The SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland’s Shetland Islands. Photo: SaxaVord Spaceport

With a number of new commercial spaceports emerging, eight spaceports from around the world signed a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) for better strategic collaboration. A formal signing ceremony will be held in Milan, Italy on October 13, alongside the International Astronautical Congress (IAC). The MoU was announced Oct. 7.

The eight spaceports, located across five continents have agreed to team up and establish a forum to explore potential strategic collaboration in a range of areas of common interest and introduce a dialogue on establishing international spaceport standards.

The eight commercial spaceports that have signed up are:

• Hokkaido Spaceport/HOSPO (Japan), the first public spaceport in East Asia, located in Taiki-town, Hokkaido, Japan;
• Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska, operated by Alaska Aerospace, a state-owned company located on Kodiak Island, Alaska, U.S.;
• SaxaVord Spaceport (U.K.), a vertical launch spaceport located in Shetland, Scotland;
• Space Centre Australia, Australia’s first large-scale multi-use spaceport, located in Northern Queensland;
• Stargate Peru S.A.C, a forthcoming spaceport pending approval of the Peruvian Air Force and Peruvian Space Agency, with plans to build a launch pad in Piura, Peru;
• Sutherland Spaceport (U.K.), located on the northern coast of Scotland and  poised to be the U.K’s mainland’s first operational vertical launch site for small satellites;
• Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), a launch site that has been operational since 1966 and
• Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (Virginia Spaceport Authority), a spaceport located at Wallops Island, Virginia, U.S.