A rocket engine caught fire on Monday at the SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland, during tests at western Europe’s first fully licensed vertical launch spaceport.
An engine testing campaign was under way on the launch stool at the site in Unst, the UK’s northernmost inhabited island, before a planned launch in autumn.
German manufacturer Rocket Factory Augsburg, or RFA, said no one was injured in the incident at SaxaVord Spaceport on the remote island.
Video of Monday's test launch showed the engine exploding on the launchpad, with the entire structure engulfing in flames and thick smoke.
The spaceport recently received its licenses from the Civil Aviation Authority and is designed for small rockets delivering payloads into low earth orbit. It is billed as western Europe's only fully-licensed vertical rocket launch port.
RFA was running tests there ahead of holding the UK's first vertical rocket launch into orbit this autumn.
SaxaVord spaceport - in pictures
German companies Rocket Factory Augsburg and HyImpulse hope to carry out launches from SaxaVord in 2024.
Satellites in polar orbits include those that monitor Earth’s environment, such as remote-sensing satellites and some weather satellites, as well as some military surveillance satellites, according to experts.
Owners, husband and wife Frank and Debbie Strang, took over the former RAF base in 2004. They also have plans for a hotel and visitor centre at SaxaVord.
The spaceport includes three launch pads and a hangar for assembling rockets.
SaxaVord Spaceport formally opened in May after receiving its Spaceport and Range licences from the Civil Aviation Authority in December 2023 and April this year.
The company was granted permission to host up to 30 launches a year for companies requiring satellites in polar orbit.
Ahead of being granted a licence, SaxaVord was assessed by the space regulator as meeting appropriate safety, security and environmental criteria, as well as having suitable infrastructure, equipment and services to accommodate vertical space launches.
The site is working with several companies, including Edinburgh-based rocket company Skyrora, in addition to Rocket Factory Augsburg and HyImpulse, and Lockheed Martin ABL Space Systems.
The spaceport licence puts Scotland at the centre of the European launch market, with Scottish satellites already in space, and home-grown rocket companies breaking new ground.
There are launch operators from around the world developing rockets to launch from SaxaVord, who are at various stages of the assessment process with the Civil Aviation Authority.
The not-too-distant future could see Scottish-built rockets launching Scottish satellites from a Scottish spaceport.
SaxaVord's licence is the 352nd space activity approved by the UK Civil Aviation Authority since becoming Britain's space regulator in July 2021.
The regulator now monitors more than 750 different satellites, has licenced two spaceports, a launch from Cornwall, and OneWeb, which is the second biggest satellite constellation in orbit.
While Spaceport Cornwall became the UK's first licenced spaceport, SaxaVord's licence allows it to host vertical launches rather than horizontal, where rockets are carried by aircraft.
INDIA SQUAD
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo 4-cyl
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Power: 190bhp
Torque: 300Nm
Price: Dh169,900
On sale: now
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Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
Wallabies
Updated team: 15-Israel Folau, 14-Dane Haylett-Petty, 13-Reece Hodge, 12-Matt Toomua, 11-Marika Koroibete, 10-Kurtley Beale, 9-Will Genia, 8-Pete Samu, 7-Michael Hooper (captain), 6-Lukhan Tui, 5-Adam Coleman, 4-Rory Arnold, 3-Allan Alaalatoa, 2-Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1-Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16-Folau Faingaa, 17-Tom Robertson, 18-Taniela Tupou, 19-Izack Rodda, 20-Ned Hanigan, 21-Joe Powell, 22-Bernard Foley, 23-Jack Maddocks.
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
