SaxaVord Scraps Shared Suborbital Launch Rail Project
SaxaVord Spaceport has officially terminated plans for a shared suborbital launch rail, shifting the logistical burden to German launch provider HyImpulse for its upcoming SR75 mission.
Logistical Shift at Unst
Operational directives at SaxaVord Spaceport have shifted. The facility has officially confirmed the abandonment of plans to construct a shared suborbital launch rail. This decision forces German launch provider HyImpulse to deploy its own proprietary ground systems for the upcoming second flight of the SR75 rocket.
Project SkyReach Terminated
According to European Spaceflight, the initiative—codenamed Project SkyReach—was originally backed by a £378,000 grant from the UK Space Agency in December 2022. The objective was the installation of a universal launch rail capable of supporting suborbital vehicles weighing up to three tonnes. However, the project failed to move beyond a "paused" status, appearing as an undelivered milestone in the UK Space Agency’s 2023/24 annual report.
Impact on HyImpulse
A SaxaVord spokesperson has now verified that SkyReach will not be restarted. The cancellation represents a significant pivot in the spaceport’s infrastructure strategy. While the shared rail was intended to lower the barrier for suborbital operators by providing ready-to-use hardware, companies like HyImpulse must now integrate their own mobile launch solutions into the Unst facility.
This shift highlights a broader trend in the European launch market where infrastructure flexibility is increasingly outsourced to the rocket providers themselves, rather than provided as a turnkey service by the spaceport operators. Despite the loss of the shared rail, preparations continue for the second SR75 mission as HyImpulse manages its own ground support equipment requirements.