And Richard Lochhead’s 27 April statement that spaceports in Sutherland and Shetland, “…will be followed by substantial suborbital activity in the Western Isles”. FAILURE TO CONSIDER ALTERNATIVE SITES The 2017 Sceptre Report considered six satellite launching sites including Scolpaig, but commented unfavourably on the latter: “ it is not possible to launch to Sun−Synchronous Orbits while meeting the FAA−AST casualty rate requirement…and the trajectories to polar orbit are highly constrained resulting in lower payload mass.” • With Scolpaig rejected as a satellite launching site a completely new search should have been carried out for sub-orbital launch sites.