Orbex rocket could launch from UK in 2021

Orbex is a British-Danish-German startup hoping to send small commercial satellites into orbit from a launch pad on the A’Mhòine peninsula in the Scottish highlands as early as 2021

ORBEX PRIME Height 17m
Payload fairing
Second stage
Rocket diameter 1.3m
Gross lift-off weight 18,000kg
First stage (largely reusable)
Six first stage engines

Payload: 100kg-220kg satellite lifted to orbits of up to 1,250km

Body shell: Lightweight carbon fibre and aluminium composite

3D printed engine Made from nickel alloy as single piece – making it less likely to suffer from weaknesses around joins and welds

Parts of rocket built in Germany and Denmark

Propellant Rocket likely to use “coaxial” bio-propane fuel tank inside liquid oxygen tank – design could cut vehicle mass by up to 30 percent

Bio-propane is clean- burning, renewable fuel source that cuts carbon emissions by 90  percent

John o’ Groats

A’Mhòine peninsula Proposed spaceport

Forres Rocket assembly

30km 20 miles

Inverness 

SCOTLAND
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Sources: Elecnor Deimos, Forbes, NASASpaceFlight, Orbex

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