Sweden opens orbital spaceport, Europe’s new “gateway to space”
Sweden’s Arctic Circle region gets an orbital boost.
The almost 60-year-old Esrange that sounds rocket range will soon see missions fly into orbit now that it has been revealed as the first European spaceport in orbit. The upcoming facility will finally sound European Space Agency (ESA) is launching rockets on the continent to complement decades of missions from French Guiana.
“Spaceport Esrange is a critical asset that will strengthen Europe’s launch capabilities, improve our competitiveness and continue to guarantee European access to space,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said in a tweet (opens in new tab) after the inauguration on January 13.
Related: The European Space Agency wants to be able to launch its own astronauts
Orbital launches to blast off from spaceport as soon as this year, according to spaceport chief Swedish Space Corp. (SSC). The new facility adds to a cluster of European commercial space operations competing for space access across the continent.
Virgin Orbit made its first, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to launch satellites into orbit from the UK’s Cornwall spaceport on January 9 from a modified 737 aircraft. At the same time, companies such as Skyrora, Orbex, Astra and Isar Aerospace are focus on launches in the coming months or years in European locations such as Northern Scotland, Wales, Germany, Portugal, Norway, Spain or the Shetland Islands.
Esrange, based in Kiruna, has its origins in the meantime International Geophysical Year (opens in new tab)(IGY) of 1957-58 which also spurred the Soviet Union and the United States to begin launching space satellites that Sputnik and Explorer 1, according to ESA (opens in new tab).
The IGY encouraged nations worldwide to move more firmly away from using sounding rockets for military purposes, according to a November 2006 history report (opens in new tab) by ESA officials. (Rockets were used in World War II, particularly by the Germans, with research from the 1940s also carried out at Allied sites such as Wallops Island in Virginia.)
Sweden’s contribution to IGY was the Kiruna Geophysical Observatory which focused on studies of Earth’s atmosphereIncluding Northern Lights and rare, high altitude nocturnal clouds more common in the northern kingdoms, ESA officials said.
Related: Where to see the Northern Lights: 2023 Aurora Borealis guide
Sweden used Esrange as a bargaining chip to join a predecessor of ESA, known as the European Space Research Organization, whose membership was ratified in 1964. The first sounding rockets began launching from Esrange just two years later, in 1966, ESA officials said.
After nearly six decades of sounding rockets at Esrange, the SSC has yet to release which company is expected to provide the first launchable satellite in late 2023. The orbital launch stole the headlines, but it’s only part of Esrange’s expected space activity this year.
ESA plans to host tests for reusable rockets under its Themis program, led by ArianeGroup, SSC noted, while suborbital launches will still form an important part of Esrange’s legacy.
“Themis reusable space launch demonstrator will begin testing at Spaceport Esrange in 2023, beginning with first-stage tests aimed at achieving vehicle liftoff and recovery — so-called ‘jump tests,'” officials said. “The launch facility will also host suborbital test launches of several next generation rockets.”
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why am I taller? (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).