Orbex Space is a UK-based, private launch services company focused on serving the small satellite industry. They are developing the Orbex Prime, a micro-launch vehicle designed for low-Earth orbit satellite deployment, utilizing innovative and sustainable bio-propane fuel. While initially planning to launch from Sutherland Spaceport, Orbex has shifted its launch operations to SaxaVord Spaceport. Orbex's key partners and customers include the UK Space Agency, the European Space Agency, and companies like Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd and Astrocast.
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Orbex unveiled a full-scale prototype of the Prime small launch vehicle nearly a year before May 2023 for integrated testing.
Orbex Prime is powered by a renewable bio-fuel, Futuria Liquid Gas, supplied by Calor UK.
A University of Exeter study found that a single launch of Orbex Prime will produce 96 percent lower carbon emissions than comparable space launch systems using fossil fuels.
Orbex revealed the Prime launch vehicle in its final form in May 2022, marking the first full orbital micro-launcher unveiled in Europe.
Orbex will use Sutherland Spaceport to launch as many as 12 orbital rockets per year for satellite deployment.
Orbex signed a 50-year sub-lease with Highlands and Islands Enterprise enabling Orbex to direct construction and assume full operational management of the facility on the community-owned Melness Crofters Estate.
Orbex completed a Series C funding round that raised an additional £40.4 million.
The UK Space Agency provided £2.5 million towards Sutherland Spaceport and £5.5 million for the development of Orbex’s Prime rocket.
Orbex has announced several commercial launch contracts with satellite manufacturers to launch their satellites into orbit directly from Scotland.
Orbex is planning its largest internship program to date for 2023/24 that aims to welcome as many as a dozen new interns.
Teams offering placements during Orbex’s 2023/24 internship program include Assembly Integration and Test (AIT), avionics, propulsion mechanisms, systems engineering, Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC), software, structures, and marketing and administration.
Orbex Prime was unveiled in Europe in May 2022 as the first full orbital microlauncher rocket to be unveiled in Europe.
Orbex secured £40.4 million in a Series C funding round from new and existing investors in 2022-10-01.
Chris Larmour led Orbex since its founding in 2015.
Orbex unveiled a prototype of the Prime rocket in May 2022 for testing near its Forres, Scotland headquarters.
Orbex signed an agreement in November 2022 with Highlands and Islands Enterprise for a 10-acre site to build a launch pad capable of hosting up to 12 launches per year.
Orbex raised £40,400,000in a Series C round led by the Scottish National Investment Bank.
Orbex was performing a wide variety of integration tests of Prime ahead of a first launch that was scheduled for some time in 2023.
Orbex is building a small launch vehicle called Prime designed to place up to 180 kg into low Earth orbit.
Space Hub Sutherland in northern Scotland is being developed to host launches by Orbex.