Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of LaunchUK in facilitating a small satellite launch.

Government is committed to making the UK a European leader in small satellite launches and delivering a launch capability that brings benefits to communities and organisations across the UK.

We have made significant progress towards this goal. The UK is the only European country with multiple spaceports licensed for orbital launches, and Spaceport Cornwall conducted the first orbital launch from European soil in 2023. Although the satellites carried onboard were not successfully placed into orbit due to an anomaly, the launch showed that the UK is capable of launching satellites into space.

The next UK launches are planned from SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland, which received its launch licence last year. Several domestic and foreign launch operators are targeting orbital launches from SaxaVord from this year.