Amongst already unfamiliar low temperatures and severe weather conditions, the launch was reported to have “experienced an anomaly”. Reportedly, no people or wildlife were harmed during the failure, and tracking systems have been employed by the company in recovery missions.
This attempt comes ahead of Skyrora’s aim to accomplish the first successful vertical orbital launch from the UK. Skyrora’s Chief of Operations, Lee Rosen, said, “Skyrora’s launch attempt of Skylark L has provided the team with valuable experience, which will propel us forward monumentally in our mission to reach orbit.”
Skyrora has had previous successful attempts at liftoff to lower altitudes, with the Skylark Nano and Micro rockets. The Skylark L was their first try at reaching the Karman Line to achieve space flight. The Edinburgh-based company has plans to - and is still aiming to - unveil the Skylark XL rocket on the Shetland Islands in 2023. They recently successfully completed a static fire test for Skylark XL’s second stage on way to commercial operations, the biggest of its kind in 50 years.
Volodymyr Levykin, CEO and founder of Skyrora, claimed that the Icelandic launch was a“huge victory for the European space sector” and that Skyrora “remain confident of achieving our objective of a full vertical orbital launch from UK soil in 2023.”