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?