UK-based rocket launch company Orbex is hiring an extra fifty staff as it races to complete the first vertical rocket launch from UK soil.
Based in the town of Forres, just up Scotland's north-east coast from Inverness, the company unveiled a first full-scale prototype of its Prime orbital space rocket earlier this year.
The 19-metre 'micro launcher' rocket, which is designed to be 30% lighter and 20% more efficient than any other vehicle in the small launcher category, will transport small commercial satellites to low-Earth orbit.
Orbex said most of its new jobs will be to support testing of the complete rocket at the launch platform test facility at Kinloss, where full ‘dress rehearsals’ of rocket launches take place.
It is aiming to be the first launch vehicle powered by renewable bio-propane, supplied by Calor UK, which Orbex says reduces carbon emissions by up to 96%, according to a University of Exeter study.
As well as the renewable biofuel, Prime is also a re-usable two-stage rocket, engineered to leave zero debris on Earth and in orbit.
We use a wide range of advanced materials & manufacturing techniques to create each Orbex launch vehicle - additive manufacturing for the majority of the propulsion subsystems & advanced carbon fibre fabrics & rovings for the main structures and tanks. https://t.co/wd1sTfylWt pic.twitter.com/KlexQQrkag
— Orbex Space (@orbexspace) September 22, 2022
Its engines are fully 3D-printed – similar to fellow Scottish rocket company Skyrora – while other innovations include super-lightweight fuel tanks and a new low-mass 'reusability technology' based on carbon fibre.
Orbex Prime will launch from Space Hub Sutherland, a new spaceport on the north coast of the Scottish Highlands that is scheduled to begin operating later in 2022, the first and only spaceport worldwide that has committed to being carbon-neutral in its construction and operation.
Funding for Orbex has been provided by two venture capital funds, BGF and Octopus Ventures, European VC funds, Heartcore Capital and the High-Tech Gründerfonds, strategic investor Elecnor, the Spanish parent company of Deimos Space, as well as the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency.
Chris Larmour, chief executive of Orbex, said: “We have already tripled the size of our team over the last twelve months. And now, the roles we're recruiting for are the clearest demonstration that we're in the final countdown to launch from UK soil."
He said the company, which has design and testing facilities in Denmark, has "an extremely exciting few years ahead".
Space Hub Sutherland was the first vertical spaceport to receive planning permission in the UK and has committed to being carbon-neutral, both in its construction and once it is operating.