Spaceport takes one giant leap … over North Uist

The UK’s first spaceport is set to be built in Scotland in Sutherland – but the Western Isles’ MP says it is ‘hugely disappointing’ North Uist missed out.

The UK Government aims to take the UK into the commercial space age by enabling small satellite launch and spaceflight from UK spaceports, carrying fee-paying passengers into orbit.

It shortlisted several coastal aerodromes that could be converted into spaceports. Sutherland is the first vertical launch site to be awarded grant money.

Initial funding of £2.5 million will go to Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to develop a vertical launch site on the A’Mhoine peninsula, between Tongue and Durness, which could see lift-off from the early 2020s and create hundreds of jobs.

HIE said: ‘The UK Space Agency selected the Sutherland site because Scotland is the best place in the UK to reach highly sought-after satellite orbits with vertically-launched rockets.’ Earlier Na h-Eileanan an Iar MP Angus MacNeil and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar proposed Scolpaig in North Uist as the UK’s lead site for a vertical take-off facility.

A ‘hugely disappointed’ Mr MacNeil said: ‘Uist is an ideal site due to its location and also because of the expertise and experience already in place at the Hebrides Range.’

The government also announced a new £2 million development fund for horizontal launch spaceports across the UK at sites such as Prestwick in Ayrshire, Cornwall’s Newquay, Campbeltown in Argyll and Bute, and Llanbedr, Gwynedd, Wales, subject to a successful business case.

HIE said: ‘Low-cost access to space is important for the UK’s thriving space sector which builds more small satellites than any other country, with Glasgow building more than any other city in Europe.

‘The commercial space sector is estimated to be worth a potential £3.8 billion to the UK economy over the next decade.’