By David Baptiste
I was fascinated to read Christophe Zola’s take on the contrasting fortunes of the UK space initiative in his Silicon Scotland article.
In December last year, SaxaVord CEO Frank Strang announced that the UK’s first Space Port had already raised circa £40 million in private investment to fund the development of the Scottish based spaceport. This announcement was issued against a backdrop of SaxaVord and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) having reached agreement to conduct the first ever orbital launch from UK and European soil in “late 2024”.
But these plans have become somewhat unstuck and suffered a significant setback as a result of a recent failure of Rocket Factory Augsburg’s (RFA) engine test. This incident has delayed the timeline for this first orbital launch from UK soil.
Rumours abound that SaxaVord may be able to accelerate other plans for launch as operators jockey for position to be first. Candidates include Hyimpluse and Lockheed Martin. But it’s also rumoured that Skyrora may be well positioned to push ahead sooner than others. Herr
Skyrora is Edinburgh based and owned by Ukrainian national Volodymyr Levykin. Founded in 2017 the company designs and manufactures modular rocket launch vehicles.
Zola’s Silicon Scotland article contrasted the more favourable fortunes of the launch of the Sentinel-2C satellite, which lifted off successfully this morning (Thursday, 5 September) at 02:50 BST from Kourou in French Guiana. A key note worthy of mention is that the New Space Race is a game of high stakes and not for the faint hearted. Risks are substantial but a lot of institutional money is betting that the rewards will be significant.
On September 5, 2024, the Sentinel-2C satellite successfully lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, marking another milestone in the Copernicus Earth observation program. The UK played a significant role in the satellite’s development, with Teledyne e2V in Chelmsford providing a crucial sensor and ABSL in Culham supplying batteries. This launch underscores the UK’s continued participation in the Copernicus program, which generates valuable data for disaster response, pollution monitoring, and climate change research.
The third satellite in the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, Sentinel-2C will generate valuable images and data to help respond to natural disasters, monitor pollution, and inform action on climate change.
The Sentinels are a fleet of satellites that look down on the planet and gather vast quantities of data (over 34 million gigabytes so far) that feed into Copernicus, Europe’s Earth observation programme.
The European Space race is very much alive and well. We look forward to watching its story unfold.
David Baptiste is a French journalist specialising in space and technology.
