Plans to create a spaceport that will launch communications satellites into orbit from the Moine peninsula in Sutherland are set to be unveiled for discussion at public meetings over the next two months.
Aurora Planning Limited has this week lodged a proposal of application notice with The Highland Council on behalf of development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), which is backing the £17.3m project to design and build Space Hub Sutherland.
The notice effectively triggers the start of a process that will lead to a formal application for planning consent being submitted to the local authority at the end of December.
Roy Kirk, HIE’s Space Hub Sutherland project director, said
“This is a hugely ambitious project, not only for Sutherland but for the whole of the UK.”
HIE has approved £9.8m to develop Space Hub Sutherland, and the UK Space Agency has awarded £2.5m. A further £5m is being sought from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
UKSA has also awarded grants to two companies that plan to launch satellites from Sutherland – Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Orbex, which has already established a manufacturing facility in the Moray town of Forres.
An economic impact assessment commissioned by HIE in 2018 concluded that the project could generate around 400 jobs across the Highlands and Islands, including 40 or so skilled positions at the space hub itself.
See www.spaceportsutherland.com for more details, including public meeting dates and FAQs.
