UK Space Strategy Commits £7.8bn, With £30m for Shetland Spaceport

The government has published a national space strategy setting out £7.8 billion of funding across the sector to 2030, with £30 million directed to SaxaVord Spaceport on the Shetland island of Unst.

The Shetland money is intended to unlock a further £30 million of private investment, giving the site a combined £60 million package. SaxaVord said the funds would pay for a second hangar and two additional launchpads.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who announced the strategy, framed it in terms of both economic growth and national security. He said the plan would help keep Britain secure by strengthening its ability to launch satellites, detect threats and protect the services people rely on daily.

Defence takes the largest share

The single biggest allocation is £2.8 billion for the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit programme and Skynet, the military satellite communications system.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said national security now depended on freedom of action in space and, where necessary, the ability to protect British and allied assets in orbit. As threats in orbit grew more sophisticated, he said, so must the capacity to detect and respond to them.

A further £148 million is being invested across Europe, which ministers said would help British space technology firms win additional contracts.

A former RAF base at the top of the map

SaxaVord sits on a disused RAF base on Unst, the northernmost inhabited point in the United Kingdom. It is the country's first fully licensed spaceport and holds regulatory approval for up to 30 launches a year.

No orbital launch has yet taken place from the site. German firm Rocket Factory Augsburg is working towards the first vertical orbital test flight from British soil, while HyImpulse is preparing a sub-orbital campaign. The spaceport has said it is in discussions with further operators.

Chief executive Scott Hammond called the announcement a significant vote of confidence in the site and in the country's determination to establish its own launch capability, adding that it would take the company to its next stage of development.

Scotland's position

Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said Scotland already builds more satellites than anywhere else in Europe, and that the investment left SaxaVord positioned to handle up to three-quarters of the continent's orbital launch slots.

Industry figures were positive but cautious on timing. Derek Harris, head of programmes at Space Scotland, described the £30 million as a good starter and said he was not troubled by the prospect of the first launch slipping into next year. The technology was difficult to master, he said, and reliability and safety mattered more than the schedule. Weather in the North Atlantic, he added, would also shape the timetable.