EU launches satellite spaceport in Arctic Sweden
The EU on Friday inaugurated its first mainland satellite launch port in Arctic Sweden, where officials said it will allow the continent to strengthen security in the face of Russian aggression.
Located 200 km above the Arctic Circle, the new facility at the existing Esrange Space Center is approximately 40 km from Kiruna city and surrounded by 5,000 km2 of wilderness.
The Esrange spaceport was launched at a ceremony attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.
The war in Ukrainewhere engines for the European Vega rocket are made, and the abrupt end of the West’s space cooperation with Russia has increased interest in having spaceports in Europe.
– The current geopolitical situation, not least the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has shown how important it is that the EU has access to space, says Kristersson.
Esrange is “ideal for polar orbit satellite launches and other space activities,” he added.
The opening ceremony coincided with a visit to Sweden by members of the European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation bloc.
Estrange will be the first spaceport on mainland Europe with “rapid launch capabilities and other strategic capabilities compatible with both EU and NATO needs,” said Anna Kinberg Batra, president of the Swedish Space Corporation, a state-owned company that provides space subsystems, space. and satellite operations.
Around 15 million euros ($16.3 million) have been invested in the Swedish site, which will complement Europe’s current spaceport in French Guiana, a region of France on the northeastern coast of South America.
The Swedish site is powered by fossil-free energy, Batra said.
“Fossil-free rocket fuel is developed and tested here and together with our partners in ESA [the European Space Agency]we will take the next step in the development of reusable European rockets,” she said.
Estrange will host ESA’s reusable rocket trials, she said.
Small satellites are important for European security and are currently being used by the Ukrainian army to track the movements of Russian troops, von der Leyen said.
“Europe has its foothold in space, and we will keep it,” she said.
The number of satellites in orbit is expected to reach 100,000 by 2040, the SSC said, compared with 5,000 now.
The inauguration of the Esrange spaceport is an important moment.
As the first orbital launch site on our mainland, it offers an independent European gateway to space.
The EU’s future as a space power is also being written in Sweden ↓ https://t.co/oEQtJFpLrn
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 13, 2023
In Esrange’s existing capacity as a missile range, more than 600 suborbital rockets have already been launched from the site.
In Sweden, as in the rest of Europe, the rockets that are developed are “micro rockets”.
These are approximately 30 meters long and can carry a payload of several hundred kilos.
In the future, SSC aims for payloads of more than one tonne.
An attempt to launch the first rocket into orbit from Great Britain, on a Virgin Orbit Boeing 747 which took off from a spaceport in Cornwall, southwest England, ended in failure on Tuesday.
Updated: January 13, 2023, 6:50 p.m