Ross rockets may be 'regular sight'
ROCKETS soaring into Ross-shire’s skies may become a more common occurrence after the company behind one recent successful launch said it was open to using the area for future trials.
Skyrora, which is based in Edinburgh, recently launched its Skyrora Nano from land at the Kildermorie estate near Evanton.
The trial has been described as the first commercial rocket test launch in the area, and comes amid growing interest in using the far north as a base by the space industry.
Skyrora’s lead engineer Robin Hague says the site at Kildermorie is ideal for similar launches.
"Some of the businesses we are connected to have a long-standing connection to the estate through the use of the holiday facilities and corporate events and things like that," he said.
"We were familiar with the area and it is an ideal size for the type of launch. It’s certainly a possibility that there will be more launches in the area. It’s something that we will look into in more depth when we have analysed the data."
The test, which took place last week, saw the 2.5m rocket accelerate to Mach 1.45 – well beyond the speed of sound – as it reached an altitude of four miles.
The launch was designed to test new systems ahead of their installation in bigger rockets.
Mr Hague revealed the test went as well as could have been hoped.
"The purpose of small rockets like the one we used is to be able to test systems that are needed for bigger rockets," he said.
"Rockets like this one carry communications and telemetry systems. Data transfer is probably the easiest way of describing it. The launch was very successful.
"It was on a small scale but it was under real launch conditions.
"It’s the first one we have done and it went really well.
"It was a successful flight up to the expected altitude and we found the rocket again within the estate."
The launch comes just weeks after the UK Space Agency identified Sutherland’s Moine peninsula – between Loch Eriboll and the Kyle of Tongue – as its planned location for a commercial space port.
