Kenya Appoints Consortium to Advise on Proposed Commercial Spaceport

Kenya’s proposed commercial spaceport has moved to the next stage of project preparation, with a consortium appointed to provide transaction advisory services for the proposed spaceport in Kipini, along Kenya’s coast. Salience Consulting, along with SpaceDreamS and Gauff Consultants Africa, was appointed to advise on the proposed spaceport, according to an announcement on October 27. The consortium met in Nairobi this week to begin engaging with stakeholders.

Salience Consulting is leading the consortium and will be responsible for financial, legal, and environmental and social work. SpaceDreamS will lead the spaceport’s technical feasibility and systems engineering, while Gauff Consultants Africa will lead civil and infrastructure engineering.

Consortium Appointment Builds on Recent Funding Agreement for the Proposed Spaceport

The appointment follows the October 1 signing of a funding agreement between the Kenya Space Agency (KSA) and the National Treasury’s Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Directorate for the project’s feasibility study. The feasibility study will assess potential sites, launch infrastructure, market demand, environmental and social impacts, and the project’s economic and financial viability. It will also examine value for money and options for private-sector participation. Its findings will inform KSA’s decision on whether and how to proceed with the project.

If the project proceeds, the consortium is expected to support the PPP procurement process through to financial close, while also building capacity within KSA and the PPP Directorate.

The proposed spaceport is part of Kenya’s wider effort to develop domestic launch capability. KSA’s terms of reference for the transaction advisory services identify the general area of Kipini, between Malindi and Lamu, as the proposed location and set out a feasibility process covering technical, economic, financial, environmental and social considerations, as well as the potential PPP structure.

Kenya has previous experience with orbital launch activity. Between 1964 and 1988, the San Marco Equatorial Range near Malindi launched 18 sounding rockets and nine satellites. The new project would assess whether Kenya’s equatorial location and east-facing coastline can support a technically and commercially viable launch facility.