Edinburgh-based rocket company Skyrora has taken another stride towards achieving a sovereign orbital launch from British soil by opening a new manufacturing and production facility, the largest of its kind in the UK.

After recently opening its engine test facility in Midlothian, this new facility in Cumbernauld allows the company to concentrate its launch development practices in custom-built domestic facilities.

The production of two Skyrora vehicles has already commenced at the Cumbernauld site, which will increase to up to 16 per year once mass production begins. The site boasts unique capabilities for space infrastructure in the UK, as certain tests that would typically be outsourced to facilities in other countries can now be conducted domestically.

For the first time, the UK has an asset capable of conducting full-stage structural and pressure testing and full-stage functional and cold flow testing – conducting these domestically saves significant time and costs.

As such, the maiden testing of the second stage of the Skyrora XL rocket can now be performed, having been fully manufactured and assembled in-house. This includes the assembly of the 70kN engine, the most powerful commercially produced liquid engine in the UK, which has been built using 3D-printed engine components.

A critical milestone for the development of the Skyrora X – the hot fire testing – will see the second stage attached to a stand at the newly opened Midlothian test facility as the engine simulates a real launch.

This enables telemetry data to be collected and analysed on-site. As a three-stage launch vehicle, the second stage of Skyrora XL will start its engines at approximately 62km before releasing the third stage at around 190km for orbital launch.

The Skyrora Vehicle Assembly Building in Cumbernauld consists of 55,000 sq ft of factory floor and office space, along with a 67,000 sq ft yard large enough to contain the entire Skylark L launch complex and future Skyrora XL launch facilities, for rehearsals, integration works, and launch preparation.

Altogether, the facility roughly equates to the size of two standard football pitches and can accommodate up to 16 Skyrora XL vehicles for assembly, integration, and launch per annum.

The manufacturing and production site will generate new employment opportunities both in the North Lanarkshire area and in the rest of Scotland, boosting local economic prospects by accommodating up to 100 high-skilled technical and business roles.

Skyrora’s Head of Engineering, Dr Jack James Marlow, said: “This purpose-built manufacturing and assembly site, combined with the Midlothian testing facility, allows Skyrora to take direct charge of the development cycle in-house. As a business, we now have a full set of domestic facilities to allow for close control of the quality and rapid development and testing of Skyrora XL ahead of its demo launch.

“The site will also allow us to further optimise manufacturing processes developed by our colleagues in Ukraine and scale-up launch vehicle production in the long term, enabling further expansion and growth in the future.”

Skyrora’s readiness to enter mass production comes at a pivotal time in the UK space race, as the company endeavours to become the first British company to launch a rocket from UK soil with its orbital vehicle, Skyrora XL. By 2030, Skyrora aims to conduct 16 launches per year from Saxavord launch complex in the Shetland Islands alone.