A peek behind the Orbex curtains

An update on the progress being made at Sutherland Spaceport

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A peek behind the Orbex curtains

Orbex has had a mostly quiet 2023 that has only been disturbed by some surprising changes in leadership and the signing of an interesting memorandum of understanding with Arianespace. Although we can’t peek behind the doors of the company’s rocket factory, public sources have allowed a small peek into the company’s financials and its progress with the development of Sutherland Spaceport in Scotland.

A little background

Orbital Express Launch (Orbex) was incorporated in May 2015. However, at that time, it was known by another name. The company was founded by Chris Larmour under the name Moonspike. Just a few months after it was incorporated, Larmour and Kristian von Bengtson, a former contractor at NASA and the co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals, launched a Kickstarter campaign. The aim of the campaign was to fund the development of the first private rocket that could be used for a Moon mission. Although the campaign attracted 1,045 backers and raised $96,990, the effort fell well short of the $736,982 goal. Larmour was, however, hooked. In January 2016, the company's name was changed to Orbital Express Launch, likely to distance it from the failed Kickstarter campaign. 

To date, Orbex has secured over €100 million in funding. The company secured its first major funding in 2018, receiving £30 million from the UK Space Agency and venture capital funds Sunstone Technology Ventures and High-Tech Gründerfonds, among others. This was followed by $24 million in late 2020 and €7.45 million from ESA in March 2021. Its largest and most recent funding round was announced in October 2022, with the company closing a £40.4 million Series C funding round.

The company’s most recent history has been marked by significant leadership changes. In April, founder and CEO Chris Larmour announced that he was leaving the company. The press release about the announcement didn't give a lot of detail, stating simply that the change of leadership would allow the company to "prepare for the next stage of growth." Kristian von Bengtson took over the position temporarily. In May, Martin Coates was announced as the interim CEO. It now appears that the interim has been removed from his title.  

The rocket

Prime is a two-stage launch vehicle that will stand 19 metres tall and have a diameter of 1.45 metres. The rocket utilizes in-house developed liquid-fuel rocket engines powered by bio-propane. 

The rocket is designed to be capable of delivering up to 180 kilograms into a sun-synchronous orbit. However, on the "payloads" page of the company's website, it states that the vehicle can carry a single mini satellite of up to 200 kilograms depending on the final orbit. The baseline deployment apogee target for the vehicle's stated performance figures is 300 kilometres. 

In November 2022, Orbex announced that it would be taking over the construction of Sutherland Spaceport in Scotland. The company committed up to £20 million over an initial three-year period to develop the facility. The 13-acre launch site will become the long-term home spaceport of Orbex and will see the launch of up to 12 Prime missions per year. Operating from Sutherland, the company will be able to offer access to high-inclination low-Earth orbits, polar orbits, and sun-synchronous orbits with orbital inclinations from 83° to 100°.

Orbex has proposed incorporating partial reusability into Prime. A 2018 patent application described a system that would see the top 0.5 to 2 metres of the first stage split into four "drag-enhancing elements" during descent. These elements would slow the stage down and allow small parachutes to be deployed safely to allow for the final touchdown. Apart from patents and a few brief mentions of reusability in press releases over the years, the company has spoken very little about its efforts to recover and reuse the first stage of Prime.

The maiden flight of Prime is likely targeted for late 2024. Orbex is currently working towards integrated stage tests.

Sutherland Spaceport update

Construction of Sutherland Spaceport officially began in May 2023. There are currently no definitive deadlines for when construction will be completed but in a report published by the UK Space Agency that was updated on 3 November, the agency did state that construction of the spaceport would be completed between 2024 and 2025. Although that doesn’t give us a lot of clarity on when construction will be completed, monthly updates from The Highland Council do give a window into the progress being made at the site. 

To date, the construction has largely been limited to phase one and two, which includes the construction of the entrance into the site, a parking lot, a turning head, a supervision office, and a canteen. However, the larger elements on that list are yet to be tackled, with much of the work being limited to drainage, fencing, and roads.

Phase three includes the construction of a long road connecting the phase one and two administrative infrastructure to the future launch facilities. This phase of the construction includes two water crossings. 120 metres of the roughly 500-metre road that will allow access to the payload integration facility and launch pad was completed in August. The construction of this initial 120 metres of the road did, however, veer off the currently approved route to "minimize peat disturbance." Although local officials have welcomed the change, the matter will still need to be discussed by the planning committee. Work on the two water crossings is yet to begin. 

Phase four is where things get interesting. This phase includes the construction of the launch pad and trackway. Phase five includes the launch vehicle assembly and payload integration building and a car park. Finally, phase six includes the construction of the operations and range control building. A 10-metre access road and the surface for the car park of the operation and range control building have already been completed. 

In addition to its work on the construction site, Orbex has also made the decision to create a new position: Chief of Spaceport Operations. The position was filled by Lesley Still in August. Still will initially be responsible for managing the facility’s spaceport license application. Once the spaceport construction has been completed and a license approved, she will oversee the operations of the spaceport. Still joins Orbex from Empire Test Pilots School, where she served as the head of ground operations. Prior to that, Still had spent a decade managing airport infrastructure.

The lease for the land on which Sutherland Spaceport sits will run for 50 years, with an option for a 25-year extension. As a prerequisite for obtaining permission to operate on the land, Orbex is required to restore the land back to its original state once it has completed its operations. In May 2023, Orbex signed the first of two cash security agreements to set aside £1.9 million to conduct the restoration, which it projects will take three to four years to complete.

Financial snapshot

In September, Orbex published its financial results for 2022. The year included a significant cash injection for the company thanks to that £40.4-million Series C funding round. This ensured that it ended 2022 with a healthy net asset result of £36.8 million, which included £32.3 million in cash and cash equivalents. 

The company brought in £1.5 million in income for 2022 with administrative expenses totaling £7.2 million. This left a total loss for the year of just under £5.3 million.

In 2022, Orbex spent £5.4 million on wages, social security, pensions, and employee share payments for 90 employees. That figure was up from £3.7 million in 2021 when the company employed 61 people. In 2023, Orbex currently employs around 130 people, meaning that its employee costs are likely hovering at around £7 million per year.

Conclusion

It has been a long time since we’ve seen any fiery test results from Orbex. The last time the company posted anything about its engine test programme on X (Twitter for us old people) was in April 2022, and that wasn't even describing any current engine testing efforts. That’s not to say they’re not happening, though. Isar’s strategy of holding back on announcing every successful engine test until it has reached a specific milestone shows that some companies prefer a more private development process. The more public work being done at Sutherland Spaceport does show that the company is still moving forward, even if its work isn’t as public as I might like. That being said, I am starting to wonder if a late 2024 maiden flight of Prime is possible. If I were to place a bet, I’d be looking at a 2025 debut.