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Skylark L is Skyrora’s suborbital rocket of 36 feet (11 m). | Credit: Skyrora
Skyrora is the first British company to grant a license for the introduction of a rocket from the United Kingdom.
The British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has given Skyrora in Scotland a license for up to 16 starts per year by Saxavord Spaceport on the Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland.
It is the first time that a company based in Great Britain has been given a vertical launch license. It enables Skyrora to start its suborbital Skylark L rocket from Saxavord, which has already received a security license from the CAA. The step is also a step towards Skyrora, which launches its larger orbital rocket, the Skylark XL.
According to CAA, the license inflammation process took into account factors such as security, international obligations and environmental reductions in relation to the planned starts of Skyrora.
“The first local company in the UK that receives a launch operator license is proof of the hard work and the commitment of everyone at Skyrora,” said Volodymyr Levykin, CEO of Skyrora.
“It is important that in Great Britain there has sovereign starting capabilities – not only to unlock commercial activities for companies, have access to space and help to achieve the goals of the government, to become a global actor in the space sector, but also from strategic defense,” continued Levykin.
However, a first start is not to be expected before the end of 2025. Levykin announced Reuters that it is unlikely that Skyrora will have a starting license and a rocket this year “that Skyrora can start from Great Britain.”
He added that the company has options from Australia, Oman and potentially Iceland, with Skyrora undertaking a failed attempt to start from Iceland in 2022.
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Skyrora is not the first company of origin to receive a vertical introductory license from Great Britain Caa. Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) from Germany received an orbital start license in January, so that it could start up to 10 times a year. A year ago, the company’s RFA rocket exploded during a static fire test in Saxavord.
RFA was one of five companies that were selected for the European Launcher Challenge of the European Space Agency who aimed to promote independent access to the space for the continent with small and medium -sized rockets.
Skyrora was not one of the selected companies, although his British competitor Orbex was selected. At the end of March, Germany’s Isar Aerospace made an unsuccessful first orbital start -up attempt by the European mainland.
