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The UK is exploring a number of potential spaceports to launch unmanned rockets carrying satellites to space. This resource has eight different activities, that considering the construction of a spaceport UK and the launching of unmanned satellites to Earth orbit. They relate to aerospace science, geography and engineering. There is also a focus on how to improve our space situational awareness. This activity will be carried out within the National Air and Space Museum as well as across the United Kingdom.

The UK spaceport development will involve building a modular launch pad and a dedicated UK spaceline infrastructure. The proposed spaceport for this international effort is at Cumbria on the northern coast of England. A decision has been deferred on whether or not to list the commercial launch pad at Lowestoft or the Plesk Site in Cumbria. There are also proposals to move the Commercial Activity Office from Lowestoft to Cumbria and then to the Netherlands for the International Space Station (ISS) operation.

If a spaceport is established, the first UK company to use it will be Virgin Group who is planning a robotic science and research probe that will explore samples of lunar material and return samples of the Martian surface. It will also carry a small passenger craft and a machine to manufacture small satellites within its orbit around the moon. This is called the Moonbase colony. A second company with an aim to explore the solar system and the asteroid belt is plans to build a base station called the International Outpost. This will be based at the asteroid orbit and could support human expeditions to the vicinity of these celestial bodies.

The UK spaceport will also support the UK civil aviation authority's plans to open up the skies to small unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). The first of these would be the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle or UAV-carrying aircraft, which will be able to carry out short-takeoff landings on UK soil. It will do this using its parachute landing system and be able to travel at speeds of up to four hundred miles per hour. The UAVs being developed by RAA Aerospace are designed to complete different types of tests in extreme weather conditions. It is hoped that the UK spaceport will attract more investment by these launch operators so that these UAVs can begin to take to skies as early as 2021.

The UK spaceport is being designed primarily as a communications center. It will have telephone and television stations to relay international media and a national address facility. It is to be located in south-west London between Gatwick and Stansted Airports. Although some reports suggest that the spaceports may be used for carrying crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS), this has yet to be confirmed.

Two vertical, small satellite launch vehicle (VSAM) vehicles are expected to be ready for use by the UK spaceport by the end of 2021. These vehicle designs have been agreed between UK and NASA. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of around eight feet and a height of around six feet, will be launched from the UK spaceport's silo to test the Vertical Launching Adapter (VLA) at a later date. The UAV will be fitted with instruments to record data and transmit the data to the U.S.A. and NASA headquarters.

The spaceport's future purpose is not yet known. There are no major commercial activities planned at the spaceport at this time. There is however, enough commercial and civil activity going on around the spaceport to support the UK space industry's development. There is around one billion pounds (over two hundred million U.S. dollars) earmarked to help finance the development of the spaceport's infrastructure, which is mainly focused on the UAV testing and research facilities.

There is around one thousand and eleven acres (nearly two hundred thousand square meters) of usable land surrounding the spaceport. This land will be used to create a landing and launch platform, support infrastructure for VASIMR and enable the launch of medium and small satellites. The remaining land will be used for pasture and will provide a variety of habitats for various types of animals. It will also include the three enclosed areas; the Common grazing Area, The Dry Grazing Area and The Outcrop.

A racetrack is not designed for permanent human habitation, but is intended to support visiting spacecraft. One proposed use for this is a base station, which would bring the astronaut into closer proximity to the Earth and lower the costs associated with long-term stays in low Earth orbit. It would also allow for a more rapid Return to Earth and allow for continuous crew travel between missions. However, this option would not be feasible for human life, as no vehicle can carry humans as cargo. Therefore, a UK space agency may propose to use the spaceport to train astronauts prior to their flights to the International Space Station.