Space industry trio on board at Scots satellite firm

Craig Clark: delighted to be able to support the company. Picture: John Devlin

Three space industry heavyweights have joined Skyrora, the Scots firm that could become the first UK-based satellite launch provider for more than 50 years.

Tom Markusic, Gerry Webb and Craig Clark have combined senior-level experience in roles at Nasa, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Skylark. They have formed an advisory board at Edinburgh-headquartered Skyrora.

With the first UK launches expected to take place in 2021, the firm is already performing developmental research and hardware testing to support its plans to take small satellites of up to 320 kilograms into orbit.

Daniel Smith, director of business development at Skyrora, said: “The breadth of experience that Gerry, Craig and Tom offer is truly astonishing – they have been at the forefront of the space industry for years and have each accrued a level of expertise that will help us to sustain our rapid growth and development. It made sense for us to formalise this as an advisory board.”

Clark said: “It is clear to me that Skyrora are a special company who are determined to establish a launch capability here in Scotland and I am delighted to be able to support them with their ambition.”

The appointments come as Skyrora sets up the next phase of its engine testing at Cornwall’s Newquay Airport and off the back of a successful launch of one of its test vehicles north of the Border.