It seems Scotland’s two launch startups—Orbex and Skyrora—are playing by Highlander rules: There can only be one.
Orbex announced this week that it was appointing administrators—a first step toward closing the business due to insolvency, with debts reportedly piling as high as £49M (€56.2M). The apparent end of the launcher comes after fundraising and M&A opportunities fell through.
Skyrora is already circling overhead. Yesterday, the launch company expressed interest in investing up to £10M (€11.5M) to buy up select Orbex assets, potentially including the Sutherland Spaceport on the northern coast of Scotland.
Follow the money: To many in the industry, Orbex’s closure is the latest in a long line of unfortunate outcomes for the UK space sector. While the rest of Europe pours record funds into its space programs, the UK appears to be rowing in the opposite direction.
- In November, the UK was one of only three countries to decrease its contribution to ESA at the latest ministerial budget meeting.
- In August, the country announced it would end the semi-independent status of the UKSA, and fold the agency into the nation’s Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology.
- This month, UKSA Chief Paul Bate announced he would step down from his role.
The UK’s support of sovereign launch capabilities also seems to have turned on its heels this past year. In January 2025, the government invested £20M (€23M) in Orbex, with the expectation that those funds would support an inaugural launch this year. Since then, however, the country has become disillusioned in its support.
- In September, the UK government launched a tender to perform financial due diligence on Orbex—potentially a sign of waning confidence in the launch startup, and a possible explanation for the country’s shifting attitudes toward launch.
- In November, the UK pledged €144M to the European Launcher Challenge, but only committed a quarter of that to companies. It pledged €21.7M to Orbex, €10M to German launcher Isar Aerospace, and kept the remaining €112.3M in reserve.
- Most notably, the UK government changed its language regarding its launch priorities last month. Instead of supporting sovereign launch capabilities, it aimed lower and committed to “securing assured access to space.”
Lone survivor: Skyrora, however, continues to operate as if these setbacks are business as usual. The company remains the sole UK launch hopeful, with both a domestic launch license and local testing and manufacturing capabilities. Skyrora also appears to be on track for an inaugural launch this year.
Skyrora’s interest in buying up select Orbex assets is as much opportunistic, as it is driven by national pride.
“Securing select [Orbex] assets is vital to preserving UK space capability, protecting national critical infrastructure, and ensuring that technology and IP developed in the UK remains under UK ownership. This safeguards the product of the taxpayer funds historically injected into Orbex,” Skyrora said in a statement.
Skyrora COO Jack-James Marlow said the acquisition could include “certain infrastructure, manufacturing equipment, and intellectual property,” perhaps even bringing in some of the 150+ employees who are now (or about to be) out of work.
The bottom line: It’s unclear what the UK government will do next regarding launch, but a UK government spokesperson told Payload via email that the country “remain[s] committed to supporting our dynamic space sector,” although financial considerations will ultimately drive all future decisions, lest the country throw good money after bad.
“We will be setting out more details about our plans for developing key national space capabilities, including launch, in due course. Any decisions will be focused on ensuring maximum impact for taxpayers’ money,” the spokesperson said.
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