The UK government published its long-awaited Space Strategy, clarifying what it means by “assured access to space,” nearly a year after the phrase began replacing references to a sovereign British launch capability. The strategy does not, however, answer what the government intends to do with the bulk of its still-unallocated European Launcher Challenge funding, including funds previously earmarked for Orbex.
Published on 8 September, the new UK Space Strategy identifies assured access to space as a priority area for government support. The strategy calls for investment in launch infrastructure, primarily highlighting SaxaVord Spaceport, which it says will be capable of supporting up to 30 launches per year. The government plans to invest, subject to due diligence, £30 million in SaxaVord to “accelerate the operational readiness of the spaceport,” with the company having secured a further £30 million in private funding alongside the government support. On championing a home-grown rocket builder, however, the strategy is silent.
In January 2025, then-Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, channeling his inner Jim Bridenstine, said the UK would launch “British rockets carrying British satellites from British soil.” At the time, the government had just invested £20 million in Orbex. By December, when it was likely clear to the government that Orbex would fail after PricewaterhouseCoopers delivered a due diligence report under the codename Project Puffin, the nationalist Bridenstine-like rhetoric had largely disappeared. In its place came statements from the UK Space Agency saying the government was “working with multiple partners to ensure this funding delivers our requirements for assured access to space.”
With the publication of its Space Strategy, a more precise picture of the future of the country’s “assured access to space” has emerged.
“The UK is collaborating with Germany and other allies to establish responsive space launch opportunities through SaxaVord Spaceport,” the strategy states.
Germany is prominent because Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has committed to launching its RFA ONE rocket from SaxaVord, while fellow German launch company HyImpulse has also established a relationship with the Scottish spaceport. RFA has exclusive access to one of SaxaVord’s launch pads for orbital missions, while HyImpulse is preparing to conduct the second flight of its SR75 suborbital rocket from the site and has previously outlined plans to launch its SL1 orbital vehicle from SaxaVord.
The UK government has also committed €144 million to ESA’s European Launcher Challenge, with a portion of that already allocated to RFA. As a result, at least in the near term, the clearest route to assured orbital access from UK soil appears to be through German-built launch vehicles operating from SaxaVord.
Spending commitments
The strategy’s technical delivery annex outlines assured-access spending through 2030, amounting to £226 million in total. It allocates £30 million to accelerate SaxaVord’s operational readiness, £39 million through ESA’s mandatory programme to support access to space from the Guiana Space Centre, and up to £9 million through UKRI to develop “flight-ready innovative platforms.” The bulk of the funding, £148 million, is allocated to ESA space transportation programmes, including the European Launcher Challenge.
The European Launcher Challenge allocation remains the most significant unresolved part of that spending plan. Of the €144 million the country committed to the programme at ESA’s 2025 Ministerial Council meeting, Orbex was initially allocated €21.7 million and RFA €10 million, while the remaining €112.3 million was placed in a “to be distributed” pot. After Orbex entered administration, a further €8.4 million was shifted from the “to be distributed” pot to RFA. The fate of the €103.9 million remaining from the original allocation and the €21.7 million originally allocated to Orbex remains unresolved.
In response to questions from European Spaceflight in June, ESA’s head of strategy and institutional launches, Lucía Linares, explained that the UK had significant flexibility in how it allocated those funds.
“There is flexibility for Member States participating in both the To Be Distributed column and the Orbex line to either move those funds to another challenger or to another programme of the European Space Agency or take those funds back home,” said Linares.
The government has repeatedly linked those decisions to its wider assured-access policy, which is now outlined in the published Space Strategy. In July, the UK Space Agency said the country’s “overall approach to assured access” would be set out in the forthcoming Space Strategy and that it would “inform future allocation decisions.” The strategy has now been published, but the wait continues for a decision on the country’s European Launcher Challenge funds.
