Over the weekend we saw some incredible news for Cornwall
with the confirmation that Cornwall Airport Newquay is the first choice for
Virgin Orbit for horizontal satellite launch. An official announcement confirming
this took place at Farnborough Air Show on Monday, which I attended to support Cornwall’s
bid.
Of course I am delighted to see the confirmation that Virgin
Orbital has chosen Cornwall as the base for its horizontal launch facility in
the UK. This confirms what we have been saying for the past few years, that
Newquay is the best location in the UK for this emerging new space sector.
Getting to this stage is the next important and significant
step of a long journey involving many years of hard work from lots of different
organisations towards putting Cornwall at the heart of the UK Space industry.
Bringing the spaceport to Cornwall has been one of my top
priorities since becoming MP back in 2015, something I have worked long and
hard to bring from what many thought was only a pipe dream to reality. Along
with the teams at Cornwall Airport Newquay, Cornwall LEP and Cornwall Council
we have worked hard to put together a strong business case to ensure our unique
offer mean we were the best choice for horizontal launches.
Horizontal launch is a new technology that is still in
development but is clearly the future for space launch.
Cornwall Airport Newquay was first unveiled as one of the
UK’s potential Spaceport locations in July 2014 because of its long runway
(2,744 metres), uncongested airspace and direct access over the Atlantic Ocean,
along with the Aerhub that provides hundreds of acres of land to build the
facilities needed to support this new sector.
There is still further work to be done to secure the
potential opportunities for satellite launch and I am pleased that the
government will be allocating further funding and has committed to work with
Spaceport Cornwall to achieve this. However this is a significant step forward
in this process.
This decision has the potential to unlock previously unseen
levels of economic investment to Cornwall, bring in hundreds of high tech, high
skilled, well paid jobs.
Not measurable by economic statistics alone, this decision
will also provide the priceless inspiration for future generations of Cornish
children to reach for the stars.
Now this announcement has been made, I look forward to
working with all concerned to moving toward the first launches from Cornwall.
My team and I are here to serve the whole constituency and
work hard to make a real difference to the lives of everyone needing support.
The office is open to the public Monday – Friday 10.00am – 4.00pm (no
appointment necessary). If there is an issue you would like my assistance on
then please, either visit the office or contact me on either 01726 829379 or
office@stevedouble.org.uk. Additionally, I hold regular, appointment only,
advice surgeries across the constituency. Dates of these can be found at:
www.stevedouble.org.uk/events
