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Rocket Factory Augsburg has begun commissioning the repaired and upgraded launch pad at SaxaVord Spaceport.
Rocket Factory Augsburg is commissioning its launch pad at SaxaVord Spaceport on the island of Unst off the northern coast of Scotland.
The story about Orbex was updated on Feb. 11 to include statements from the UK government and SaxaVord.
SaxaVord provided statements that were included in the Feb. 11 update to the Orbex story.
Flight Ticket launches will depart from the Saxavord spaceport in the United Kingdom.
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.
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.
The UK committed €10 million towards RFA One, which is expected to launch from the UK’s SaxaVord Spaceport on its next attempt.
SaxaVord’s first orbital launch is planned for later in 2025.
An anomaly during a subsequent engine test in August 2024 at SaxaVord led to the destruction of the stage.
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.
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 operates a nearby ground station with several customers, including SpaceX.
The SaxaVord site uses existing infrastructure left over from a former Royal Air Force station that operated a critical Cold War radar system.
The first orbital launch from SaxaVord Spaceport is planned for later in 2025.
Planning permission for SaxaVord was initially denied in 2021 by Historic Environment Scotland due to damage concerns for surviving World War Two structures.
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 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.
SaxaVord includes a Bronze Age burial site that may have been a 4,000-year-old ritual cremation cemetery.