update 2: BBC's May 11, 2022 Scottish spaceport's prototype rocket unveiled
update 1: There's some recent and potentially helpful information in NASA Spaceflight September 4, 2019 UK Spaceport at Sutherland enters public consultation phase
I've just read Jonathan Amos' article in the BBC News Lift-off for Scotland: Sutherland to host first UK spaceport and there appears to be a lot of activity discussed in this article.
From a "reserve pot" of £50m, the largest allocation is to Lockheed Martin to "bring the Electron rocket to Scotland. Currently, this vehicle flies out of New Zealand."
A British version of the rocket would have a propulsion unit and satellite dispenser developed and built at Ampthill in Bedfordshire, Harwell in Oxfordshire, and in Reading.
Also, "The UK Space Agency is giving Highlands and Islands Enterprise £2.5m towards the development of" the "A'Mhoine Peninsula in Sutherland... chosen as the most suitable place from which to launch rockets vertically to put satellites in orbit."
The article goes on to say:
HIE will develop the launch complex at A'Mhoine, with Lockheed using one pad, and a second pad likely to go to Orbex. This is a new company that has been developing a 17m-tall rocket out of the public eye.
A look at Wikipedias Comparison of orbital launch systems shows that the current electron can loft 150kg to SSO (Sun synchronous LEO), and Orbex's can put 165 kg into polar orbit. In other words, the capabilities seem to be fairly close.
Is the idea here to put two competing companies with similar launch capabilities in head-to-head combat for customers? Would these two (relatively small) companies and their (relatively small) rockets really require two, separate launch pads rather than simply sharing one launch pad?
