Britain’s first attempt in more than 50 years to launch satellites from its soil, Monday, failed to reach its target orbit. But the launch from Cornwall, U.K. is the first from what will be seven new spaceports in the commonwealth, adding massive capacity for the future of sending telecom satellites into space.
The so-called horizontal launch began on a good note, successfully taking off from the runway at Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay. “Cosmic Girl,” the customized 747 that served as the LauncherOne system’s carrier aircraft, entered the drop zone and released the rocket. However, after hitting hypersonic speeds, at some point during the firing of the rocket’s second stage engine, the system experienced an anomaly, which ended the mission.
“We have shown the U.K. is capable of launching into orbit, but the launch was not successful in reaching the required orbit,” said Matt Archer, Director of Commercial Spaceflight at the U.K. Space Agency. “Despite this, the project has succeeded in creating a horizontal launch capability at Spaceport Cornwall, and we remain committed to becoming the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030, with vertical launches planned from Scotland.”
British officials are excited about adding launch capability to the United Kingdom’s satellite manufacturing ecosystem, which employs 47,000 people. The U.K. used to design, build and launch its own rockets and satellites until it ended the launch program in 1971, according to Space News.
“Every part of the country, every part of the United Kingdom has got a link to what’s going on in Cornwall tonight,” said Grant Shapps, Business Secretary for the U.K. government. One of the birds onboard the rocket was built in Cardiff, Wales, and another in Glasgow, Scotland, among several payloads on board.
The U.K.’s reentry into satellite launching comes as the number of satellites launched globally has grown from 500 in 2019 to 1,900 in 2021. Smaller satellite launches have grown from about 1 percent of the market to 11 percent. Over the next decade or so, Shapps said that $73.9 billion worth of smaller satellite launches will occur.
“It is a huge opportunity,” Shapps said. “The U.K. has the right location, geographically, the right science with seven of the world’s top 20 universities, and the right industry combined with the government to make these launches happen.”
Along with the Cornwall Spaceport, seven vertical spaceports are being built or are planned across the U.K., creating 10s of thousands of jobs. One example is a launch site being built in Sutherland county, Scotland. Small launch vehicle developer Orbex announced last November it was beginning the construction of the launch site in northern Scotland, which should be completed by the end of 2023, according to Space News.
“We think that we could grab probably as much as 30 percent of the launch market on these smaller satellites, which is something we’re very keen to do,” Shapps said.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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