Skyrora Targets Spring 2025 for Launch Despite Regulatory Roadblocks

23rd Oct 2024
Skyrora Targets Spring 2025 for Launch Despite Regulatory Roadblocks

Scottish startup Skyrora is preparing to launch its Skylark L suborbital rocket from SaxaVord in the Shetland Islands in April 2025. It will be the company’s first suborbital mission from the UK.

The first failed Skylark L launch in Iceland

Skyrora conducted the first test launch of its Skylark L single-stage rocket from the Langanes Peninsula in Iceland in October 2022. After departing the launch pad, an anomaly interrupted the craft’s maiden flight, and it landed safely in the Norwegian Sea, about 500 metres from the launch pad.

The rocket, which is only 11 metres long and capable of lifting 60kg of payload to altitudes above 100km, missed the Karman line by just 700 metres. After investigating the incident, the team concluded that the anomaly’s cause was on the software side.

Regulatory challenges to re-launch in Scotland

Last year, SaxaVord became the first spaceport for vertical launches being developed in the UK to be granted a CAA licence, allowing it to conduct up to 30 launches per year. In addition, Skyrora must complete a navigational risk assessment of the rocket’s proposed grounding off the coast of Scotland for the UK Maritime Coastguard Agency, which oversees the evaluation.

The company hopes to resolve all licence issues by mid-December this year so that the suborbital launch can occur as planned in spring 2025. Skyrora’s first flight also includes a test mission for a space telemetry provider to demonstrate how Skylark L can interact with satellites.

The new LV from Skyrora

In addition, Skyrora plans to use the telemetry and on-board computing systems being developed for Skylark L in the development of Skyrora XL, a three-stage rocket twice as tall designed to launch payloads into orbits between 500 and 1,000 kilometres above Earth. The new LV, with 3D-printed engines, will be able to launch payloads weighing up to 315 kilograms into a sun-synchronous orbit.

The company says it is close to manufacturing the first stage of the Skyrora XL and is preparing to integrate the entire machine and static firing tests by mid-2025. To this aim, Skyrora has built the largest hybrid 3D printer in Europe, opened the largest rocket engine manufacturing facility in the UK in Cumbernauld, and opened a new test centre in Midlothian, Scotland.

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