Close to 40 applications are in the pipeline from aspiring UK spaceports, rocket launch companies and satellite operators, the UK space regulator has said.
The Civil Aviation Authority, which is the UK space regulator and licencing body, emphasised that it is working busily and closely to enable the UK space sector to operate safely and sustainably, following criticism in parliament and calls for a "seismic change" in regulation.
Tim Johnson, director for Space Regulation at the CAA, said: “Helping develop a safe and thriving UK space industry is a key part of our work as the space regulator.”
Since the CAA was given the regulatory role for space licences in July 2021, it has granted 286 space licences, including to Spaceport Cornwall and Virgin Orbit.
Johnson said there are currently a further 38 applications “in the pipeline” from aspiring spaceport, launch and satellite operators, which is likely to include at least one of the vertical spaceports in Scotland that are hoped to be issued this year.
'Toxic' and 'uncompetitive'
But the CAA has come under fire from Space Forge, one of the companies that lost its satellites due to the failure of the Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:VORB) flight in January, where one director said the UK’s “different approach” on regulation was too slow and risk-averse, making the UK “toxic” for future launches.
Patrick McCall, a former Virgin Group senior partner, chair of Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic and a venture partner at Seraphim Capital, told the Commons science and technology committee that focusing on UK launches is “not a good use of money, because our regulatory framework is not competitive”.
The committee chairman, Greg Clark, said the evidence indicated the regulatory environment was putting the UK "behind the rest of the world".
The Virgin Orbit flight, containing payloads from Space Forge and a number of other companies and projects, took off from Spaceport Cornwall in January but the rocket soon crashed into the ocean after it was later found that a cheap component had become dislodged.
Spaceport Cornwall last year was granted the first UK spaceport licence to host what was expected to be the first orbital space launch from British soil.
Virgin Orbit was hit by various delays as it prepared for the launch, which was its first outside the US, but any delays on UK licensing issues were not due to the regulatory process, the CAA argued at the time, but down to issues at the company.
Unfair criticism?
The fact that some of those looking to launch in the UK hail from Europe, such as the recent launch deal for SaxaVord Spaceport with German startup RFA, suggests criticism of the regulatory environment here is somewhat unwarranted.
Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the UK Space Agency, which has worked closely with the CAA over its expanded regulatory powers, said: “Whilst the outcome [with Virgin Orbit] wasn’t what we had wanted it has continued to demonstrate that we do have primary legislation and secondary legislation that works, we do have regulations and guidance that works and this is the very first time that we have done this.”
He acknowledged that as the system develops it could be done better and more efficiently.
“Yes, there are lessons that we’ve learned, but we’ve proved the system, we’ve got a working spaceport, we’ve got working regulations. We can actually broker for the airspace that’s required for launch with our international colleagues as well. So it can be done.
“There is nobody else in Europe that can do that at the moment,” he said.
Looking at other launch providers in the pipeline, which in the UK would be vertical launch, he pointed to those Scotland that are “still seeing inward investment”, with Orbex recently closing a £40mln investment round to build rockets and take on the operation of a spaceport.
“That wouldn’t happen if we hadn’t generated the opportunity and capability to launch in the UK.
“And similarly, we’re seeing that with SaxaVord in Shetland as well, where we’re seeing a number of other European countries that are coming to the UK because of the regulations that we’ve got and because of launch.”
The CAA has also received support over the Space Forge criticism from SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, which called the criticism of the regulator “grossly unfair”.
Not only are government agencies rarely seen moving at speed at the best of times, in the case of the CAA, SaxaVord’s Frank Strang noted that “there has never been a space launch programme prior to now”.
The “bald facts” were that Cornwall Spaceport secured its spaceport licence and Virgin secured its launch licence and range licence, Strang told the Shetland News. “The technology within the launcher failed, as happens frequently in the industry. How can one blame the CAA and other government departments for that?”
He said the statements were “counterproductive to the health of the sector”.
Among its work, the CAA has also supported the deployment and sustainability of the OneWeb satellite constellation – one of the largest constellations in the world, though its recent launches have been in the US with SpaceX.