Rocket launching plans for the Uists develop

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has confirmed that a revised planning application to develop ‘a temporary test launch facility’ in North Uist for the launch of ‘sounding rockets’ continues to be developed and will be submitted “in due course”.
An illustration of how a future spaceport may look.An illustration of how a future spaceport may look.
An illustration of how a future spaceport may look.

The Comhairle’s announcement comes one week after Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) confirmed that it had submitted plans to Highland Council for a vertical launch site – Space Hub Sutherland – on the A’ Mhoine peninsula, Melness, near Tongue.

The Sutherland facility could see vertical launches commence as soon as 2022 with up to 12 launches of commercial satellites – typically for observation activities – taking place each year, and which, HIE claims, will be the first such launches in Europe.

‘Sounding rockets’ typically carry instruments for data gathering, research and scientific experiments on shorter duration sub-orbital flights.

A spokesperson for the Comhairle said this week that the market for low-cost satellite launches “continues to develop” and that “a range of new opportunities will arise from the maturing of the market.”

The Comhairle’s spokesperson concluded: “These opportunities will potentially be delivered across a number of launch sites which will deliver particular specialisms to the market.”

Based at Scolpaig on the north west coast of North Uist, the Comhairle-backed Spaceport 1 project initially set out to be the UK’s first vertical launch commercial space port, and plans for the facility took a step-closer to realisation last summer after the authority pledged £1m to purchase land for the facility.

The Spaceport 1 project is a partnership between Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and defence contractor, Qinetiq, which operates the MOD Hebrides missile range on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

According to the Comhairle, the project in North Uist could lead to the creation of up to 70 local jobs with additional long-term economic benefits.