{"id":18436,"date":"2018-07-16T20:04:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/lockheed-martin-wins-31m-from-uk-space-agency-for-spaceport-in-scotland\/"},"modified":"2018-07-16T20:04:20","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:04:20","slug":"lockheed-martin-wins-31m-from-uk-space-agency-for-spaceport-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/lockheed-martin-wins-31m-from-uk-space-agency-for-spaceport-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin wins $31M from UK Space Agency for spaceport in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_434050\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-434050\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-434050\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180715-orbex-630x470.jpg\" alt=\"Orbex launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180715-orbex-630x470.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180715-orbex-768x573.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180715-orbex-1260x940.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/180715-orbex.jpg 1447w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-434050\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows Orbex\u2019s Prime rocket lifting off. (Orbex Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lockheed Martin is in line to receive $31 million (\u00a323.5 million) in grants from the UK Space Agency to establish Britain\u2019s first spaceport on Scotland\u2019s north coast, and to develop a new made-in-Britain system for deploying small satellites in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The British government announced the grants today, only hours after lifting the curtain on its plan to develop a vertical-launch spaceport in Scotland\u2019s rugged Sutherland district and support the rise of horizontal-launch spaceports in other British locales.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Lockheed Martin\u2019s grants, another $7 million (\u00a35.5 million) will be awarded to London-based&nbsp;Orbex&nbsp;to support the development of its Prime rocket for launch from the Sutherland spaceport. The Prime rocket is designed to be fueled by bio-propane and will deliver payloads of up to 330 pounds to low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n<p>Orbex said today in a separate announcement that it has raised a total of $40 million in public and private funding for the development of orbital launch systems.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the grant from the UK Space Agency, the once-stealthy startup reported receiving funding from the European Space Agency, the European Commission Horizon 2020 program, Sunstone Technology Ventures, the High-Tech&nbsp;Gr\u00fcnderfonds and other private investors.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"UK Spaceflight Programme\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TTzqW5mU7ao?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s grants were announced in conjunction with this week\u2019s Farnborough International Airshow, which is taking place southwest of London.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not surprising that Lockheed Martin will benefit from the British grants. The U.S.-based company has been a prominent member of the consortium supporting Sutherland\u2019s bid.<\/p>\n<p>Lockheed Martin has been tasked not only with establishing vertical-launch operations at the Sutherland spaceport, but also with developing a rocket-powered upper stage that\u2019s capable of deploying up to six small satellites in separate orbits.<\/p>\n<p>The British government said Lockheed Martin\u2019s work on the upper stage, known as an orbital maneuvering vehicle, will be done at a facility in the English city of Reading.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLockheed Martin will apply its 50 years of experience in small satellite engineering, launch services and ground operations, as well as a network of U.K.-based and international teammates, to deliver new technologies, new capabilities and new economic opportunities,\u201d said Patrick Wood, Lockheed Martin\u2019s U.K. country executive for space.<\/p>\n<p>British and U.S. governmental agencies have been working on a Technology Safeguards Agreement that would establish a legal and technical framework for U.S. space launch vehicles to operate from launch sites in Britain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAttracting U.S. operators to the U.K. will enhance our capabilities and boost the whole market,\u201d the UK Space Agency said in today\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n<p>British companies already produce nearly half of the world\u2019s small satellites and a quarter of the world\u2019s telecommunications satellites. The British government says the commercial space sector could contribute as much as $5 billion to the country\u2019s economy over the next decade.<\/p>\n<p>In its earlier announcement, the UK Space Agency said it would award $3.3 million (\u00a32.5 million) to a consortium known as Highlands and Islands Enterprise to help get the Sutherland spaceport into operation in the early 2020s.<\/p>\n<p>Another $2.7 million (\u00a32 million) would be made available for the development of horizontal-launch spaceports in England\u2019s Cornwall district, at Glasgow Prestwick on Scotland\u2019s west coast, and in Snowdonia in Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows Orbex\u2019s Prime rocket lifting off. (Orbex Illustration) Lockheed Martin is in line to receive $31 million (\u00a323.5 million) in grants from the UK Space Agency to establish Britain\u2019s first spaceport on Scotland\u2019s north coast, and to develop a new made-in-Britain system for deploying small satellites in orbit. The British government announced [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4800,5200,5201,472,1616],"class_list":["post-18436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-britain","tag-farnborough-airshow","tag-farnborough-international-airshow","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-orbex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18436"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}