Hoots mon.. we have a problem
Scotland to get the first UK spaceport
ADVENTUROUS Brits will this week come one small step closer to catching a flight to space.
Business Secretary Greg Clark will announce that Sutherland, on Scotland’s north coast, has been chosen as the site for the UK’s first spaceport.
It will initially host launches of rockets and satellites, but commercial passenger travel could then follow.
Mr Clark will say at this week’s Farnborough Air Show that this is the start of a “new British space age”.
COMPETITION
And he will add that the space flight market could be worth as much as £4billion to the UK economy over the next 10 years.
Sutherland beat competition from Prestwick, Ayrshire, Unst in the Shetlands and Newquay airport in Cornwall.
The spaceport will provide the infrastructure needed for space tourism, although a regulatory framework for running passenger trips has yet to be created.
The Space Industry Bill cleared its Commons stages in March, paving the way for the spaceport.
Transport minister Jo Johnson said: “This puts us at the forefront of the new space race.
“It helps us to compete as the destination of choice for satellite companies worldwide.”
Nearly a fifth of the UK’s space industry is based in Scotland, and Glasgow builds more satellites than A POLAR research ship the public wanted to call Boaty McBoatface is launched by the man it was renamed after – Sir David Attenborough. Helping him yesterday at Cammell Laird’s yard in Birkenhead is British Antarctic Survey chief Dame Jane Francis. Boaty McBoatface came top in an online poll before ministers stepped in to choose the more sober name. TV legend Sir David called the £200million ship’s launch “noble and emotional”. any other city in Europe. A consortium submitted a proposal for Sutherland to the UK Space Agency, saying the A’Mhoine peninsula was ideal for launching satellites into orbit. They expect to be able to attract business from the military, the Government and private companies.
SNP MP Dr Philippa Whitford said: “Launches are currently carried out from Kazakhstan.
“Easy launch access from Scotland would benefit the commercial satellite industry right across the UK.”
The move is backed by the specialist technical staff union Prospect, as well as the GMB and Unite.
And Mr Clark hopes Britain’s share of the global space economy will increase from 6.5 per cent now to 10 per cent by 2030.