Introducing the Orbital Today UK Spaceport Ranking

Orbital Today is proud to launch the UK Spaceport Ranking. With seven spaceports across the United Kingdom vying for bragging rights and paying clients, we have decided that it is time to look at their progress. We will update this table regularly, and more frequently as the UK space launch industry quickens the pace of its development.

First, let’s look at the table!

Let’s look at each of the spaceports.

Who’s in the UK Spaceport Ranking

Spaceport Cornwall

As the only site in the UK with a spaceport licence, and the only UK-based launch under its belt, Spaceport Cornwall is the obvious choice for leading the league. It’s unclear when the next launch will occur, as it’s launch partner Virgin Orbit is on financial life support at the time of writing. Still, even if Virgin Orbit fails to proceed, we see Cornwall as strong enough to find another horizontal launch partner in time.

Spaceport SaxaVord

With ground broken for the launchpad itself, we rank SaxaVord as second in the UK Spaceport League Table. The spaceport has partnerships in gear for both launch services and some important infrastructure. It is possible that the spaceport will launch by the end of 2023, and in its December 2022 newsletter, the company claimed that it was ahead of schedule on construction. The opening of the payload processing facility, in partnership with Plastron UK, is a marker of importance.

SaxaVord will be the UK launch site for the US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.

Spaceport 1 (Uist)

Rhea Group have been quiet, especially compared to the team at SaxaVord, when it comes to developments at their site in the Western Isles. The company claims that it is ahead of construction schedule as well, “ with commercial operations planned to commence in 2023.” Since we are prioritising announced launch year, Spaceport 1 lands behind SaxaVord, but it could well drop to the bottom of the UK Spaceport Ranking if it remains silent.

Sutherland Space Hub

Scotland’s third base in our table is Sutherland Space Hub. It will be the home pad for the British vertical launch company Orbex. Originally two completely unrelated organisations, Orbex stepped in to develop the site to save the programme. The hub had been tagged by Lockheed Martin as its UK launch base until October 2020, when the American firm switched its focus to SaxaVord.
As the only Scottish site on the mainland, Sutherland is at an advantage logistically for British space companies.

SP Snowdonia

There are seven sites in this league table, but only one truly taking a unique angle on space launch. That would be SP Snowdonia, which, as home to Newton Launch Systems, will send its rockets into space at an initial 45-degree take-off angle. Snowdonia won’t focus solely on launches, as an observatory and planetarium are scheduled to be built there as well. We expect the infrastructure to be built, and Newton Launch Systems is an established company in the UK with deep roots, but will they be able to launch in 2023?

Prestwick SP

Prestwick will leverage existing aerospace infrastructure to become a horizontal launch base as Cornwall is now. A 17^th March visit to Prestwick by Scottish Government Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism, and Enterprise Ivan McKee is the latest sign that the spaceport is moving forward. Launch partner Astraius will use a Boeing C-17 to carry their rocket internally to launch altitude then slide the rocket out the back by parachute, thus removing some of the intricacy of Virgin Orbit’s wing-mount system. As with Newton Launch Systems at Snowdonia, we feel confident that Astraius will launch – it’s a matter of when.

SP Machrihanish

Already a rocket engine testing site, this old Royal Naval Air Station on the Kintyre Peninsula boasts Scotland’s longest runway. Skyrora conducted a static fire test here in 2023. UK Launch Services intend to operate orbital horizontal launches from here as well as suborbital vertical launches. UK Launch Services, Ltd, which is also involved in Prestwick and had had been involved with the initial development of Sutherland, is developing Machrihanish, though operations will be handled by Discover Space UK.

What’s behind the ranking

The UK space industry is expanding in a number of remarkable ways. At Orbital Today, we feel that creating a series of rankings will help create a sense of that expansion, give credit where it’s due, and shine some light where it needs to be, especially if it’s not appreciated. We use only open sources such as media announcements and articles and data from company websites. It’s a work in progress, and we’ll point clearly to our changes as we grow!