Quote from: Salo on 07/24/2024 01:20 pmScheduled:Date - Satellite(s) - Rocket - Launch Site (Country) - Time (UTC)2025 2023 NET Summer - TBD - Prime (Orbex) - SaxaVord Spaceport (US, UK)Changes on August 20thSaxavord Are you sure it's not Sutherland instead ?
Scheduled:Date - Satellite(s) - Rocket - Launch Site (Country) - Time (UTC)2025 2023 NET Summer - TBD - Prime (Orbex) - SaxaVord Spaceport (US, UK)Changes on August 20th
WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle developer Orbex will halt work on its own launch site in northern Scotland and instead use a rival facility in the Shetland Islands.Orbex announced Dec. 4 that it would “pause” construction of Sutherland Spaceport in Scotland and instead use the SaxaVord Spaceport on the island of Unst in the Shetlands for its Prime launch vehicle.The move, Orbex said, will free up resources to allow the company to focus on launch vehicle development, including both Prime and a new medium-class vehicle called Proxima. ...“This decision will help us to reach first launch in 2025 and provides SaxaVord with another customer to further strengthen its commercial proposition. It’s a win-win for U.K. and Scottish space,” he added.
An early adopter, Canadian company C6 Launch Systems, signed an agreement in 2020 to make SaxaVord its primary launch facility.
Shield Space and Astron Systems have announced agreements for the first launches of Shield’s Orbital Sentinel spacecraft targeting 2029. This also kicks of a wider collaboration between the two teams to co-develop a responsive launch concept enabling 72-hour orbital tasking from the UK. The two companies also jointly presented the concept last week at the NATO Research Specialists Meeting (RSM) in Bath focusing on dual-use space technologies to outline their vision for the future of space security.Shield Space are a UK company focused on providing critical security capability to watch and defend from space-borne threats using their autonomous inspection satellites. The company’s founders, Graeme Ritchie and Dan Molland, come from the UK’s MOD and identified a strong need for improving the UK and her allies ability to secure the peaceful use of space.
In June, Astron signed with the Australian startup Spiral Blue to launch three of the Aussie company’s lidar sats to orbit, also beginning in 2029.The company also has four more commercial flights planned from 2028-2030, totaling a few hundred kilos of available payload capacity.
Height25 mDiameter1.8 mLEO Payload 360 kgReturn Payload100 kgStructure Stainless steel and carbon compositeRecovery System ParafoilHeat ShieldCeramic matrix composite aeroshell panelsPropellant Liquid Oxygen / Liquid (Bio)MethaneEngine Cycle Hybrid Expander Electric
