Keep Space for Peace Week 5-12th October
This is the website of a global campaign against weapons and nuclear
power in space: https://space4peace.org/
Each year Spacewatch announces a ‘keep space for peace week’
in 2024 it is October 5-12th . We ask all Scottish CND supporters to help us
keep a careful eye on the development of spaceports in Scotland and to
call out their harm. You could organise an action, do your own social
media post, and watch out for announcements about actions. If you are
living in or visiting the areas where spaceports are sited, have your eyes
and ears open, seek out local activists, see if you can lend a hand and
keep us posted.
Why Scottish CND opposes Scottish Spaceports
Faced with the twin existential threats of climate change and nuclear war,
‘spaceports’ are a step in the wrong direction. The space industry is an
integral part of the infrastructures that sustain the US/UK threat of
nuclear warfighting – satellites are crucial to the ‘intelligence gathering’,
command and control of nuclear war fighting – and spaceports in Scotland
are unlikely to resist all defence related work and are at risk of becoming
implicated in these systems. They will certainly add to Scotland’s
contribution to the existential threat of climate change. Spaceports do not
offer ‘green jobs’ or a sustainable just transition to a better deal for rural
areas. Scottish government claim that Scotland can develop a space
industry that is greener than the current state-of-the-art but it will,
nevertheless, remain a carbon-intensive industry. The associated
construction and pollution will contribute to the harms that destroy
biodiversity.
Promoted by the UK government and with complicity of the Scottish
Government 1 , five spaceports have licences to go ahead in Scotland. All
are in remote rural areas where there are few jobs which has helped the
developments to gather local support. You can read the positive spin in
the government brochure-see the link in the end notes 2 . After
construction, numbers of local, long-lasting well-paid jobs are likely to be
low. It is claimed that 40 local jobs may be created in Sutherland but with
no details or costs-per-job analysis in comparison to other possible
investment in the local economy.
All spaceports are within sensitive and important habitats for wildlife,
including sea birds and marine creatures. Their activity will inevitably be
environmentally damaging as they require the construction of substantial
infrastructures and their main activity, rocket launching, involves burning
large quantities of rocket fuel and adding to the high-altitude disturbance
of the Earth’s energy balance. As with aviation, the creation of Carbon-
dioxide, CO2, a direct effect of fuel-burning, is only part of their climate
impact. Airplanes also release nitrogen oxides (NOx) and vapour trails
changing cloud formation. These non-CO2 effects were responsible for
two-thirds of aviation’s climate impact in 2018 3 . The high altitude of
rockets multiplies the effects through a process called ‘radiative forcing
effect’ which is discussed in the impact assessment of the Cornwall
Spaceport 4 . Back on planet earth, rocket fuel will also create new risks of
very serious pollution incidents. Fuel shedding creating large fuel spills is
a hazard already demonstrated by launch failures at other spaceports.
Overtime, the military are likely to become a main customer, adding to
the creeping militarisation of space which already includes a system of
satellites for the command and control of nuclear war fighting. All existing
commercial spaceports conduct missions for the military and are
implicated in weapons development. Some Scottish spaceports already
have military and/or nuclear connections. Scotland should be working to
keep space for peace not aiding its militarisation or adding to the UK’s
history of harm.
SaxaVord Spaceport
The already constructed SaxaVord Spaceport on the island of Unst,
Shetland, shares the northern tip of the island with Hermaness nature
reserve. The plan is to extend the current site to include three launchpads
for vertically launching rockets. The Hermaness reserve includes an
internationally important colony for 100,000 breeding sea birds. Saxavord
spaceport’s public story has nothing to say about their impact on
seabirds. The Scottish Government website stresses SaxaVord
Spaceport’s links with ‘Scottish-based Skyrora which has developed its
own eco-friendly fuel, Ecosene, made of waste plastics’ but nevertheless,
this will still involve burning fossil fuel and have high altitude effects.
Their first launch in autumn 2024 is for the German rocket manufacturer
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) and there is no indication that RFA will use
fuel that claims to be eco-friendly 5 . Lockheed Martin is also lined up as a
customer, a company which describes itself as ‘a critical government and
industry partner’ in the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for nuclear
weapons. 6 Once SaxaVord has the necessary permissions for launches
they will be able to require that air space be clear when launches are
planned. This is expected to result in the diversion of multiple flights to
and from Iceland around a no-fly zone, increasing flying time and
therefore the impact of aviation.
Space Hub Sutherland
Space Hub Sutherland is under construction on A’ Mhòine peninsula on
mainland Scotland’s north coast. This is on the edge of ‘the flow country’
now recognised as a World Heritage Site. This area of precious ancient
peat land is known to sequester tons of carbon. The development of the
spaceport has been vociferously opposed by local environmentalists.
Space Hub Sutherland already has the support of the local nuclear
industry in the form of a three-million-pound grant from the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority which is justified by the claim of creating
alternative job opportunities for workers currently employed at Dounreay.
Note, however, that decommission work at Dounreay is expected to
continue until 2070 and will continue to employ many more workers than
the 40 predicted for the spaceport. The operators, Orbex, do make claims
about environmental protection. They also claim they will use a fuel which
is lower carbon that conventional rocket fuel. Their website suggests that
the large quantities of ancient peat removed during construction will be
used to help restore areas of degraded peatland. A tiny quantity of the
peat will be used to create an in-lab experiment. Orbex are collaborating
in a planned project with the University of Stirling that will monitor the
health of peat bogs by satellite. While all work to help restore the health
of peat bogs is a common good, we fear this is also greenwashing the
environmental destruction that the spaceport will inflicts on one of the few
remaining large ancient peat bogs in Scotland.
Despite the local community being divided over the issue, permission was
granted by the local council for Spaceport 1, Scolpaig, North Uist, in the
Outer Hebrides. Scolpaig includes an area of machair, a rare habitat
largely restricted to the west coast of the Outer Hebrides.
Spaceport 1, Scolpaig, North Uist
Spaceport Machrihanish is described by the UK government in their
brochure on UK Spaceports 7 as a platform for horizontal, vertical and
high-altitude flights. It is run by Discover Space UK who have an onging
project in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence section ‘Defence and
Security Accelerator’ to develop a new rocket engine.
Prestwick Space Port
Prestwick Spaceport is intended for aircraft horizonal-launched orbital
satellites. One of the collaborating companies, BAE Systems is familiar to
peace movement activists because of their involvement in components
used in nuclear weapons and weapons sent to Israel and other conflict
zones.
1 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/109-million-boost-for-scottish-space-sector
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/33-million-boost-for-national-space-programme
2
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/643e6a4222ef3b000c66f3d1/Spaceport_brochure_17.4.23.pdf
3 https://www.transportenvironment.org/topics/planes/airplane-pollution
4 https://spaceportcornwall.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/UoE-Spaceport-Cornwall-Carbon-Impact-
Assessment-report.pdf
5 https://spacenews.com/saxavord-prepares-for-first-orbital-launch/
6 https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/icbm.html