Unst is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands,Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of 46 sq mi (120 km2).
Remote Radar Head Saxa Vord or RRH Saxa Vord,is a Royal Air Force radar station located on the island of Unst,the most northern of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. As of July 2019 it is once more a fully operational radar station,after closure in 2006. The station's motto Praemoneo de Periculis reflects its role. RAF Saxa Vord is further north than Saint Petersburg in Russia,and on the same latitude as Anchorage,Alaska. The station was named after Saxa Vord,which is the highest hill on Unst at 935 ft (285 m). It holds the unofficial British record for wind speed,which in 1992 was recorded at 197 mph (317 km/h) —just before the measuring equipment blew away.
For the DNA sequencesee Microsatellite
The British space programme is the British government's work to develop British space capabilities. The objectives of the current civil programme are to "win sustainable economic growth,secure new scientific knowledge and provide benefits to all citizens."
A space tug is a type of spacecraft used to transfer spaceborne cargo from one orbit to another orbit with different energy characteristics. The term can include expendable upper stages or spacecraft that are not necessarily a part of their launch vehicle. However,it can also refer to a spacecraft that transports payload already in space to another location in outer space,such as in the Space Transportation System concept. An example would be moving a spacecraft from a low Earth orbit (LEO) to a higher-energy orbit like a geostationary transfer orbit,a lunar transfer,or an escape trajectory.
Electron is a two-stage,partially reusable orbital launch vehicle developed by Rocket Lab,an American aerospace company with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. Electron services the commercial small satellite launch market. It's the third most launched small-lift launch vehicle in history. Its Rutherford engines are the first electric-pump-fed engine to power an orbital-class rocket. Electron is often flown with a kickstage or Rocket Lab's Photon spacecraft. Although the rocket was designed to be expendable,Rocket Lab has recovered the first stage twice and is working towards the capability of reusing the booster. The Flight 26 (F26) booster has featured the first helicopter catch recovery attempt. Rocket Lab has,however,abandoned the idea of catching Electron.
Vector Launch,Inc. is an American space technology company which aims to launch suborbital and orbital payloads. Vector Launch declared bankruptcy in December 2019 and re-emerged in October 2020.
Relativity Space Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Long Beach,California. Relativity Space is developing manufacturing technologies,launch vehicles,and rocket engines for commercial orbital launch services. The company is notable for manufacturing most of their Terran 1 and Terran R rocket parts using 3D printing. As of April 2024,Terran R is on track for initial launch in 2026.
The Sutherland spaceport,also known as Space Hub Sutherland or UK Vertical Launch (UKVL) Sutherland,is a planned spaceport to be located in Sutherland in Scotland. It would be one of the first vertical launch capable spaceports in the United Kingdom,and operated by a commercial entity. The spaceport is intended to support the Orbex Prime launch vehicle. The spaceport will be located on the A' Mhòine peninsula northwest of Tongue village,Sutherland,Scotland. Groundbreaking occurred on 5 May 2023. In December 2024,Orbex announced that the project had been put on hold.
Skyrora Ltd is a British private space company based in Glasgow,Scotland,since 2017,while its design and manufacturing facility is in Cumbernauld.
Spaceflight in 2025 promises to follow the 2020s trend of record breaking orbital launches and increased developments in lunar,Mars and low-earth orbit exploration.
SaxaVord Spaceport,previously known as Shetland Space Centre,is a UK spaceport located on the Lamba Ness peninsula on Unst,the most northerly of the inhabited Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland. The site is near the RAF Saxa Vord radar station and the settlement of Skaw.
A floating launch vehicle operations platform is a marine vessel used for launch or landing operations of an orbital launch vehicle by a launch service provider:putting satellites into orbit around Earth or another celestial body,or recovering first-stage boosters from orbital-class flights by making a propulsive landing on the platform.
Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) is a German NewSpace start-up located in Augsburg. It was founded in 2018 with the mission to build rockets just like cars. Its multistage rocket,RFA One,is currently under development. As of November 2023,it had been scheduled to launch during the summer of 2024;however,an anomaly during a first stage static fire test in August 2024 resulted in destruction of the stage,and the launch has been postponed.
In May 2021,the Space industry of Scotland consisted of 173 space companies operating across Scotland. These include spacecraft manufacturers,launch providers,downstream data analyzers,and research organisations. Space Scotland,the country's space agency,said that the space industry in Scotland contributes in excess of £4 billion to the Scottish economy.
Launcher was an American aerospace company based in Hawthorne,California. It was founded in New York City in 2017 by Max Haot.
HyImpulse is a German private space launch enterprise headquartered in Neuenstadt am Kocher and developing a small launch vehicle designed around hybrid-propellant rockets. The company is a DLR spinoff founded in 2018 out of the chemical propulsion center of the German space agency's Lampoldshausen facility. HyImpulse is bankrolled by Rudolf Schwarz,chairman of German technology company IABG.
RFA One is a small-lift multistage launch vehicle with an on-orbit transfer stage designed to transport small and micro-satellites of up to 1,300 kg into low-Earth polar and Sun-synchronous orbits. It has been in development by German private company Rocket Factory Augsburg since 2019.
