By Peter Tremayne

The Civil Aviation Authority has hit back at Conservative politicians who have criticised its regulation of space licences.

Some Tory MPs, notably Greg Clark, chairman of the science and technology select committee, have questioned what they saw as bureaucratic delays leading to the launch of Richard Branson’s rocket from Newquay in January.

But Sir Stephen Hillier of the CAA pointed out that at every stage of the process last year, it was Virgin Orbit’s own technical problems which delayed the licensing.  The CAA could not licence a launch system which did not exist.  Mr Branson's rocket eventually crashed and burned when a filter fault starved its engine of fuel.

When Mr Clark asked why Virgin Orbit appeared to favour launches from the Mojave desert in California, Sir Stephen said the CAA’s primary responsibility was public safety.

“We cannot ignore the geography,” he said.  “There is the obvious difference between launching from the Mojave desert and going out over the Pacific, over a single nation’s airspace; or launching from Australia, again with a single nation’s airspace and over a sparsely populated area; and there is the world of difference between that and somewhere like Newquay in Cornwall where there is clearly a lot of population around.

“We have previously heard from Spaceport Cornwall that 2,500 people were there watching this launch actually happen.  That doesn’t happen in the Mojave desert.

“And then flying out into other airspace and negotiating with the other countries.  We are responsible for safety in the UK.”

When Mr Clark asked why it appeared to be easier to licence space operations in Luxembourg and Portugal, Sir Stephen pointed out that Luxembourg has yet to launch anything into space and that when it does it will be regulated by the European Space Agency.

Portugal, he said, was involved only in the recovery of space debris once Virgin’s rockets have crashed back to earth.

Sir Stephen said that in the past 18 months, the CAA had issued 285 space licences, 12 of them to Virgin Orbit.  On the very day that Mr Branson failed to reach space, 40 other UK satellites, licenced by the CAA, did safely arrive in orbit thanks to alternative rocket companies.

Two weeks ago Cornwall Reports revealed how Transport Secretary Mark Harper authorised a “blast zone” of only 1,275 feet at the Newquay spaceport.  Spaceports typically require blast zones of two or three miles.

Details revealed in the Newquay licences have staggered aviation safety experts.  The CAA had even been prepared to allow Mr Branson to attempt an emergency landing with his fully-fuelled rocket still strapped to the wing of his jumbo jet - something which has never been done before.

Spaceport bosses have refused to discuss the scientific basis for their 1,275-feet blast zone, claiming "commercial confidentiality" outweighs public safety.

As Cornwall Reports has previously noted, Newquay is in danger of becoming seen as a “Tory spaceport” prepared to allow lower safety standards than others.

Despite the muted concerns of Cornwall councillors, Members of Parliament are now getting their teeth into details of the cost-benefit issues and the extent to which it is sensible to use public money in this sector.  Cornwall Council paid Mr Branson £1 million to launch from Newquay.

Nevertheless, the safety issues at Newquay increasingly appear now to be of academic interest only.  There is no credible prospect of Virgin Orbit returning to Cornwall in the foreseeable future.  Despite this, the spaceport is going ahead with the opening of a new building later this month.

The purpose of this new building is something of a mystery.  Cornwall’s spaceport now has an international reputation as a rocket-launching facility which has no rockets.

Two spaceports in Scotland hope to reach orbit later this year from conventional vertical-launch platforms.  They then plan to launch satellites two or three times a month.  The maximum that Newquay could do - even if it had a customer - is two per year.

petertremayne@cornwallreports.co.uk