Construction set to start for £43m spaceport

Construction of the UK’s first vertical launch spaceport could begin this month following planning approval from Shetland Islands Council.The planning approval provides Scottish ministers with a 28-day window to review the application by SaxaVord UK Spaceport. Should Scottish Ministers choose not to call the application in for review, or call it in and agree that the project should proceed, construction of the £43m spaceport can begin.The privately-funded spaceport will consist of three launchpads at the Lamba Ness peninsula in Unst, allowing for the launch of small satellites into either polar or sun-synchronous, low-earth orbits. The aim is for there to be up to 30 launches per year for launch service providers (LSPs) supporting industries and services including telecommunications, media, weather and defence.The developer said that timelines are tight to meet the target of delivering the first orbital launch from UK soil after the third quarter of this year. Strang added that the SaxaVord Spaceport team had received a tremendous amount of support from the people of Unst, and without that support would have struggled to maintain momentum.