Scottish Startup Skyrora Skylark L Rocket Crashes During Test Launch

The Skylark L rocket launched as part of a test by the British space corporation Skyrora failed, traveling only 500 meters before landing in the Norwegian Sea.

The rocket "experienced an anomaly" while being launched from its mobile spaceport in Iceland, which resulted in its collision with the water. The flight represents a significant advancement toward Skyrora's objective of conducting the first vertical orbital launch from UK soil in 2019.

Rocket launches that fail are frequent at the beginning, UKTech wrote. Between 2006 and 2008, US competitor SpaceX's first three rocket tests ended in spectacular disasters. It currently has a contract with NASA to send people and supplies to the International Space Station.

(Photo: STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images)
The Epsilon rocket No. 6 takes off from the Uchinoura Space Center (USC) in Kimotsuki-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture, on October 12, 2022. - Japan's space agency sent a self-destruct order to its Epsilon rocket after a failed launch, public broadcaster NHK and other local media reported on October 12.

Skynora's Skylark L Rocket Fails to Launch on UK Soil

Edinburgh-based Skynora successfully launched its suborbital Skylark L rocket from an Icelandic launch site last Saturday (Oct. 8). However, the booster didn't travel very far, sinking into the Norwegian Sea approximately 500 meters (0.3 miles) from the coastline location, according to company officials.

There were no injuries to humans or animals, and Skyrora has started an inquiry into the event. "Despite the best design, build and test preparations, anomalies still unfortunately do happen," Lee Rosen, chief operations officer at Skyrora, said in a statement.

Given that it was a first attempt, the mission from the Langanes peninsula in northern Iceland wasn't necessarily expected to be successful. According to company managers, the endeavor was a "milestone" toward their goal of 2023-the first successful vertical orbital launch from the United Kingdom.

The days leading up to the attempt saw "severe storms and freezing temperatures" at the launch site, Skyrora continued.

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Despite the launch's failure, Skyrora could complete other tasks, such as packaging and shipping the 36-foot-tall (11 m) rocket and its supporting infrastructure to the Icelandic location in less than a month.

Skyrora said Icelandic red tape prevented Skylark L from taking off in late 2021, raising licensing concerns in May.

About Skylark L

Space.com said the Skylark L is built to travel at four times the speed of sound and has a top altitude of more than 77 miles (125 kilometers). The spacecraft is being used to get ready for the bigger Skyrora XL car, which will take off from the UK next year.

The second stage of Skyrora XL's primary engine underwent the "largest integrated stage test" in the UK in the last 50 years, according to the firm, which finished the test in August.

Several U.K. businesses, including Skyrora, are vying to offer tiny satellite launch services. Launches are planned for two vertical spaceports in Scotland's north in 2023, while Virgin Orbit will launch no sooner than November from an airfield transformed in Cornwall, England.

While not the first such vertical liftoff, if the Virgin Orbit launch goes as planned, it will be the first orbital launch from the United Kingdom. Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket burns in flight after being delivered by a carrier plane.

Although it wasn't Skyrora's first launch overall, the Oct. 8 launch was its first attempt to enter orbit. Over the past few years, the business has repeatedly launched its Skylark Nano and Micro rockets to lower heights.