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Can the UK Host Europe’s First Spaceport?

In the race to launch the first rocket from Europe, can the UK come out on top? With the plans for two new UK spaceports based in Scotland underway, these may present Great Britain’s best chance of success.

Published

2 years ago

October 18, 2021

TwinzTech

The United Kingdom can boast an enviable record of excellence with its contributions to science, engineering, and technology, especially in the field of aeronautics. Therefore, it’s surprising that Great Britain hasn’t yet achieved a vertical rocket launch from the country’s soil, despite the abundance of scientific expertise in its space industry.

Now, the United Kingdom is targeting 10% of the worldwide space industry by 2030, and its success in the endeavor is likely to hinge on the progress of two new UK spaceports.

Table of Contents

1. Spaceport Development in the UK

Despite the difficulties posed by the coronavirus pandemic and the continuing fallout from Brexit, the UK is still aiming to build new spaceports on British soil very shortly. The government and space industry hope to boost British enterprise, provide a platform for the nation’s scientific talent, and secure considerable economic benefits.

UK science minister Amanda Solloway stated that the new UK spaceports would “cement the UK’s status as a global space superpower.” The UK already makes sizeable contributions to the global space industry with its technology exports. The annual UK satellite export market is valued at over $300 million, while more than £360 billion of broader UK economic activity is supported by satellite services.

Indeed, small satellite (smallsat) technology promises the most significant short-term growth for the space industry’s future. Many of Britain’s most innovative smallsat companies are located in Scotland, which, combined with the local geography, makes the UK’s northernmost part an ideal base of operations for developing the country’s space industry.

It’s no surprise, then, that Scotland has been chosen as the location for two different spaceports with two very different profiles. While plans for other UK spaceports in Wales and Cornwall are also in progress, if Britain launches Europe’s first vertical rocket, it will likely originate from one Scottish spaceport. Now, it continues to be discussed which will strike first: Space Hub Sutherland or the Shetland Space Centre.

2. Space Hub Sutherland vs. Shetland Space Centre

With a proposed site amidst the beautiful Scottish Highlands on the A’ Mhòine peninsula, the construction of Space Hub Sutherland is scheduled to begin soon, with an eye on launching rockets before the end of 2022. The spaceport will launch rockets carrying payloads of up to 500 kg, the first of which will be a rocket made by Orbex. Although based in Scotland, Orbex’s founders hail from Denmark and Germany, with most of Orbex’s employees working in Denmark rather than in the UK.

spacex Host Europes First Spaceport

This is not the only setback that Orbex and Sutherland Space Hub have had to weather. This is not the only setback that Orbex and Sutherland Space Hub have had to survive. Previously, the American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin had come aboard as a partner at Sutherland Space Hub. However, it seems the US company thought better of the decision, as they have now turned their efforts to the Shetland Space Centre instead.

The original design for the spaceport included two vertical launchpads to enable up to 30 launches every year. However, due to ecological restrictions, the spaceport has been limited to a single launch pad and a maximum of 12 launches every year. It is also unclear why Orbex would have sought a bailout loan despite having secured millions in investment for the project.

Other objections to the Sutherland spaceport have come from Danish billionaire and the richest man in Scotland, Holch Povlsen. The emigrant entrepreneur has cited environmental concerns that conflict with the work done by his Wildland firm, which aims to rewild the Scottish Highlands. However, it’s also worth noting that Povlsen has a £1.4 million stake in the competing Shetland Space Centre, which he argues has more potential for success.

Shetland Space Centre is also looking to be up and running with its first rocket launch by the end of 2022, from a site in Lamba Ness on Unst, one of the Shetland Islands. The plans boast three launchpads capable of launching payloads of up to 1,000 kg for up to 30 launches every year. Lockheed Martin is partnering with space technology firm ABL Space Systems for a series of maiden launches from the spaceport.

Although the project promises to contribute £5 million to the local economy, planning approval has yet to be granted. The preferred site will require the demolition of a Second World War radar facility, which Historic Environment Scotland has argued is too high a price to pay. Suggested suitable alternatives could easily be found elsewhere.

3. When Will UK Spaceports Be Operational

The coronavirus pandemic has caused mass disruption to almost every industry on Earth, and the commercial space sector is no different. That said, the global space industry continued to grow in 2020, which is perhaps a testament to the sector’s future-proof potential. Suppose the UK is serious about leveraging its space industry to acquire a share of this market.

In that case, UK spaceports will have to be constructed before long, especially if Great Britain wants to realize its ambitions of becoming the first European nation to play host to a vertical rocket launch. Meanwhile, on the continent, countries such as Germany, Sweden, France, Norway, and Portugal, are all working towards making their space industries sufficiently competitive to increase their global market shares.

What are the uses of satellites

Television
Telephones
Navigation
Space science
Weather
Environmental monitoring
Safety
Land stewardship

4. Conclusion: Healthy Competition

The UK spaceports planned for Scotland both face their own set of challenges. Neither the Shetland Space Centre nor Sutherland Space Hub will find themselves wanting for customers if one or both of them can demonstrate the capacity for successful vertical rocket launches. However, the presence of two different spaceports in Scotland can only help to improve Britain’s overall ability for commercial space launches that are likely to make the country an attractive proposition for future investment.

The global satellite market proliferates as more and more industries rely on satellite technology to stay competitive. If these UK spaceports can establish themselves as Europe’s premier launch facilities, both the spaceport developers and the broader British economy are sure to reap the benefits.

Business

5 Mistakes To Avoid If You Are Going To Self-publish Your Book

To help you address any potential questions you may have, we’ve put together a list of 5 mistakes to avoid if you’re going to self-publish your book.

Published

7 days ago

September 25, 2023

TwinzTech

5 Mistakes To Avoid If You Are Going To Self-publish Your Book

Self-publishing your book essentially means being your own editor, designer, proofreader, and marketer, not to mention the fact that you also have to write your book. There are many tasks and it will be the first time you face any of them.

For many first-time authors, this process can seem a little overwhelming. After all, how can you be sure you’re on the right track to making your book a success? To help you address any potential questions you may have, we’ve put together a list of 5 mistakes to avoid if you’re going to self-publish your book.

Table of Contents

1. “What matters is the inside”

Well, you’re not wrong. Content is king, and it will be what determines the long-term success of your book. However, we often see that authors who make this their mantra end up severely neglecting the more superficial but vitally important elements such as book writing service, formatting, and well-written descriptions. The irony is that if you don’t put effort into the outside of your book, people will never see the inside. It’s really a bit like going on a date, what’s important is the inside, but you have to fix the outside so that people are curious about the important things.

You may not have all the necessary skills in your pipeline, but it is definitely possible to self-publish a professional-quality book (both in terms of content and exterior) without necessarily having any experience. We’ll tell you more throughout this article, and of course, you can always browse our Help Center and blog for more tips, tricks, and guides for self-publishing your book.

2. Ignore criticism and/or comments

One of the best things about self-publishing your book is that you have the freedom to write about topics that tend not to have been explored in mainstream literature. Many publishers do not dare to touch on these topics for fear of not getting a return on investment or because they are niche genres with few but very passionate fans. This can sometimes lead authors to be a little overprotective of their ideas and dismiss any criticism or comments, constructive or otherwise, usually to the detriment of the final product.

Don’t get us wrong here: we’re not saying you should sell out or compromise your creative identity. If you’re not happy with the book, there’s no point in writing it in the first place. However, self-publishing also means self-publishing (for the most part), and that requires a certain objective perspective. That’s why we always recommend that at least two people you trust to read and comment on your work before publishing it.

This is especially true if you want to sell your books once you’ve published them. Getting a couple of people to read and review your book before publication can help eliminate some of the errors you may have missed, plot holes, or undesirable story elements.

3. “My target audience is everyone”

We hear this a lot. There seems to be some widespread misunderstanding about the topic of the target audience, what it is for, and why it is important.

First, let’s eliminate the most common misconception: having a target audience does not mean that said audience is the only one who will buy your book. If you define your target audience as young adults between the ages of 15 and 20, it doesn’t mean you’re actively discouraging people outside that age range from buying your book.

All it means is that you are adapting your writing, your themes, and the aesthetics of your book to make it more appealing to your chosen demographic. It is to ensure thematic focus and aesthetic coherence in your work. This is important because it gives your book its identity.

Mistakes you should avoid if you are going to self-publish your book

4. Thinking that you don’t need marketing to self-publish your book

Marketing is usually one of the topics that authors who are going to self-publish their book have the most problems with. After all, most writers don’t want to become authors for the love of marketing. However, it is one of the essential components to the success of a self-published author.

Unfortunately, we often see writers who only make a token effort to promote their books, or worse, ignore it completely and think that interested readers will find it. While that may be the case for some of them, the vast majority of your potential readers won’t be able to find your book amid all the noise on the Internet these days. Plus, even if interested readers found your book on their own, do you really want to waste the opportunity to sell hundreds of copies with a well-designed marketing campaign?

If you don’t know anything about book marketing, we suggest you check out our guide on how to promote your book. We also have an article on our blog memoir ghostwriting services dedicated to book marketing on social media that you might also be interested in.

Don’t waste time and start promoting your book before its publication! Do some research on your target audience and choose communication channels accordingly. There are several different approaches you can take depending on the context, but the three articles mentioned above will help you get off on the right foot.

5. Assume that people don’t like your book

Sometimes, even if you have put all your soul and love into self-publishing your book, the sales of your works may not go as fast as you expected. Many writers mistakenly interpret this slow start as an indication that their book is a failure, universally hated by everyone, and then give up on writing.

It’s a shame when this happens because most of the time it takes very little to see almost instant improvements in sales numbers. So don’t give up! We are here to tell you that this is perfectly normal and that you should not feel defeated by it. Your book, in all likelihood, is not the problem here. Instead, the problem is often that people simply don’t know your book exists. If you read the previous points we covered in this article, you should already have a pretty good idea of what may have happened and what you can do to fix it.

Usually, the answer is that you need to spend more time and effort on marketing. However, it might be worth asking more people to give you feedback on your book, both in terms of the content and the cover, to see if there is anything you can change to make it more appealing to a wider audience. However, it’s not going to happen overnight, so don’t be discouraged by a slow start. Keep up the good work and spread the word!