Spaceport UK - Unst (Shetland)

[blessmycottonsocks]

Given the huge disappointment over the UK's first spaceport launch failing and, at the time of writing, no further plans to launch again from Spaceport Cornwall, it's time to turn our attention to the other end of the UK, with SaxaVord UK’s vertically launched rockets scheduled to launch from Unst in the Shetlands in 2024.
Questions have been raised about the wisdom of launching from such a high lattitude and a location renowned for adverse weather, including extreme wind speeds, but hopefully the boffins at SaxaVord UK will have factored all that in.
I'm sure we're all rooting for SaxaVord UK's venture into space to be the success that, sadly, Virgin Orbit wasn't.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/28/scotland-on-verge-of-becoming-space-superpower

 

[Mythopoeika]

The name Saxa Vord can be translated from Latin as 'I give advanced warning about danger'.
So, their project may be blighted from the start.

Edit: I got that wrong! It's the station's motto. From Wikipedia:

Remote Radar Head Saxa Vord or RRH Saxa Vord (aka RAF Saxa Vord), is a Royal Air Force radar station located on the island of Unst, the most northern of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. As of July 2019 it is once more a fully operational radar station,[2] after closure in 2006.[3] The station's motto Praemoneo de Periculis ('Premonition of Peril') reflects its role. RAF Saxa Vord is further north than Saint Petersburg in Russia, and on the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska. The station was named after Saxa Vord, which is the highest hill on Unst at 935 ft (285 m).[4] It holds the unofficial British record for wind speed, which in 1992 was recorded at 197 mph (317 km/h) — just before the measuring equipment blew away.

 

[Frideswide]

a location renowned for adverse weather, including extreme wind speeds,

accepted

67° 53′ 38″ N, 21° 6′ 25″ E has had some practice!

 

[Xanatic*]

I hope it will look more futuristic than the shed in Cornwall.

 

[Carse]

Here’s a top tip that may one day prevent a violent altercation outside a pub in Lerwick - the name of the whole archipelago is Shetland (though each island has an individual name) and islanders get very grumpy when soothmoothers call it ‘The Shetlands’. A bit like Ukraine vs. ‘The Ukraine’

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I hope it will look more futuristic than the shed in Cornwall.

I suspect, from SaxaVord UK's own artist's impression of their first launch (see photo in my post above), that it will be even more minimalist than Spaceport Cornwall.
At least Spaceport Cornwall had a visitors' centre of sorts!
I can't see a huge number of space-head tourists heading to Shetland for SaxaVord's first launch.
Hopefully, it will be streamed live on YouTube.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

I hope it will look more futuristic than the shed in Cornwall.

Here you go.
Doesn't look that futuristic or welcoming quite yet.
Nice comment about aliens though!

 

[gordonrutter]

Here’s a top tip that may one day prevent a violent altercation outside a pub in Lerwick - the name of the whole archipelago is Shetland (though each island has an individual name) and islanders get very grumpy when soothmoothers call it ‘The Shetlands’. A bit like Ukraine vs. ‘The Ukraine’

Quietly changes title of thread...

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Here’s a top tip that may one day prevent a violent altercation outside a pub in Lerwick - the name of the whole archipelago is Shetland (though each island has an individual name) and islanders get very grumpy when soothmoothers call it ‘The Shetlands’. A bit like Ukraine vs. ‘The Ukraine’

I'm currently watching Anglo-German sci-fi series The Swarm on Sky sci-fi channel and note that they habitually refer to the islands as "The Shetlands".
Time for a snooty letter of complaint to Sky?

 

[Kondoru]

Do they have an Alien problem in Zetland?

 

[ramonmercado]

A straight up launch site for advanced caber tossing.

A site in the Shetland Islands has become the UK's first spaceport for vertical rocket launches.

SaxaVord Spaceport on the small island of Unst has been given approval from the Civil Aviation Authority to begin launches in 2024. It will be the first fully-licensed spaceport in Western Europe able to launch vertically into orbit. It permits up to 30 launches a year, that will be used to take satellites and other payload into space.

The site, which is the first spaceport in Scotland, has a number of launch operators around the world currently developing rockets. It is hoped that German rocket firm Hylmpulse will attempt sub-orbital launches - flights that do not travel high enough to reach outer space - from August.

Full orbital launches are expected to take place at SaxaVord from 2025.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-67741864

 

[Stormkhan]

I hope it will look more futuristic than the shed in Cornwall.

Well, a lot of structure remains on the Isle of Wight ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Down_Rocket_Test_Site

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Just heard on BBC Radio 5 that SaxaVord UK has now been granted the Civil Aviation Authority licence permitting its first launches in 2024.
The spokesman for SaxaVord described how they are planning to launch everything from Rubik's Cube sized cubesats right up to substantial 500kg traditional satellites.

https://news.sky.com/story/shetland...for-uks-first-vertical-rocket-launch-13032582

 

[Stormkhan]

Have they announced what the flight path will be - out over the Atlantic or North Sea?

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Have they announced what the flight path will be - out over the Atlantic or North Sea?

Don't know, but the spokesman did say that they will be specialising in polar orbit satellites, where the high latitude of the Shetland Islands is advantageous.

 

[maximus otter]

…the high latitude of the Shetland Islands is advantageous.

The advantage of this high latitude is that, even if a rocket goes:

- Shetland is so far behind God’s back that we might never hear about it.

maximus otter

 

[Stormkhan]

The advantage of this high latitude is that, even if a rocket goes:

- Shetland is so far behind God’s back that we might never hear about it.

maximus otter

I was once told that 'back in the day' When NASA was beginning the shuttle programme, they calculated that the first place where a damaged shuttle could possibly land was in Banjul in The Gambia. Thus, the US made a deal with the Gambian government in that they upgraded Banjul airport and it's telecommunications network in return for immediate emergency landing permission.