Skyrora Opens The UK’s Largest Rocket Engine Site

Britain’s launch capabilities have been further bolstered by the announcement that Skyrora is opening the country’s largest rocket engine manufacturing facility. 

The space company announced on 13th July that it will be opening a facility in Cumbernauld. The company will focus on its launch development practices at the new site.

The Skyrora Vehicle Assembly Building is made up of a 67,000 sq ft yard, which is big enough to contain the full Skylark L launch complex and any Skyrora XL launch facilities in the future, as well as 55,000 sq ft of office space and factory floor.

Skyrora creating employment opportunities in North Lanarkshire

The production and manufacturing site will generate new employment opportunities across North Lanarkshire and the rest of Scotland. Growth includes up to 100 high-skilled business and technical roles, which will enliven the local economy.

Removing the need to outsource tests to other countries

The production of two Skyrora vehicles is already underway at the Cumbernauld site. The firm plans to produce up to 16 per year when the mass production phase commences. 

Skyrora once outsourced testing to other countries. They will now handled this domestically. The company designed the site with unique capabilities for UK space infrastructure. 

Dr. Jack James Marlow, Skyrora’s Head of Engineering, said the following:

“This purpose-built manufacturing and assembly site, combined with the Midlothian testing facility, allows Skyrora to take direct charge of the development cycle in-house. 

As a business, we now have a full set of domestic facilities to allow for close control of the quality and rapid development and testing of Skyrora XL ahead of its demo launch.

“The site will also allow us to further optimise manufacturing processes developed by our colleagues in Ukraine and scale-up launch vehicle production in the long term, enabling further expansion and growth in the future.”

Skyrora founder and CEO Volodymyr Levykin added:

“Being able to offer end-to-end domestic capabilities from development, manufacturing, testing, and launch provides the UK with a crucial advantage as it looks to unlock its capabilities and deliver on its potential on the global stage.”