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Highland spaceport company to be liquidated

Orbex An artist's impression of a rocket launching from Sutherland Spaceport. There is a plume of smoke below the rocket as it takes off.Orbex
Orbex had plans for a spaceport facility in Sutherland

A company set up to run a planned satellite launch facility in the north-west Highlands is to be liquidated and its assets sold off.

Sutherland Spaceport Ltd (SSL) is a subsidiary of Forres-based rockets manufacturer Orbex, which was placed into administration earlier this year.

SSL was to operate a spaceport near the village of Tongue. It had planning permission, but no major construction work has taken place.

Joint administrators said it had started a process to wind up the business.

Last month, administrators FRP Advisory said discussions were taking place to sell off various parts of a collapsed rockets manufacturer.

It said there had been a "high level" of interest from buyers, with 15 offers received for parts of the business and its assets.

Orbex employed 163 people across the UK, with most of them based in Forres in Moray.

The majority of the workers lost their jobs in February.

Orbex was founded in February 2015 and was developing a rocket called Prime for use in launching small satellites into low Earth orbit.