Page 2 - Capability To Launch News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

And one is in an unlikely place in one of the most remote parts of the country. here in unst, one of the shetland islands, where sheep outnumber people and shetland ponies look on. this is the saxavord spaceport, which should see the uk's first ever vertical rocket launch. i think the first response from the locals was probably maybe it was an april fool or something like that. and then just as they've seen the progress and the development since we've been going, there's been real excitement about what we've been doing. but there's a good reason they've chosen the northernmost tip of the uk. s...

So is there a place for the uk? this company, skyrora, is banking on it. their new factory is based just outside of glasgow, and they're building rockets from scratch. this is a prototype rocket. and as you can see, it's almost complete. and its launch will test the design, the manufacture and the technology to see if it works. if it does, the team will go bigger. over here are some of the components that will sit inside the larger rocket. it's called skyora xl, and these spheres are actually fuel tanks that will help it get into orbit. this is the nose cone that sits at the very top of the ro...

Tears of the team. i really, truly think that at the end of the day, it will create something that the rest of the world will want to come and use. but it's a launch with a difference — instead of taking off vertically from the ground, the rocket is hitching a ride on a jumbojet for a mid—air blastoff. this is the rocket, it's called launcher one and final preparations for its launch are under way. after it detaches from the plane, it fires its own engines and begins its journey to space. release, release. copy. release, release. until now, the company behind the rocket, virgin orbit, has ...

The uk government says it wants to push the sector and is investing in research and development. but dr alice says to really give the industry a boost, its going to need more sustained support. the government has been really clear in its ambition that it wants to be a global space player. you will not become a global space player by investing in r&d alone. there has to be some kind of government commitment to our ongoing operational capability. i don't mean fully covering the costs, but we need to think a little bit creatively, industry and government working togetherjust to get us off the gro...

But there's a good reason they've chosen the northernmost tip of the uk. so the site was identified five years ago by the government, you know, looking for the uk's capability to launch, which was which is the missing part of the space puzzle. and shetland — we are so far north, no centres of population, you know, and that's the crux of it. it's the safety element for us that what we're doing needs to be as far away as possible from population centres, so that when the rocket leaves, you know, there's no real danger to people nearby. there's a hive of activity at the site to get it space rea...