A £60 million investment package has been unveiled for Scotland’s SaxaVord Spaceport as it races to host the first vertical orbital rocket launch from UK soil.
The UK Government announced on Tuesday that it plans to invest £30m in the pioneering facility on Unst in Shetland, with the funding expected to unlock another £30m of private investment.
The money will be used to complete critical infrastructure at SaxaVord, including its three launchpads, mission management facilities and a second integration hangar for international rocket companies.
It represents a major vote of confidence in the ambitious project at Lamba Ness, close to the northernmost point of the UK.
SaxaVord is currently the UK’s only fully licensed vertical launch spaceport and has regulatory approval for up to 30 launches a year.
The £30m government commitment was announced as part of a new UK Space Strategy backed by £7.8 billion of investment up to 2030.
SaxaVord chief executive Scott Hammond said: “This is a hugely significant vote of confidence in SaxaVord and in the UK’s determination to establish its own launch capability.
“We have transformed a former RAF radar station in Unst into the UK’s first licensed vertical launch spaceport.
“This government investment, which will unlock a matching amount of private investment, will help us take the next step – establishing regular launch operations from the UK and building a sustainable commercial spaceport for the long term.”
The funding remains subject to due diligence and final sign-off.
SaxaVord says it intends to provide further details of the investment programme once an agreement has been completed.
The project has spent years working towards making Shetland a major European base for launching small satellites into polar and sun-synchronous orbits.
Its remote northern location makes Unst particularly attractive to launch companies because rockets can head northwards over the sea without passing over major population centres.
The latest funding could help move the spaceport beyond its development phase and towards regular commercial launches.
A first orbital launch has yet to take place from the site.
German company Rocket Factory Augsburg had been working towards a test flight from SaxaVord during a launch window in August and early September.
That flight was postponed after the company said it had identified an issue during preparations which required further investigation.
RFA’s rocket was subsequently removed from the launchpad.
Another German rocket company, HyImpulse, has also signed an agreement to use SaxaVord.
HyImpulse announced earlier this year that it plans to carry out the second flight of its SR75 suborbital launch vehicle from Shetland.
The company has reiterated its intention to launch from SaxaVord during 2026.
SaxaVord is also in discussions with other potential launch operators as it attempts to build a business capable of supporting multiple rocket companies rather than relying on a single customer.
The spaceport says the latest £60m public-private investment programme will help complete infrastructure required by international launch businesses looking to operate from the UK.
Lise Kaae, chief executive of Heartland, whose investment arm Wild Ventures holds a majority stake in SaxaVord, welcomed the government’s involvement.
She said: “We are very pleased to welcome UK Government as an investor and partner in SaxaVord.
“Their commitment is a strong endorsement of the ambitions for the company, the spaceport in Shetland and the potential we have believed in for many years.”
The government investment comes two years after £10m of public funding was announced for SaxaVord in 2024.
The latest commitment is substantially larger and forms part of a broader push to give Britain its own reliable route into orbit.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said space was becoming increasingly important for both the economy and national security.
He said: “As space becomes a new frontier of economic and military competition, this plan will help keep Britain secure by strengthening our ability to launch satellites, detect threats and protect the services people rely on every day.
“At the same time, this plan will enable our excellent UK industry to seize the boundless opportunities of this new age in space, creating skilled jobs, driving growth and improving connectivity for all of us.”
The government’s new strategy includes plans to spend £2.8bn on the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit and Skynet defence communications programmes.
Ministers also want Britain to become better able to monitor what is happening in orbit, including providing earlier warnings of satellite collisions, hostile activity and solar storms.
But establishing a reliable domestic rocket-launching capability remains one of the most high-profile ambitions.
The UK has yet to successfully launch satellites into orbit from British soil.
A horizontal launch attempt from Spaceport Cornwall in January 2023 ended in failure after Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket suffered an anomaly after being released from a modified Boeing 747.
SaxaVord is pursuing a different model. Rockets will launch vertically from the Shetland site in much the same way as traditional space launches elsewhere in the world.
The spaceport’s licence allows it to host up to 30 launches annually, although reaching that level would depend on demand from launch companies and individual regulatory approval for missions.
SaxaVord’s development has already transformed the former RAF Saxa Vord radar station and surrounding land on Unst into specialist space infrastructure.
The site includes launch facilities, rocket integration infrastructure, telemetry and tracking systems and mission control capabilities.
It has also begun receiving data from satellites through ground-station antennas based in Shetland.
Hammond said the ambition was to build infrastructure capable of surviving far beyond the excitement surrounding the first rocket.
He said: “We are building the spaceport for the thousandth as much as the first launch, creating a safe, secure and trusted home for our client launch providers for many years to come.”
The announcement comes as European governments increasingly focus on reducing their dependence on other countries for access to space.
European leaders and space-industry executives are gathering in Paris this week for an international summit where independent European launch capability, satellite communications and security are expected to be major issues.