Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

The British Are Building a Spaceport

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday July 17 2018, @09:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the to-infinity-and-beyond dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

The lure of commercial riches in space is spurring a variety of plans to help launch all the components necessary for a fully functioning orbital economy.

The latest to enter this private-sector race is the U.K., which announced Monday that it plans to construct the nation's first commercial vertical launch spaceport in northern Scotland. Lockheed Martin Corp. was awarded $31 million for two U.K. projects: Establishing vertical launch operations in Sutherland and a development program slated for Reading to deploy a new "delivery vehicle" to deploy as many as six small satellites.

Is it the second coming of the Space Race?

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The British Are Building a Spaceport | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 28 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday July 17 2018, @09:48PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday July 17 2018, @09:48PM (#708531) Journal

    A lot of companies are getting into small satellite launches [wikipedia.org] (Rocket Lab, Vector Space Systems, Orbex, Rocket Crafters Inc., PLD Space, SpinLaunch). But is it really worth it to pay orders of magnitude higher cost per kilogram just to have a vehicle (often non-reusable) dedicated to your small payload?

    Big launch companies predict doom for upcoming smallsat launchers [spacenews.com]

    Speaking at the World Satellite Business Week in Paris Sept. 12, top executives of the world’s five leading launch service providers agreed that the future small-satellite launch market will favor ridesharing and customized services on larger launch vehicles rather than tailored launches by the newcomers.

    “At SpaceX, we started with a small launch vehicle,” said SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, whose company has launched its Falcon 9 rocket 13 times since last September’s on-pad fueling accident destroyed a Spacecom’s Amos-6 satellite. “We really wanted to make a business of Falcon 1 … we just could not make it work.”

    United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno, whose company operates the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets for a U.S. government-dominated customer base, said some of the newcomers may initially succeed in the market only to be taken down by the big players later on.

    “I think it’s a function of time,” Bruno said. “Initially, they will begin and they will try and service the small satellite launch market. But as that becomes a real market, that attracts the rest of us. I think the real economics will favor rideshares as a solution so then it flips to the other side.”

    Fast forward to operational BFR, and these companies have a real problem on their hands.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday July 18 2018, @07:48AM

    by driverless (4770) on Wednesday July 18 2018, @07:48AM (#708699)

    Is it the second coming of the Space Race?

    It's also pretty clever planning: If Scotland does decide to split from the UK over Brexit, it'll still be in the EU, so the port will be more attractive for the European launch business.