Scotland buys Orbex’s Sutherland spaceport
August 31, 2026

By Chris Forrester



Scotland’s Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) organisation has bought the assets of Orbex’s Sutherland Spaceport subsidiary. Orbex went into bankruptcy administration in February this year with a deficit of about £117 million (€136.6m).

Scotland’s Development Agency is the end buyer of the spaceport. In a August announcement, HIE said it had acquired the assets from the company’s joint liquidators and would now review how the partially developed site could be used.


“Having acquired these assets, our next move will be to work with the local community and players in the space sector to inform future decisions on how to make the most of the spaceport’s potential to deliver long-term economic benefits,” said David Oxley, director of strategic projects at HIE.

Despite the uncertainty, both Oxley and Scotland’s cabinet secretary for economy, tourism and transport, Stephen Flynn, signalled support for the continued development of the planned launch facility. Work on the infrastructure that would support vertical launches from the site ceased in December 2024 after Orbex announced it was pausing construction to focus its resources on the development of a new medium-lift rocket called Proxima.

Orbex’s collapse did not immediately hit Sutherland Spaceport Ltd, which only entered compulsory liquidation on 18 June. Its assets, including infrastructure already constructed at the partially developed launch site, were then made available for sale by liquidators from London-based FRP Advisory.