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Lockheed Martin to launch satellites from northernmost British island

Professional Engineering

The Shetland launch site at Lamba Ness on the island of Unst (Credit: Shetland Space Centre Ltd)
The Shetland launch site at Lamba Ness on the island of Unst (Credit: Shetland Space Centre Ltd)

Satellites could be launched into orbit from the northernmost part of the inhabited British Isles after the government approved Lockheed Martin plans.

The international aerospace firm will transfer its satellite launch operations to the Shetland Space Centre on the island of Unst.

The centre, which along with the Sutherland spaceport in the Scottish Highlands will provide orbital launch capability from the UK, anticipates that it will support a total of 605 jobs in Scotland by 2024.

Science minister Amanda Solloway said: “We want the UK to be the best place in Europe to launch satellites, attracting innovative businesses from all over the world and creating hundreds of high-skilled jobs.

“The potential to have multiple spaceports in Scotland demonstrates the scale of our ambition, and I want to support industry by pressing ahead with our plans during this challenging time.

“This government is committed to backing our growing space sector, developing a comprehensive space strategy and supporting transformative technologies that will benefit people and businesses across the country.”

The UK space sector is a long-established global leader in satellite technology, and has expanded in recent years to include a large number of new companies, including Scottish rocket firms such as Orbex and Skyrora. Orbex is the launch partner for the Sutherland spaceport, and is preparing to launch its Prime rocket from the site in 2022.

The country’s spaceflight programme, LaunchUK, is working with additional partners to establish commercial vertical and horizontal small satellite launch from UK spaceports, including Spaceport Cornwall and Virgin Orbit.


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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 

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