Mind the Dolphins: A Shortlist of Locations for Europe's First Spaceport

​The UK has plans to develop its own sp​aceport, and a documen​t released today offers the latest insight on where it might lay the foundations.

After a consultation, departments including the UK Space Agency, Department for Transport, and Civil Aviation Authority wrote that their plans "for Britain to be home of Europe's first spaceport" had moved a step closer.

The result of the consultation is a slightly narrower shortlist of six potential locations for the spaceport; one in England, one in Wales, and two in Scotland.

The idea of the project is to offer a place for sub-orbital spaceplanes to launch and land, and potentially launch satellites too. The government concluded it was not currently focused on developing a vertical launch facility, as "the CAA's initial analysis was that vertical launch facilities had differing requirements and may not be easy to collocate with horizontal spaceplane operations."

In a sta​tement, Business Secretary Vince Cable suggested the spaceport would be used for launching satellites and operating commercial spaceflights.

So how do you choose where to build a spaceport? The responses ​to the consultation, which came from interested parties including aerospace companies, political groups, environmental advocates, and a few individuals, offered their take on the requirements.

Two other air bases were initially in the running, but have now been nixed owing to concerns raised by the Ministry of Defence that they would interfere with defence operations.

All locations on the shortlist are existing aerodromes, though only one currently has the necessary runway length of 3,000m. They're also all relatively coastal locations, which the government suggests will be most suitable to ensure the safety of the public and (after all, the UK doesn't have a convenient desert).

But there are other factors to consider; environmental groups raised concerns about a coastal spaceport. The Marine Conservation Society wrote that "three of the proposed locations are next to internationally important populations of Bottlenose dolphins."

The group is also worried about development of sites such as extending runways. "We would be completely against any such development that extended into coastal habitats such as sand dunes or out to sea," it wrote, pointedly suggesting that Richard Branson—naturally the best-known UK figure in the commercial space industry—would surely agree, given his commitment to marine conservation.

The technical specifications of the spaceport are still rather thin on the ground; developing these is the next step for the project, after which the government will invite proposals.

It hopes to have the spaceport up and running by 2018. All we need then are actual spaceplanes ready to use it.