• Question: Are satilites launched in the UK?

    Asked by Matacton to Camilla, Dan, Katie, Mike, Rhys on 19 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Camilla Weiss

      Camilla Weiss answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      Not at the moment, no. We used to test rockets on the Isle of Wight but no satellites were ever launched from there. The best place for a rocket to launch is somewhere near near the equator – this is because at the equator the Earth is spinning fast than at the poles which means that any rocket launched from near there will get an extra kick of speed and won’t need as much fuel. We launch some of our satellites in places like India and French Guyana (in South America) for this reason.

      There are plans to build a spaceport in the UK though. I think the idea is to use it for commercial flight – so space tourism and not satellites.

    • Photo: Katie Sparks

      Katie Sparks answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      Hi Matacton
      Camilla is right, we don’t launch from the UK any more.
      Aside from the equator, we sometimes launch from near the North Pole, this would be for satellites that are orbiting top to bottom instead of around the middle.

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