Do they allow camping?
Shetlands worth a visit at the best of times but with some heat online...
Brit rocketeers Skyrora have perched a second stage of its orbital class Skyrora XL atop a stack of containers and performed a successful static fire test of the engine. The test comes two years after the company live-tested a complete Skylark L. Testing of the engines powering the beefier Skylark XL have been ongoing; in May …
First - go boffins. Have a pint.
But what I don't understand is why the rocket had to be perched atop of a stack of containers? Was there something special about this stage? Or do they do this for all static tests? I assume it's a funding issue and they or the spaceport are planning to develop a more traditional infrastructure. But it is reminiscent of the old Top Gear jerry rigged attempt to launch a Reliant Robin,
The containers are relatively cheap and can be transported on standard trucks without police escort (assuming they are not above 3m wide, etc) and re-assembled easily. Also you can keep stuff in them!
Yes it might have a bit of a Heath Robinson look about it but it seems to work well.
Re-locatable infrastructure. Chuck the containers on the back of a lorry when the inevitable complaints of NOT IN MY BACK YARD arise.
In the 60's we were that bothered by NIMBY we sent the Black Arrow rocket program to Woomera, Australia. Fully developed the thing and then cancelled it because reasons (possibly pressure from US suppliers that didn't want competition, and could lever US govt').