SaxaVord Spaceport is the UK's first licensed vertical launch spaceport, located in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It serves as a critical infrastructure provider for the UK's end-to-end space capability, facilitating orbital satellite deployment and suborbital missions. SaxaVord partners with launch providers like Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) and works with aviation and maritime agencies to ensure safe launch operations.
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Rocket Factory Augsburg is commissioning its launch pad at SaxaVord Spaceport on the island of Unst off the northern coast of Scotland.
The only element still to be added to the SaxaVord launch pad commissioning is the water tanks for the water deluge system.
Rocket Factory Augsburg has begun commissioning the repaired and upgraded launch pad at SaxaVord Spaceport.
On 10 February Rocket Factory Augsburg raised a new 52-metre-high umbilical tower at SaxaVord Spaceport.
Orbex is based in Scotland with engine development facilities in Denmark and had originally sought to develop a launch site in northern Scotland before deciding to use SaxaVord Spaceport.
During a 2024 static-fire test at SaxaVord Spaceport, Rocket Factory Augsburg experienced an oxygen-pump fire on one booster engine that spread to other engines and engulfed and destroyed the entire first stage.
The UK committed €10 million towards RFA One, which is expected to launch from the UK’s SaxaVord Spaceport on its next attempt.
An anomaly during a subsequent engine test in August 2024 at SaxaVord led to the destruction of the stage.
SaxaVord operates a nearby ground station with several customers, including SpaceX.
The former Royal Air Force station at the SaxaVord site closed in 2006 and the radar system was re-opened as an autonomous Remote Radar Head in 2019.
Planning permission for SaxaVord was initially denied in 2021 by Historic Environment Scotland due to damage concerns for surviving World War Two structures.
Rocket Factory Augsburg conducted a successful four-engine hotfire test at SaxaVord in May 2024.
The first orbital launch from SaxaVord Spaceport is planned for later in 2025.
The SaxaVord development removed the need for launchers to dogleg to avoid inhabited areas, improving orbital access for polar and Sun-synchronous orbits and reducing fuel needs.
SaxaVord’s first orbital launch is planned for later in 2025.
The SCEPTRE report commissioned by the UK government in 2017 identified SaxaVord as the optimum site for a UK launch site based on orbital access and other criteria.
Planning permission for SaxaVord was initially denied in 2021 by Historic Environment Scotland due to potential damage to surviving World War Two structures.
The RAF closed the SaxaVord site in 2006 and re-opened the radar system as an autonomous Remote Radar Head in 2019.
The SaxaVord site uses existing infrastructure left over from a former Royal Air Force station that operated a critical Cold War radar system.
The UK government commissioned the SCEPTRE report in 2017 to assess potential launch sites and identified SaxaVord as the optimum site for a UK launch site.