Sutherland spaceport in the UK liquidated
Proposed or active spaceports in north Europe
After years of fighting bureaucratic red tape, environmental restrictions, and the unending opposition from a local billionaire, the assets of the proposed Sutherland spaceport on the north coast of Scotland are now being liquidated, as part of the liquidation of the bankrupt rocket company Orbex that had originally hoped to launch from this site.
The spokesperson also said: “One of the proposed transactions relates to assets associated with Sutherland Spaceport. As the proposed transaction is structured as an asset sale, a decision has been taken to place Sutherland Spaceport Limited, a Scottish subsidiary of Orbex, into liquidation. “A winding-up petition has therefore been lodged with the court and it is anticipated that the transaction will complete following the appointment of liquidators.”
The administrators “remain hopeful that the disposals will maximise returns for creditors”.
The spokesperson added that the administrators “continue to engage constructively with preferred bidders, secured creditors and other stakeholders, including the UK and Scottish Governments, as the process moves forward.”
Because almost £26 million was invested in this spaceport by the government of the United Kingdom, it is still possible the government itself will buy the assets and attempt to resuscitate the spaceport. If it does, do not count on much actually happening. There is practically no interest in the rocket industry to launch from the UK because of its odious red tape, that has already bankrupted two rocket startups.
Note that the spaceport shown on the map in North Ulst is merely a proposal. Almost nothing real has happened so far to establish it. The SaxaVord spaceport hopes the German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg will do its first orbital launch this July, but there is no guarantee, as it appears the company is still awaiting launch approval from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority, which in its slow-walking of license approvals was a main cause for the bankruptcy of those two rocket companies.
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