We are now a month on from our Launch to space. The team has taken some much-needed time to digest and recuperate with friends and family. Last week we had an Away Day hosted by the amazing Hall for Cornwall, where we reviewed the past few years and then we looked forward.
While we await the outcome of Virgin Orbit’s investigations into the anomaly, we are looking at the year and feeling increasingly excited for what is to come. We are a fully licensed, operational Spaceport! We can launch to space from Cornwall, and we are only just getting started.
So what is next for Spaceport Cornwall?
We Go Again.
- Minutes after learning the rocket failed, colleagues in the industry, with decades of experience, were messaging me saying, ‘WE GO AGAIN’. Not ‘you’, or ‘them’, but we. A true reflection of how collaborative this industry really is.
- So, we go again. We launch again. We pick ourselves up, hold a hand out to those around us to lift them up, figure out what went wrong, fix it, and try again. We are aiming for the end of this year, and are already busy planning what it will take.
- We fail, we learn. We are running several ‘Lessons Learned’ workshops with all Stakeholders, tweaking our operations and business model, and making it even better.
Cluster Growth
- In March we will open our brand new Space Systems Operations Facility (SSOF). The SSOF will have labs, collaboration space, office space and hotdesking for the space industry. It is almost full, and we haven’t even completed it yet! Space and satellite companies are growing into the site and this is where so much value to Cornwall, and the UK will come.
- We have announced our partnership with Sierra Space and we will be working on a Concept of Operations with them this year. Now that we have proven our capability, we also have several other launch operators in the pipeline.
Outreach
- Never Give Up – we are now taking this lesson into schools, as an example of resilience and grit. Our day-to-day school’s engagement has never been higher and we have a nation-wide broadcast going out on March 2nd, to almost 100,000 kids, hosted by our friend Tim Peake!
- We will be throwing open our doors this Spring to showcase our facilities and the amazing replica rocket to local school children, community groups and organisations. With tours and talks planned, we hope to break down any barriers between space and local communities.
- Often in STEM, the ‘A’ for ‘Arts’ gets missed out, and we want to ensure that Spaceport is supporting ‘STEAM’ engagement across Cornwall. To do so, we are putting together a Cultural Programme, that will help us to connect space, and data from space, to Cornwall using different mediums.
Sustainability
- Our first Road to Net Zero Action Plan will be released this Spring. We want this report to set our intentions, and how we will measure our impact, using a Life Cycle Analysis. It will also identify the areas we can make positive change, and people that can help us do just that, through a newly formed Sustainability Steering Group.
- Eden Project will be home to a Kernow Sat-1 exhibit and we are excited to continue to develop our relationship with their incredible team.
- On-site Biodiversity is part of our nature-based solutions approach to reaching carbon neutrality. We are growing our National Wildflower Collection project with Eden, as well as working with several other organisations to enhance biodiversity on-site and elsewhere (like our seas….see Kernow Sat).
Kernow Sat-1
- Kernow Sat-1 is currently being built and will be coming to our integration facility very soon.
- We have welcomed Devi Whittle, our Kernow Sat Programme Manager, to the team, who will be driving the programme across academia, businesses and environmental groups.
- We are aiming to launch Kernow Sat-1 on Launch 2!
Thank you to all of you who sent us words of encouragement via email, social media, post and in-person. The team has read every word, and they have truly meant the universe to us.
Launch On,
Mel