Blast off: The Chancellor yesterday unveiled plans to invest £10m into a spaceport on the Shetland Islands
The UK’s space sector has for small firms been handed extra cash. The Chancellor plans to invest £10million in SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands which hopes to send satellites into space by the end of this year.
It has several operators around the world hoping to launch. ‘This will help us capitalise on our work as we move towards the first orbital launch from UK and European soil,’ SaxaVord said.
The Government has backed UK space and in November, came up with £47million to be spread across 12 projects. The sector employs almost 50,000 people and added £7billion to the UK economy in 2022, a trade body says.
Saxavord was set up by Frank Strang alongside his wife Debbie, who planned to create a tourist attraction.
That changed when the Government started scouting for locations for spaceports.
