Sweden develops the first satellite launch site in the EU – EURACTIV.com
The Esrange Space Center will be the first platform for the development of rocket technology and satellite launches in the European Union. Located outside the city of Kiruna in northern Sweden, the site should be ready for operation in the summer of 2022.
About 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, the Esrange Space Center was founded in the mid-1960s. Since then, it has been an active research site. The infrastructure has been updated since 2015 and will now be completed with the help of a loan agreement of EUR 12 million with Nordic Investment Bank and the state-owned Swedish space company (SSC).
According to the news site Arctic Today, rocket testing facilities will be modernized and ground technology developed to communicate with satellites.
The project is in line with Sweden’s strategy for 2018 to be at the forefront of space technology, where the space industry is considered a strategic economic asset. The new investment will make Sweden one of about ten countries globally with its own satellite infrastructure.
The site can also be an asset for the European Union.
Philip Påhlsson, a spokesman for a Swedish space company, tells Arctic Today: “With the new space port function, it will probably be the first launch site on the European mainland that provides a platform for space companies to develop their next generation rocket technology and launch their satellites. ”
(Pekka Vänttinen | EURACTIV.com)