Space tourism: UK unveils plans to build spaceport by 2018

Eight aerodromes have been shortlisted as a potential base for the UK's first spaceplane flights, which ministers want to establish by 2018. Supporters have said the base could be used by companies taking tourists into space, as well as to launch satellites.

An artist’s impression of a UK spaceport and Skylon spaceplane concept (Image: UK government)

The UK government believes a British spaceport would have firms lining up to use it for commercial spaceflights, satellite launches or delivery of cargo to space.

So it wants to build a spaceport in the next four years. 

That's even though no firm has yet proven its spaceplane can carry passengers.

"We have a success story in space already in the UK, it's growing," said David Parker, CEO of the UK Space Agency, who was at the announcement at the Farnborough Airshow.

"New growth figures show it's £11.3 billion ($A20.68 billion) to the UK economy now. We have new opportunities we want to seize and one of those is in space tourism."

The British government is looking at eight possible sites for the spaceport. Six of those sites are based in Scotland.

The coastal locations include: Campbeltown Airport (Scotland), Glasgow Prestwick Airport (Scotland), Llanbedr Airport (Wales), Newquay Cornwall Airport (England), Kinloss Barracks (Scotland), RAF Leuchars (Scotland), RAF Lossiemouth (Scotland), and Stornorway Airport (Scotland).

The idea to build it somewhere remote - with an existing runway which is long enough, or could be extended to the length required for spaceplanes. 

But it's holding an independence referendum in September, which could affect the choice of location if Scotland decided to leave the union. 

Several companies are designing spaceplanes which can carry passengers.

Airbus and Safran the latest to announce a space launcher joint venture in June - to compete with rivals such as Elon Musk's U.S.-based SpaceX.

The British government would like 10 per cent of the global space market by 2030 - which it estimates will be worth around £40 billion ($A73.26 billion) a year.

We have companies in the UK manufacturing, designing, doing the IT work around small satellites and we've grown to the extent to which outside the United States," said Vince Cable, UK British Business Secretary. 

"Britain is probably the leading country and we want to now consolidate that."

The U.S. has already constructed the world's first space base purpose-built for commercial launches. 

This is Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The inaugural flights with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic have been scheduled to take off from there this year.