Britain is joining the space race, building a launch site in northern Scotland to compete with Nasa and Europe

The lure of commercial riches in space is spurring a variety of plans to help launch all the components necessary for a fully functioning orbital economy.

The latest to enter this private-sector race is the UK, which on Monday will announce that it plans to construct the nation’s first commercial vertical launch spaceport in northern Scotland.

The UK is a “geographically strategic location for launch” with its northern latitudes, and well-placed to reach polar and near-polar orbits, the UK Space Agency said. Most commercial launches today are from Florida and French Guiana, where Nasa and the European Space Agency operate, respectively, due to their proximity to the equator. These offer easier access for satellites bound for geostationary orbit.

Parliament passed the Space Industry Act earlier this year, aiming to help the nation capitalise on the burgeoning commercial interest in space. Supporters say the effort will bring new jobs and billions of pounds to the UK economy. The government has also allocated a £50 million (US$66.2 million) fund to help further the industry.

“We are committed to supporting a commercial market for access to space in the UK, and we will continue to engage with any company who seeks to operate here,” Graham Turnock, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said in a statement.

On the other side of the Atlantic, this modern pursuit of space riches has spurred new spaceport plans across America, from Georgia to Colorado, Alaska to Guam. In Canada, a firm called Maritime Launch Services Ltd is planning the country’s first commercial spaceport in eastern Nova Scotia, with an initial launch planned in 2021.