Westminster inaction threatens Scotland's chance at first orbital rocket launch on European soil.
Yet again, Scotland does the hard yards, and then has to watch the economic upside take off from somewhere else. That’s not a market failure; that’s a policy failure.
This is where independence stops being an argument about flags and starts being a very practical argument about levers of power. With full economic and regulatory levers, Scotland could:
- Commit multi-year capital to pads, range and test facilities across Shetland, Sutherland and the West, de-risking private build-out.
- Act as an anchor customer for launch and data-tasking Scottish-built satellites to monitor fisheries, peatlands, coastal erosion and grid resilience, putting public missions on a predictable cadence.
- Streamline licensing with a single-front-door regulator designed around responsive launch, and align procurement with our net-zero goals-incentivising low-carbon fuels and reuse as default, not afterthought.
- Partner directly and nimbly with European programmes and agencies on earth observation and climate services, turning Scotland’s data strength into exportable public goods.
Scotland has built the ecosystem: satellite building capacity, data analytics, spaceports and the sustainability investors and governments are looking for. With the right government support, Scotland can be a European leader in this sector.
But if we keep patiently waiting on Westminster to step up, we’ll see that launch window close as the industry moves on, first to Norway, then to everywhere else. The rockets are ready. The talent is here. The only thing still on the pad is political will.