And his remarks came on the same day two “pint-sized”, Scottish-built satellites were successfully launched from India. Mr Smith was talking after Skyrora signed a five-year lease on much larger premises on Princes Street – in the heart of the Edinburgh city centre – a move which he said underlined the company’s commitment and optimism. He also stressed the company was squarely behind the UK Space Agency’s plans to build a new spaceport in Sutherland in the north of Scotland – and was hopeful its rockets could be used to launch satellites from that location in the future.
With the first launches confirmed to take place by 2021, Skyrora is on track with research and tests which will allow it to take satellites of up to 350 kilograms to polar and sun-synchronous orbits.
The company recently carried out the first in a series of sub-orbital test launches north of the border.
Taking place at the Kildermorie Estate in Rosshire, Skyrora successfully tested components with a nine-foot 2.5 metre rocket which reached an altitude of six kilometres.
The ultimate plan is to build a rocket capable of launching rockets into full orbit, 500 miles above the Earth.
Britain is set to quit the EU on March 29, 2019, and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier earlier enraged the Government after revealing plans to exclude the UK from secure aspects of the Galileo Satellite System.
His announcement came despite the fact that British scientists have been instrumental in developing the technology, and even though Britain has invested an estimated £1billion in the project.
But Mr Smith nevertheless said he was optimistic about the future once Britain quits the bloc.
He explained: “Britain is leading the way.
“In Glasgow, for example, they make more small satellites than anywhere else in the world outside the United States.
“It’s amazing, the things they are doing – the UK really knows what it is doing with this sort of thing.”
Mr Smith said the prospect of a spaceport just a couple of hundred miles away in the north of Scotland was an exciting one, adding that he was hopeful Skyrora’s rockets could be used to launch satellites from there.
Meanwhile, the two ‘first of a kind’ 5kg satellites, designed and built by Glasgow-based Spire Global, were today launched from Sriharikota, India – although if all goes to plan, home-grown spacecraft such as these could be launched from the spaceport in Sutherland in the future.
Both satellites, which were developed under the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) ARTES Pioneer programme (the UK is the largest funder to ARTES), will aim to prove the value of ‘nanosats’ in weather monitoring, by using them to measure refracted radio signals passing through the Earth’s atmosphere.
Graham Turnock, the chief executive of the UK Space Agency said: “These incredibly clever pint-sized satellites built in Glasgow could slash the complexity and cost of access to space, presenting an exciting opportunity for the UK to thrive in the commercial space age.”
Khalil Kably, Pioneer Programme Manager for the European Space Agency, added: “We saw a gap in the market for what we call Space Mission Providers: companies that offer all aspects of a space mission to validate a new technology or service for the benefit of others.
“ESA is always looking to champion innovation in the space industry, and the idea of Pioneer is that these Space Mission Providers can help this by being a one-stop-shop for in-orbit demonstration and therefore reduce the barriers and complexity that can stifle new ideas.”