Portuguese space tech pioneer snaps up Scottish rocket firm Orbex’s assets

A Portuguese space technology business has snapped up the assets of Orbex, the Scottish rocket maker that collapsed earlier this year.

Omnidea plans to establish its UK operations at Orbex’s former manufacturing facility in Forres, Moray, having agreed a deal to acquire the assets and intellectual property (IP) of Orbital Express Launch Ltd. An initial team of ex-Orbex employees will join the business, with Omnidea planning to recruit further as the operation develops.

Omnidea has purchased the assets from joint administrators Chad Griffin, Geoff Rowley and Graham Smith of FRP Advisory. The Orbex legal entity is not part of the acquisition, while the Kinloss test facility and Sutherland Spaceport assets are being acquired in separate deals.

An Omnidea liquid methane and liquid oxygen 3D-printed regenerative engine ready for testing.

The Portuguese firm was already working alongside Orbex as a partner in the European Space Agency’s European Launcher Challenge (ELC) and has been developing its own suborbital launcher programme with the agency for the past four years.

The Scottish operation will become Omnidea’s centre for structures development and fabrication and a hub for flight and ground-system electronics. While space will remain at the core of the operation, the company will also explore opportunities to apply its technologies and engineering capabilities in other advanced technology markets.

Sérgio da Cunha Oliveira, vice president of Omnidea, will lead the firm’s operations in the UK.

He said: “Omnidea has spent more than 20 years building advanced engineering and technology businesses. We see a strong fit between the capabilities we have acquired in Scotland and our existing operations.

“This acquisition means we can combine deep expertise in structures, electronics and advanced manufacturing with the propulsion and fluid-systems capability we have built up over more than two decades. Just as importantly, it gives us access to an established base of highly skilled talent and space expertise in the UK.

“Our priority now is to establish a strong and sustainable UK operation in Forres. As a Portuguese company, we’re proud to be contributing to Europe’s ambitions for independent access to space, and to be growing that capability across Europe - and now from a UK base. We intend to build progressively, bringing investment, expertise and international connections to the UK as opportunities develop,” he added.

Founded in Portugal, Omnidea is a space and advanced technology group with operations across Europe and Australia. It has worked in the European space sector for more than 20 years, developing technologies spanning propulsion and launcher systems, space-qualified fluid-control systems, satellite technologies and advanced engineering.

Omnidea said it would “proactively” support the UK’s ambition to secure assured access to space and would continue to engage with all the relevant stakeholders and partners as its UK operations develop.

Orbex had been at the forefront of Scotland’s “space race” and a key company in the country’s growing sector of space technology. The business went into administration in February with around 150 staff made redundant.

The firm had been involved in setting up the Sutherland Spaceport for rocket launches, but walked away from the project last year amid huge disappointment given its potential for the local economy. Highlands and Islands Enterprise subsequently purchased the Sutherland Spaceport.

Leading Scottish rocket company enters administration with '150 jobs lost’