The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Space ‘taxi service’ will create Fife jobs
Up to 170 jobs will be created in the wake of successful space rocket tests conducted in Fife.
Scottish space firm Skyrora is developing an orbital vehicle to run a ‘taxi service’ in space.
The company, which set up an engine testing facility in Rosyth this summer, has already signed over 23 letters of intent with interested customers who operate satellites.
It plans to have a launch service agreement in place within the next six months, which would open up between 150 and 170 job opportunities in Scotland.
Skyrora has conducted a series of static test fires of its low Earth orbit (LEO) engine – including a vacuum chamber test, designed to replicate spacelike conditions.
All 100 tests conducted at the company’s engine test complex in Fife were successful.
It means this part of the three- stage orbital launcher Skyrora XL is ready for a planned launch in 2023.
Skyrora’s LEO engine is unique as it can reignite numerous amounts of times in orbit to deliver payloads into different altitudes and phases, as required for the mission and acting as a taxi service to satellite customers.
Head of engineering Dr Jack-James Marlow said: “These tests were a fundamental step for our verification programme for the third-stage LEO engine, which make us a stage closer to fully developing our polar orbital vehicle, Skyrora XL.
“We designed and manufactured a vacuum tube to allow us to lower ambient pressure conditions to approximately 10% of sea level.
“This is a great technological achievement for Skyrora.”
The engine achieved 1,500 seconds of operation within 20 firing tests under vacuum conditions.
The Edinburgh-headquartered Skyrora used a gas-dynamic tube, designed and manufactured in-house, to provide the necessar y low- pressure environment, as the engine is to be operated in the upper atmosphere.
The 3.5kN engine has the ability to conveniently and reliably restart in orbit.
It is this element that makes it suitable as an orbital manoeuvring unit or a space tug that could complete tasks such as space debris removal to aiding in a moon mission.
The next step for Skyrora is to develop the 70kN engine, which will be installed on the first and second stage of the commercial-class orbital vehicle.
Skyrora’s aims is to assist small satellite manufacturers looking to access space.
It successfully conducted Scotland’s first commercial rocket launch by a private company two years ago.
Skyrora chief executive Vo lo dy m yr Levykin previously said the investment in Rosyth would bring 170 highly skilled jobs to the kingdom over the next decade.
He said: “The opening of our engine test complex represents a giant leap forward for the UK’ s ambitions as a space nation and Scotland’s status as a space hub.
“The location and additional jobs will benefit the UK space industry and help the economy grow.
“It will also allow Skyrora’s highly skilled workforce and a young generation of engineers and technicians to be a part of this space revolution.
“Skyrora has developed and come so far as a team and a company, and I am really proud to see how many milestones we have achieved in a short period of time.”