secretary, (Ms Truss) carries quite a lot of that blame. 'The party's now under new leadership. 'I wasn't in charge during those 14 years; she was. 'That's a criticism she's probably levelling at herself.' The Tory leader also said she was 'telling the truth' about her party's record. Kemi Badenoch speaks to farmer Sam Goddard during her visit to Hall Farm in Little Walden, Essex (Stefan Rousseau/PA) 'I'm telling the truth that immigration was too high – that's why we have much tougher policies to fix immigration,' she continued. 'I am telling the truth that taxes were too high, that we were putting a lot of regulation on businesses, and what we're seeing is Labour making every single thing worse. 'They're doing that because they haven't learned many of the lessons that we learned. They haven't learned from our mistakes. They're making worse mistakes.' The Labour Government's mistakes include making 'no cut in spending at all – the books were not balanced', Mrs Badenoch claimed. 'We're spending more on welfare than we are on defence – that cannot continue,' she said. Mrs Badenoch had previously told The Telegraph that 'for all their mocking of Liz Truss, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have not learnt the lessons of the mini-budget and are making even bigger mistakes'. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch drives a combine harvester during her visit (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Ms Truss, who spent 49 days in Number 10, hit back when she said that 'instead of serious thinking', Mrs Badenoch was 'repeating spurious narratives'. She continued: 'I suspect she is doing this to divert from the real failures of 14 years of Conservative government in which her supporters are particularly implicated. 'It was a fatal mistake not to repeal Labour legislation like the Human Rights Act because the modernisers wanted to be the 'heirs to Blair'. 'Huge damage was done to our liberties through draconian lockdowns and enforcement championed by Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings. 'The economy was wrecked with profligate Covid spending by Sunak. The huge increase in immigration has been a disaster.' Mrs Badenoch also took questions about her identity, after she told the Rosebud podcast: 'I have not renewed my Nigerian passport, I think, not since the early 2000s. Kemi Badenoch speaks to farmers during her visit to Hall Farm in Little Walden (Stefan Rousseau/PA) 'I don't identify with it any more, most of my life has been in the UK and I've just never felt the need to.' The North West Essex MP told ITV Anglia: 'I am definitely an Essex girl, that is a fact.' A London Assembly member before she took her Commons seat in 2017, Mrs Badenoch said: 'I represent an Essex constituency, these are my people. 'I was a Londoner, but Essex people asked me to be their MP, and I want to make sure that I do them proud. And I love this part of the world. 'It's fantastic being here. It's a rural community, and I've been talking to the farmers here. I talked about how my grandfather was a farmer, it's very hard work. 'The people of Essex and East Anglia – they are grafters. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch sits in the cab of a combine harvester (Stefan Rousseau/PA) 'They work hard, and I want to make sure that we do right by them.' Mrs Badenoch spent Tuesday morning at a farm in Little Walden, where she tried her hand at harvesting wheat using a Claas Lexion combine harvester. She told farmers: 'A lot of farming just feels like constant interference. 'Everything is interfered from the minute you wake up.' Examples of interference included 'chemicals and insecticide, people you're hiring, how much you've got to pay them', plus changes to 'employers' NI (national insurance), then somebody wants to put pylons on, there's compulsory purchase, it's impacting the cost of the land, if you want to add a new farm building, there's planning applications', she said. 'It's just endless constant Government saying, 'You can't do this, you can't do that, you can't move forwards'. 'And the burden in my view has now crossed the threshold.'
The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Festival seeks tourist tax help as it faces hike in costs
Although the city council has predicted it will generate an additional £50m a year by 2028, the city's festivals do not know if they will see any direct investment. Read more: In a wide-ranging interview with The Herald, EIF chief executive Francesca Hegyi, said the rising costs faced by the city's major cultural events were no longer viable under current levels of funding support and financial pressures. The EIF, which currently gets around £1.9m a year from the city council, has been on standstill funding from the city council since 2019 when it was hit with a nine per cent funding cut. The Edinburgh International Festival got underway last week. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Ms Hegyi called for a 'mindshift' in how the festivals are treated by the city council and the Scottish Government, and for greater collaboration between the cities major cultural events. She suggested they could work together to explore broadcast partnerships and a shared box office system, which could help the festivals attract new commercial sponsorship. Francesca Hegyi, chief executive of the Edinburgh International Festival, wants the event to get some form of rebate for the accommodation it books in future. (Image: Gordon Terris/Herald & Times) Under the city council's plans for the introduction of the visitor levy, it will affect bookings for stays of up to five days from July 24 next year – just days before Edinburgh's 2026 summer festivals seasons will get underway. The Herald told earlier this month how Edinburgh's festivals, venues and performers were being urged to book accommodation a year in advance to avoid the tourist tax. Event organisers, venues and artists are being urged to take advantage of a "window" before the start of October, when the five per cent levy will start to be added to accommodation bills for the 2026 summer festivals season. The EIF meets the accommodation costs of artists and crew working at the event, but is not expected to finalise its programme until the end of the year. Ms Hegyi told The Herald: 'I actually think there is a massive opportunity around visitor Levy, actually, and I'm generally quite positive about it. 'Anything that increases the pot available to the city, for infrastructure, for communities, for festivals, and arts and culture in general, has absolutely got to be a good thing. 'I think the significance of the visitor levy shouldn't be understated because, to my knowledge, the first major source of new revenue that's come along for many years. 'The devil is in the detail about how it will work. The one hesitation I have about it is that, as it currently stands, this festival will between £50,000 and £60,000 worse off because we will be charged the levy when we book accommodation for our visiting artists and crew. The only certainty I have right now is that the festival is going to be worse off." Edinburgh's festivals are represented on an independent advisory group which will produce recommendations on how income raised through the visitor levy should be spent. Under current proposals – which will affect hotels, self-catering properties and short-term lets – 35 per cent of the funds raised will be distributed across 'culture, heritage and events.' Ms Hegyi added: 'I would hate for us to be out of pocket as a result of the visitor levy. What I would like the council to consider is some sort of rebate mechanism for those cultural institutions and attractions which are the reason why visitors come to the city. 'I understand exemptions are difficult, but it would be really helpful if a rebate could be considered. It would just be perverse if a scheme that's meant to benefit cultural organisations ended up costing them money.' The EIF was forced to scale back this year's programme due to uncertainty over its future Scottish Government funding. A long-awaited decision was put back from October to January after the government refused to sign off a budget for its arts agency, Creative Scotland, before setting out its own spending plans last December. The EIF's core government funding, which had been pegged at around £2.3m for more than a decade, was increased to £3.25m for the current financial year and £4.25m annually for the following two years. The city council's funding for the EIF is expected to remain just over £1.9m until at least 2027-28 under a three-year programme to support festivals, events and cultural venues in the city. However the council has instigated a new 'Festivals City Leadership Group,' which also involves the Scottish Government, to help tackle the biggest challenges faced by the city's major cultural events. Ms Hegyi said: 'One of the topics this group is look at is the whole question of accommodation and what we can do collectively to ensure that the festivals can be affordable in future. 'I think there is acceptance from everyone around the table that the status quo just isn't viable anymore. 'The idea that the festivals are sustainable in the long run under the current support mechanisms and what is being asked of festivals has gone. 'I think there's an acknowledgment that we've got to move on. 'For public funding agencies, that's about considering how they value the festivals in the round. 'What I'd like to see is a mindshift in the way that festivals are considered and treated, That's not necessarily about money. "One of the challenges we all need to get grips with is the inherent fragmentation of the festivals. We're all different, separate and independent. We'll always be that way. "But I think we probably could and should do more to coordinate to make it easier for residents and visitors who want to engage with the festivals in some way, and have a single front door to buy tickets. "There is an appetite among some of the festivals to think in that way so we can be more coordinated. Our chances of attracting new forms of income - whether through broadcast partnerships or commercial partnerships - on a scale that isn't possible with an individual festival. "One of the good things that has happened in the last year is that with the Creative Scotland settlements we've finally been able to move out of crisis mode, start to look a bit further ahead and start to dream a little bit." The Herald has teamed up with to make the purchase of tickets for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe so much easier. To buy tickets, click here
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Farming burden has ‘crossed the threshold', Badenoch warns
Mrs Badenoch tried her hand at harvesting wheat during her visit to a farm in Little Walden, driving a Claas Lexion combine harvester with farmer Sam Goddard. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and farmer Sam Goddard (Stefan Rousseau/PA) She told Mr Goddard: 'I am very keen to find out more and more about what this year has been like and about how we're actually going to do the harvest.' Looking at the machine, the MP for North West Essex added: 'It's a lot more complicated than I assumed.' Replacing his machine like-for-like would cost around £400,000, but more up-to-date models would probably be more expensive, Mr Goddard said. Taking questions from farmers about changes to the agricultural property relief from inheritance tax, Mrs Badenoch said that the Government was 'not going to get tax from farms that don't exist'. From April 2026, farmers who previously did not have to pay inheritance tax on their agricultural property will only be able to pass on up to £1 million without facing a bill. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch sits in the cab of a combine harvester during her visit to Hall Farm in Little Walden, Essex (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Beyond this threshold, they face a new effective rate of 20%. Fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has projected this change, along with a similar change to business property relief, will raise around £0.5 billion for the Treasury by 2027/28. 'If you force people to give up or sell off, then you don't get anything at all,' Mrs Badenoch warned. 'And the bottom line is, this whole argument is because some people do not understand the difference between assets and income, and that just because you have an asset that's worth a lot, it doesn't mean that there's lots of money coming in to tax.' The Leader of the Opposition added that businesses 'need a different tax regime', and continued: 'A lot of farming just feels like constant interference. 'Everything is interfered from the minute you wake up.' Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch speaks to farmers during her visit to Hall Farm in Little Walden, Essex (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Examples of interference included 'chemicals and insecticide, people you're hiring, how much you've got to pay them', plus changes to 'employers' NI (national insurance), then somebody wants to put pylons on, there's compulsory purchase, it's impacting the cost of the land, if you want to add a new farm building, there's planning applications', she said. 'It's just endless constant Government saying, 'You can't do this, you can't do that, you can't move forwards'. 'And the burden in my view has now crossed the threshold.'
