Sutherland Spaceport Ltd (SSL), a subsidiary of Moray‑based rocket maker Orbex, was created to build and run a vertical launch site on the north coast near Tongue. The company is now being placed into liquidation, with administrators preparing to sell off its remaining assets and wind down operations.
Orbex, once billed as a leading UK small‑satellite launch hopeful, entered administration earlier this year after a key funding round collapsed. The failure triggered more than 150 job losses and left SSL without a viable anchor customer or funding base to carry the Highland spaceport through to construction.
Although planning permission was secured and the site promoted as a route to high‑skilled jobs in a remote part of Sutherland, major construction work never started. The liquidation means the project will be dismantled before launch pads, towers or processing facilities could be built, leaving the region with another unfulfilled promise of space‑driven regeneration.
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Orbex and its spaceport ambitions benefited from significant public‑sector backing from UK and Scottish agencies, including funding agreed as recently as 2025. With SSL now being wound up, questions are mounting over what value can be recovered for taxpayers and how oversight of high‑risk space investments should change.
SSL’s demise removes one of the UK’s early showcase spaceport projects, at least in its current form.
Other players, including Skyrora, have signalled interest in acquiring parts of Orbex’s assets, but whether anyone will revive the Sutherland site itself remains uncertain.
