A UK spaceport could host a rocket launch from the Japanese space agency once it becomes the second licenced venue later this year, amid a new wave of interest in the sector.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority, which took on its new space regulator's role in 2021, said it had one of its busiest ever weeks, licensing 18 new space activities last week and with a further 25 applications from aspiring spaceports, launch and satellite operators in the pipeline.
It said it has now issued 343 licenses in total and is also monitoring more than 750 UK satellites in space, and expects to hit 350 within the next week.
Last year it issued the very first UK spaceport and launch licences, for Spaceport Cornwall, Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc and others involved in that ultimately failed attempt to reach space, though it was the culmination of an eight-year period where UK space industry investment has nearly doubled and placing the country second behind the US in global terms.
A first vertical space launch site, Shetland-based SaxaVord, is expected to get its licence in the next three months, while on the mainland the Sutherland Spaceport is another vertical launch site with its eyes on a licence.
Science minister George Freeman said this week that Jaxa, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is "very keen" to pursue launches from the UK.
Freedman, who was giving evidence to Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, noted that Spaceport Cornwall was the first licenced spaceport in Europe and is "receiving important conversations with other launch parties both here and around the world who want to consider it as a base for launch".
SaxaVord is preparing for launch rehearsals to start this summer, where small rockets will be launched to an altitude of around two miles, and has already signed a launch deal to host Germany's Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), while French orbital launch company Latitude has been testing its 3D-printed rocket engine on the site.
With RFA having pencilled in a launch there before the end of the year, taking seven companies' payloads into orbit, SaxaVord boss Frank Strang told the committee that initial plans were for 30 launches a year, though that could rise to 50 further forward.
The Sutherland Spaceport, which is owned by rocket startup Orbex, has a net zero focus and is aiming for around one launch a month once it wins its licence and the first Orbex rocket is ready.
Strang said the company had been held back by the slow pace of getting public funding: "That’s a sore point. Public sector funding can slow you down but unless you get it, nobody believes you are real."