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Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
British rocket launch backed by Labour falls further behind in space race
A British rocket start-up backed by Labour has pushed back the date of its first launch and is hunting fresh funding as the UK faces falling further behind in the space race. Orbex, which in January received a £20m investment from the taxpayer, confirmed its first test launch from the Shetland Islands would be in 2026, rather than later this year as hoped. The start-up is building its 62ft Orbex Prime rocket at a factory in Scotland, which is intended to carry small satellites into space. After securing taxpayer support, Orbex is now seeking a further £120m in funding from private investors over the next four years to bring its ambitions to reality, it said in a submission to MPs. The company is also pushing for further government backing, calling for support for its bid to build a new, larger rocket for the European Space Agency. The space organisation, of which the UK is a member, is offering companies up to £144m for its European Launcher Challenge as Europe seeks alternatives to its current reliance on Elon Musk's SpaceX. Orbex has been lobbying for Labour's £7bn National Wealth Fund to back the space sector, which it said in a consultation filing to MPs could 'level the playing field and unlock significant value for the UK economy'. The delay to Orbex's mission comes after a series of setbacks for Britain's fledgling launch industry. After a failed launch from Cornwall in 2023, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit went bankrupt. Since then, no new attempts at an orbital mission have gone ahead. Now, a number of small rocket companies are seeking to launch from UK soil, largely from Saxavord, a spaceport on the Shetland Islands, although they have faced delays. German start-up, Rocket Factory Augsburg, is still targeting a mission this year from Shetland, although its last test ended with its rocket exploding on the launchpad. Skyrora, a Scottish start-up, is hoping to launch from Shetland next year. A spokesman for Orbex said: 'There are many factors at play in determining our launch schedule, including licensing and launch logistics. This is not unusual.' The spokesman added government support would be needed to build a European rocket: 'National funding commitments and private investment will both be needed for winning bidders. 'UK Government support for our sector will send a clear signal to ESA that UK orbital launch companies like Orbex are a smart choice and long-term partner.'
New York Times
30-03-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Orbital Rocket Crashes After First Launch From Continental Europe
The engine shuddered to life around half past noon local time on Sunday, and with a guttural roar, the 92-foot-tall Spectrum rocket lifted slowly away from its launch tower, marking the first liftoff of its kind on the European continent. The rocket, launched by Isar Aerospace from within the Arctic Circle at a spaceport on the icy Norwegian island of Andøya, was the first orbital flight outside of Russia to leave continental Europe. About 30 seconds after the rocket cleared the launchpad, it pitched to the side and plummeted back to earth. But Daniel Metzler, the chief executive of Isar Aerospace, was upbeat. He said in a statement that the test flight had 'met all our expectations, achieving a great success,' despite the crash. 'We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System,' Mr. Metzler said. The rocket fell directly into the sea, the launchpad was not damaged, and no one was harmed when the spacecraft crashed, he added. The Andøya Spaceport could not immediately be reached for comment. Earlier, it had posted on social media saying that 'crisis management' had been activated following the crash, and that it was collaborating with the emergency services and Isar Aerospace. The test flight was seven years in the making for Isar Aerospace, a German-based company founded in 2018 with a mission to make satellite launches more accessible from Europe. European companies have been pushing ahead in space technology and research, exploring the potential of the space sector for defense, security and geopolitics. 'There's about a million things that can go wrong and only one way things actually go right,' Mr. Metzler, Isar Aerospace's chief executive, had in a video interview ahead of the launch. The team had rescheduled several earlier attempts to launch, citing unfavorable weather conditions. 'Frankly, I'd be happy if we just fly 30 seconds,' he said at the time. That amount of time, he said, would give the team plenty of information to analyze and use to improve their vehicle. And that is roughly how long the flight on Sunday lasted. In the video, Mr. Metzler pointed out that SpaceX, the first private company to successfully launch a rocket of its own design into orbit, had three failed attempts before achieving that milestone in 2008. Several private companies in Europe have been designing spaceports for a new wave of rockets. Sweden has revamped an old research base into a state-of-the-art satellite launching center north of the Arctic Circle, and Britain also opened a space center in Cornwall, in England's far southwest. Misfires, however, can be costly: Virgin Orbit, the space company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, ultimately folded after its failed attempt in 2023 to launch a rocket into orbit. 'Space has really become a very crucial element in geopolitics, in global insights, and of course, it's a huge economic opportunity,' said Mr. Metzler. The company, which was initially backed by Bulent Altan, a former senior executive at Space X, has raised more than $430 million in funding from international investors, according to its website, including securing backing from NATO's Innovation Fund.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Branson rocket failure made Britain look bad – but we will change that, says Science Secretary
When Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit rocket failed on its maiden launch from Cornwall in 2023, it brought Britain's space aspirations crashing down to Earth. Now, Peter Kyle, the Science Secretary, is determined that the UK will shake off its image of a 'plucky' yet unsuccessful nation to become a dominant force in the space industry. He personally intervened to ensure that SaxaVord Spaceport on Shetland will get government support to embark on the first vertical satellite launches this year. And he has not ruled out human space flight from this side of the Atlantic. 'I'm certainly not going to put a cap on anything Britain can achieve, because I think we have the ability to do things that most people don't believe is possible right now,' he told The Telegraph. 'And I think it's about time Britain just lifted its head up to the horizon and thought a bit more ambitiously about what we can achieve as a country.' Speaking of the unsuccessful Cornwall launch, he added: 'I watched it live, and the worst thing about that is you think, 'That's what we do, we're plucky, we try, but we never get there'. 'SaxaVord feels different, because the Arctic orbit is unique, it's not something you can get from mainland America, so if we do this we can have a realistic opportunity for us to find our feet in a fast-growing market. 'If we can have those successful launches from SaxaVord, I think Britain would sit back and watch the TV screens like I did as a child at school when we all gathered around the television to watch the Space Shuttle launch. It would be just a lovely moment for our country. ' Mr Kyle was speaking during a visit to the Airbus factory in Stevenage, which has just won a European Space Agency (Esa) contract to build the lander for the ExoMars mission, that will land the first European rover on Mars to look for life. The original lander was designed by Russia, but Esa severed ties with Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, at the start of the Ukraine war, leaving it without a way to get its rover to the Martian surface. The Hertfordshire factory also built the rover – dubbed Rosalind Franklin after the British chemist who pioneered the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA – so already had an intimate knowledge of the cargo and an extra interest in getting it down in one piece. The £150 million contract is a major boost to Britain's space interests. Mr Kyle added: 'It is important for Britain and our prestige as a country that we have something that is going to be so globally significant coming out of Stevenage and then right the way to Mars. 'We're going to get so much information that it's going to seep its way through the scientific community. 'It might end up in medical technology, it might end up in an understanding of humanity and life itself. And it might answer some of the big existential questions that we often strive for. 'I'm sure they're not going to find a skeleton there. But even if its microbial life, that proves there is life elsewhere in the universe and I'm just excited for whatever comes back.' As well as being built in Britain, the rover is also carrying a suite of instruments from British universities including University College London (UCL), Aberystwyth, Birkbeck College and Leicester. The rover's high mast is fitted with a special camera that scans the Martian surface looking for minerals that may prove there was once liquid water that could have hosted extraterrestrial organisms. Once a watery location is discovered, the rover will trundle to the spot at a speed of around 47 inches an hour, before drilling six-and-a-half feet down into the ground to take samples. The Martian rocks are then fed through an aperture on the rover into a mobile laboratory – the first ever on a rover – where they are crushed up and examined for organic matter. Confirmation of life could come within just weeks or months of the rover landing. But getting the rover to the surface is not easy. Fewer than half the soft landings on Mars have been successful, and Britain suffered a notable failure when Beagle 2 vanished after touching down in 2003. Caroline Rodier, who is leading the lander programme at Airbus, said: 'It's quite a challenge. The outer shell will provide quite a lot of deceleration, then there are two parachutes, one sonic and one subsonic, and after that a big thruster engine for the final few minutes. 'Once the lander arrives, then the rover has a few days to effectively unfold, sort of like Wall-E in the cartoon and start deployment. 'There is clearly strong hope that we're going to discover new things. It would be mind-blowing to find life on another planet and we could quite quickly know much more about Mars. It is exciting.' Mr Kyle said he had sometimes found it a struggle to make the case for space, particularly after a National Audit Office report warned last year that Britain was not getting value for money on its investment in Esa – a situation that has since improved. The SaxaVord spaceport has continually complained that help from the previous government was lukewarm and they had to, largely, go it alone. Mr Kyle said he also had the option to give up on the spaceport. 'Those who put to me arguments that the money could be used better elsewhere, the thought that I kept coming back to is the knowledge that if I turn this off, it's not coming back again,' he said. 'So did I want to be the person that just turned hope off? I didn't, so I also met all of the characters involved, and their passion is enthusiastic, it is contagious and but it is underpinned by scientific rigour. 'It feels so British, with a sort of 'can do' Heath Robinson attitude but built on proper foundations, so it has the best of all, all of our scientific characteristics.' SaxaVord has attempted one static-fire test of a RFA (Rocket Factory Augsburg) rocket last year but it ended in a dramatic explosion. But the company says it is back on track for launches this year and is racing against Norway to be the first vertical launch from Europe. The ExoMars mission is due to launch in 2028 with the support of Nasa and land on Mars in 2030. Kata Escott, managing director of Airbus Defence and Space UK, said: 'Getting the Rosalind Franklin rover on to the surface of Mars is a huge international challenge and the culmination of more than 20 years' work. 'Rosalind Franklin will be the first Martian rover able to analyse samples from two metres below the surface in its search for past or present life.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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Telegraph
29-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Branson rocket failure made Britain look bad – but we will change that, says Science Secretary
When Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit rocket failed on its maiden launch from Cornwall in 2023, it brought Britain's space aspirations crashing down to Earth. Now, Peter Kyle, the Science Secretary, is determined that the UK will shake off its image of a 'plucky' yet unsuccessful nation to become a dominant force in the space industry. He personally intervened to ensure that SaxaVord Spaceport on Shetland will get government support to embark on the first vertical satellite launches this year. And he has not ruled out human space flight from this side of the Atlantic. 'I'm certainly not going to put a cap on anything Britain can achieve, because I think we have the ability to do things that most people don't believe is possible right now,' he told The Telegraph. 'And I think it's about time Britain just lifted its head up to the horizon and thought a bit more ambitiously about what we can achieve as a country.' Speaking of the unsuccessful Cornwall launch, he added: 'I watched it live, and the worst thing about that is you think, 'That's what we do, we're plucky, we try, but we never get there'. 'SaxaVord feels different, because the Arctic orbit is unique, it's not something you can get from mainland America, so if we do this we can have a realistic opportunity for us to find our feet in a fast-growing market. 'If we can have those successful launches from SaxaVord, I think Britain would sit back and watch the TV screens like I did as a child at school when we all gathered around the television to watch the Space Shuttle launch. It would be just a lovely moment for our country. ' Mr Kyle was speaking during a visit to the Airbus factory in Stevenage, which has just won a European Space Agency (Esa) contract to build the lander for the ExoMars mission, that will land the first European rover on Mars to look for life. The original lander was designed by Russia, but Esa severed ties with Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, at the start of the Ukraine war, leaving it without a way to get its rover to the Martian surface. The Hertfordshire factory also built the rover – dubbed Rosalind Franklin after the British chemist who pioneered the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA – so already had an intimate knowledge of the cargo and an extra interest in getting it down in one piece. The £150 million contract is a major boost to Britain's space interests. Mr Kyle added: 'It is important for Britain and our prestige as a country that we have something that is going to be so globally significant coming out of Stevenage and then right the way to Mars. 'We're going to get so much information that it's going to seep its way through the scientific community. 'It might end up in medical technology, it might end up in an understanding of humanity and life itself. And it might answer some of the big existential questions that we often strive for. 'I'm sure they're not going to find a skeleton there. But even if its microbial life, that proves there is life elsewhere in the universe and I'm just excited for whatever comes back.' As well as being built in Britain, the rover is also carrying a suite of instruments from British universities including University College London (UCL), Aberystwyth, Birkbeck College and Leicester. The rover's high mast is fitted with a special camera that scans the Martian surface looking for minerals that may prove there was once liquid water that could have hosted extraterrestrial organisms. Once a watery location is discovered, the rover will trundle to the spot at a speed of around 47 inches an hour, before drilling six-and-a-half feet down into the ground to take samples. The Martian rocks are then fed through an aperture on the rover into a mobile laboratory – the first ever on a rover – where they are crushed up and examined for organic matter. Confirmation of life could come within just weeks or months of the rover landing. But getting the rover to the surface is not easy. Fewer than half the soft landings on Mars have been successful, and Britain suffered a notable failure when Beagle 2 vanished after touching down in 2003. Caroline Rodier, who is leading the lander programme at Airbus, said: 'It's quite a challenge. The outer shell will provide quite a lot of deceleration, then there are two parachutes, one sonic and one subsonic, and after that a big thruster engine for the final few minutes. 'Once the lander arrives, then the rover has a few days to effectively unfold, sort of like Wall-E in the cartoon and start deployment. 'There is clearly strong hope that we're going to discover new things. It would be mind-blowing to find life on another planet and we could quite quickly know much more about Mars. It is exciting.' Mr Kyle said he had sometimes found it a struggle to make the case for space, particularly after a National Audit Office report warned last year that Britain was not getting value for money on its investment in Esa – a situation that has since improved. The SaxaVord spaceport has continually complained that help from the previous government was lukewarm and they had to, largely, go it alone. Mr Kyle said he also had the option to give up on the spaceport. 'Those who put to me arguments that the money could be used better elsewhere, the thought that I kept coming back to is the knowledge that if I turn this off, it's not coming back again,' he said. 'So did I want to be the person that just turned hope off? I didn't, so I also met all of the characters involved, and their passion is enthusiastic, it is contagious and but it is underpinned by scientific rigour. 'It feels so British, with a sort of 'can do' Heath Robinson attitude but built on proper foundations, so it has the best of all, all of our scientific characteristics.' SaxaVord has attempted one static-fire test of a RFA (Rocket Factory Augsburg) rocket last year but it ended in a dramatic explosion. But the company says it is back on track for launches this year and is racing against Norway to be the first vertical launch from Europe. The ExoMars mission is due to launch in 2028 with the support of Nasa and land on Mars in 2030. Kata Escott, managing director of Airbus Defence and Space UK, said: 'Getting the Rosalind Franklin rover on to the surface of Mars is a huge international challenge and the culmination of more than 20 years' work. 'Rosalind Franklin will be the first Martian rover able to analyse samples from two metres below the surface in its search for past or present life.'
Telegraph
16-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Welsh startup to launch zero gravity micro-factory into space
A Welsh space start-up planning to use robotic factories in space to make rare materials will launch into orbit after securing approval from the airspace regulator. Cardiff-based Space Forge is to launch one of its oven-sized factories from the US later this year. The company is hoping to use the near zero gravity conditions of low-earth orbit to make crystals for use in semiconductors, new types of drugs and metal alloys. The company was dealt a major setback two years ago when Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson's launch company, failed to send its payload into space. A Space Forge satellite was lost when the payload crashed into the ocean, and the company's executives later said the UK had become uncompetitive for launches. It has now secured a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority for its ForgeStar-1 satellite to enter orbit, which would make it the first UK satellite of its kind. Joshua Western, the company's chief executive, said that Space Forge had not yet announced a launch partner but that lift-off would happen in the US. The low gravity and vacuum conditions of space, as well as the sub-zero temperatures, offer the prospect of advanced manufacturing that would not be possible on the earth's surface, despite the expense and difficulty of sending up machinery. They would allow the company to grow extremely pure crystals that could lead to more advanced microchips. Mr Western said the launch would be a test run, allowing the company to use onboard sensors and footage from its factory to confirm that the conditions are adequate for in-orbit manufacturing, as well as the heat shield it will use to return to earth. He said flights involving production-ready factories could be launched as soon as next year. The US launch is likely to be regarded as a setback for Britain's space industry. Virgin Orbit's 2023 launch attempt from Cornwall was the first from UK soil but no more have been attempted since then. Plans for a launch from the Shetland Islands received a boost last week when the German and British space industries agreed to collaborate on launching intelligence-gathering satellites as soon as next year. Flights could take place from the SaxaVord spaceport on Unst, the most northerly inhabited Shetland Islands. Mr Western said he would embrace being able to launch his factories into space from Britain, in part because he would then not have to ship them around the world. He said: 'The two things that we're going to need to see UK launch achieve are reliability and price. And if it can meet those things then we will absolutely be a champion of it.'
