Challenging the environmental impact of the UK’s military expansion into space

In February, Shetland Islands Council granted planning permission for the proposed SaxaVord Spaceport, located on the Lamba Ness Peninsula in the northeast of the island of Unst in the Shetland Islands. Other Scottish spaceports have also been proposed for Sutherland in the Highlands and at a site in the Western Isles.

The proposed developments on Unst are relatively modest in terms of their footprint on the ground, comprising of a gatehouse, three launch pads, a satellite tracking station, two hangar buildings, an administration building, pyrotechnic store and hazardous materials store – and a wildlife hide – on a site of about 198 acres (80 hectares). But this masks a much larger environmental impact resulting from the space launch activities which are planned at the site.