The UK Space Agency awards a grant to Deimos Space UK to Study the Range for Sutherland Spaceport
UK Space Agency grant awarded to Deimos Uk to study the requirements, design, concept of operations and business case for the range to support vertical orbital launch from Sutherland, Scotland
21st of February, 2019
Deimos Group is very pleased to announce that the UK Space Agency has awarded a grant to its subsidiary Deimos Space UK to perform an initial study into the requirements, design, concept of operations and business case for the range that will be required to support vertical orbital launch from the A‘Mhoine peninsula in Sutherland, Scotland.
Deimos UK has supported the development of the Sutherland spaceport since 2016 when the company performed the first detailed analysis of the feasibility of Sutherland as a vertical launch site. The work under the new grant is looking, in detail, at the range – the zone of airspace plus air and land area which is subject to restrictions, exclusions and warnings. The required range control services will be a key input into the work. The key output will be the feasibility of commercial provision of services in compliance with all required legislation.
The work will be based around the range required for the OrbEx Prime launch vehicle. Since July 2018, Deimos Group has been a partner in the development of the Prime launch vehicle and, in February, 2019 OrbEx opened their new manufacturing facility in Forres, Scotland.
In this new project Deimos Group will be supported by several other specialist companies including UK Launch Services, Orbital Express Launch, Heliaq, Helios and Qinetiq.
Claire Barcham, the UK Space Agency’s Director of Commercial Space state that “Public safety is at the heart of our efforts to enable spaceflight from the UK, and range services are an essential part of this work. The commercial provision of range services presents a new opportunity for businesses and, through the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, the UK Space Agency is advancing these exciting developments.”
Commenting on the award Miguel Bello, CEO of the Deimos Group group of companies stated “We are extremely proud that the UK government has chosen Deimos UK for this important piece of work and the company is fully committed to ensuring that the Sutherland spaceport will be ready for operation in the early 2020s”
