On December 4th, the European launch services company Orbex announced the suspension of its own spaceport’s construction, focusing on the maiden launch of the Prime rocket and the founding for the development of a new launch vehicle.
The news came as quite a surprise, as the company seemed focused on completing the construction of its launch facility in Sutherland County, Scotland, in preparation for the debut of Prime between late 2024 and early 2025.
Phil Chambers, CEO of Orbex, commented: “This decision will help us to reach the first launch in 2025 and provide SaxaVord with another customer to further strengthen its commercial proposition. It’s a win-win for UK and Scottish space.”
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A (new) launch pad
In 2022 the Scotland-based company began the construction of the Sutherland Spaceport with the goal of launching its micro-launcher several times a year.
Now, after securing €5.6 million in additional funding under ESA’s Boost! Programme to support the maiden launch of Prime, Orbex has decided to switch its launch operations to SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, Scotland. The decision marks a significant shift for the company and an important step for the launch facility.
SaxaVord has signed important launch accords with Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), HyImpulse, and Skyrora. With the addition of Orbex, the Scottish launch facility will become a key hub for many European micro-launchers set to debut by next year. The Spaceport will feature three launch pads, one already used by RFA.
In 2024, the German company carried out the testing campaign for its RFA One rocket up until the failed static fire test in August, which temporarily halted operations. HyImpulse is set to launch the maiden flight of its SL1 from SaxaVord in 2025.
“Given the scale of their ambition and the evolution of their offer to include a medium-sized launch vehicle, it makes sense for Orbex to start operations from SaxaVord Spaceport, which is already licensed and in a position to support their upcoming launches.”
— Frank Strang, CEO of SaxaVord Spaceport
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Scaling up the rocket
As explained by the company, the main objective of this switch is to focus financial efforts on developing a new medium-sized launch vehicle, called Proxima. No further details have been released.
The new asset will help Orbex to expand its business, addressing the evolving market demands and positioning itself more competitively in the ESA’s European Launcher Challenge. The initiative, launched by the Agency in 2023, aims to boost the development of new European commercial launcher services, incentivizing greater competitiveness in the European market. From 2025, the winners will sign launch contracts to deliver institutional missions and demonstrate their technologies.
Orbex has thus embarked on a path that now seems almost inevitable for many players in the sector. In recent years, several companies in Europe have started developing small-lift launchers, but even before their maiden flights, many of these have decided to focus on developing new vehicles with significantly higher capabilities. Examples of this are RFA, PLD, and now Orbex.
The European landscape also seems to be adapting to the trend already set in the United States, where many startups either started developing larger rockets, like Rocket Lab, or shifted their focus to other sectors, such as defense, as ABL has recently done.
It will be interesting to understand the future of micro-launcher services, and most importantly, how many companies will survive in the market, especially as competition increases and the demand for larger, more capable vehicles grows.
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