The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Marex managing risks of first space launch from UK
An Aberdeen risk management specialist is playing its part in Europe’s first horizontal space launch from Cornwall.
Marex carried out hazard identification work at Spaceport Cornwall ahead of the UK’s first launch, which is counting down to take place by the end of the year.
Working with Walesbased B2SPACE – under contract to Cornwall Council which owns both Cornwall Airport Newquay and Spaceport Cornwall – Marex completed a comprehensive on-site hazard identification (HAZID) review for the spaceport to gain its safety case approval.
The work identified all “reasonably foreseeable” and significant hazards that may affect or arise from operations, using knowledge and expertise the company has gained from 25 years of assessing hazardous offshore environments.
Spaceport Cornwall, based at Newquay, will cater for carrier aircraft, spaceplanes and other vehicles requiring the use of a runway to take off or land.
The launch will take eight small Virgin Orbit satellites into space.
Virgin Orbit launches rockets into space from under the wing of a repurposed Boeing 747 and is expecting to fire its LauncherOne rocket from Spaceport Cornwall this month.
Flying to 35,000ft the aircraft – dubbed Cosmic Girl – will fly out over the Atlantic.
It will drop the unmanned rocket with its payload, which will fall for five seconds before igniting and blasting into orbit.
The mission has been named Start Me Up in tribute to the Rolling Stones.
Marex, set up in the wake of the Piper Alpha disaster, specialises in enterprise risk management (ERM) for clients operating in the energy and marine sectors.
Managing director Wayne Henderson said: “Managing risk is an important factor in so many industries.
“This is what lets businesses innovate and excel as safely as possible in challenging environments.
“It is great to see the years of risk advisory expertise earned in the energy industry being used by the space sector, and acknowledged as so important for the sector’s safety compliance and growth.
“Diversification is a hot topic in our region, and although Aberdeen and Cornwall are geographically far apart, the priorities and issues in supporting safe and efficient operations in hazardous environments are very closely aligned.”
Marex has also been working on other spaceport projects in the fledgling UK industry, including at Space Hub Sutherland.
The Aberdeen firm worked with space safety specialist Saturn SMS to model fire and explosion hazards for an application to the Civil Aviation Authority to carry out operations.
The Sutherland spaceport, which is being developed on the A’Mhoine peninsula, is one of two in Scotland vying to host the first vertical launch into space next year using rockets designed by Forresbased Orbex.
Another is the SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland backed by US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
The site in Cornwall however will be the first space launch in Europe.
Horizontal launches require less fuel to reach high altitudes, with the rockets then having power to take their satellite cargoes into space.