Plastron will construct two cleanrooms – a space containing a low concentration of airborne particles, necessary for the manufacturing and assembly of satellites. 

The launch site, located at Lamba Ness, is designed for small rockets delivering payloads into low earth orbit.

SaxaVord, the launch facility, believes the development of this PPF will give it a commercial edge in the New Space marketplace. 

“These cleanrooms will give SaxaVord and the UK the capability to host satellites of up to 1,000kg,” said Scott Hammond, deputy CEO of SaxaVord. “This means we can host a multitude of different satellite sizes and that we are not restricted in our offering to the industry.”

Successful completion of this project will see the UK’s first working facility to launch vehicles with advanced payloads relying on propellants. SaxaVord hopes to have the first orbital satellite take place later this year. 

There are over 3,000 active satellites operating in earth’s orbit according to the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as well as roughly 8,000 man-made objects in total.

The largest payload to enter low earth orbit was the Falcon Heavy produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, first launched in 2018 with the capability to carry a payload of 63,800Kg. 

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The two clean rooms developed by Plastron will provide world class hazardous handling capabilities. They are able to do this with help from their HVAC system, which maintains a low particle concentration at a fraction of the running cost of conventional cleanroom air management systems, according to Plastron. 

The HVAC system was designed with support from the academic research SPRINT programme as well as help from expertise from the University of Southampton. The development of the cleanrooms is aligned with SaxaVord’s strategy to reduce CO2  emissions.

“Using knowledge gleaned from performing launch operations throughout the world, we have designed the most advanced payload processing facility available for the New Space sector,” said Chris Smith, Technical Director of Plastron.