The UK government has announced its backing for Britain's first commercial spaceport.
The decision comes after a three-month consultation period, during which the government heard from close to 40 experts, airports and private companies.
The announcements came with the release of a revised shortlist of potential locations, mostly in Scotland. Along with Llanbedr airport in Wales and Newquay Cornwall airport, the main contenders are Stornoway, Campbelltown and Glasgow Prestwick airports, with RAF Leuchars potentially acting as a temporary facility.
This choice of locations is a result of the input the government received during its consultation period. It was determined that in order to minimise danger and inconvenience to the public, the spaceport should be coastally situated, allowing the space-planes to launch towards the sea.
The government hopes to become the world leader in commercial spaceflight, and is aiming to open the spaceport by 2018. If this target is met, it would likely be the first commercial spaceport outside of the U.S., where the majority of sub-orbital aerospace development is currently taking place.
This development is being largely spearheaded by Richard Branson, whose Virgin Galactic division is currently the frontrunner for the first commercial space-travel firm. The company was hit by setbacks last year, however, when the company's primary craft, SpaceShipTwo, detonated over the Mojave during a test flight.
Once Branson's firm is back on track, the government hopes that the project will prompt it, along with rivals such as XCOR Aerospace and Elon Musk's SpaceX company, to expand their operations into Britain. This is part of their plan, as laid out in the government's Space Innovation and Growth Strategy 2014 2030, to boost the UK space industry from its current turnover of 9.1 billion a year to an eventual target of 19 billion annually by 2020.
The proposed spaceport's potential to encourage economic development is one of the key concerns of both the government and of Aerospace firms interested in the project's development. The economic benefits to the spaceport's construction "may be considered the principal argument" for choosing a location, according to Wyle Laboratories, one of the parties that responded to the government's consultation.
We reached out to Virgin Galactic, XCOR and SpaceX for comment on the potential for establishing a permanent base of operations at the eventual site, but have received no statements at time of writing. We also contacted the government to ask how much of a boost they expected to gain from the announcement in the science, technology and research sectors, with no response.
