The UK government has invested £20m in Orbex to help it launch the first UK-made orbital rocket from SaxaVord in Scotland.
Spaceflight company Orbex, headquartered in Forres in northern Scotland, is developing rockets to launch from SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland.
The company is on a mission to build sustainable small- to medium-sized space rockets that will support the European space industry to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit. It plans to launch its 19-metre long, two-stage rocket, known as Prime, later this year.
Orbex’s rocket technology is powered by biopropane, a renewable bio-fuel, which the company claims allows the rocket to reduce carbon emissions significantly compared to other similarly-sized rockets being developed elsewhere around the world.
The rocket is also designed to be re-useable. Upon returning to Earth, what does not burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere will be recovered, and components will be refurbished and reused in future projects.
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