The Esrange Space Center will be a testing ground for Europe’s first reusable vertical rocket in 2022, and it can conduct engine tests as well.
On this day, the main activity consisted of engine testing by two fiercely competitive German space start-ups, Rocket Factory Augsburg and ISAR Aerospace Technologies.
Press Relase 27 August 2021After the Esrange fire: Only sounding rocket operations affectedThe fire that broke out yesterday morning at Esrange during a scheduled static firing test of a solid rocket motor, partially damaged the infrastructure used for launching sounding rockets. The remaining operations at Esrange, which is one of the world's most versatile space bases, are not affected by the incident.Esrange Space Center is one of the world's most versatile space bases, including a number of functions that are important to our society. The base is currently being expanded with new capability for further utilization of space.The fire did not cause any damages to the majority of the ongoing operations at Esrange. Satellite operations and communications, stratospheric balloons and the newly established rocket testing facility was not affected, nor was the ongoing expansion for the planned satellite launches.However, the fire caused damage to parts of the launching facility for sounding rockets (rockets conducting research in microgravity) used at Esrange since the 60’s, as well as parts of the nearby buildings. No one was injured in the incident.“Most important is that our staff and everyone else who were at the base are safe. But there are many sad faces at Esrange today. The sounding rocket operations is somewhat the heart of Esrange since this was where it all began more than fifty years ago”, says Lennart Poromaa, SSC Site Manager.The Rescue Services left the site late Thursday evening. An investigation is now being carried out to find the cause of the accident and evaluate how to resume the sounding rocket operations.“It is still too early to say what caused the fire. SSC will seek external assistance to investigate the incident together with our own experts, in order to avoid similar incidents in the future”, says Stefan Gardefjord, SSC CEO.“Now, it is important to resume our sounding rocket operations as quickly as possible. These rockets carry important experiments for research purposes within various areas. We are now working intensively to see how we can resume this part of our business again”, says Lennart Poromaa.
Update: 28 August, 2021On Friday afternoon at 5 pm local time, a small fire flared up again from the sparks from yesterday's fire at Esrange. The flames were discovered by the on-duty Esrange guard and Rescue Services were quickly on site and extinguished the fire in about an hour. The fire arose from embers that remained in the wooden facade inside the part of the facility that burned yesterday, which for safety reasons have been sealed off since. Shortly after 7 pm, the area was secured and the Rescue Services left Esrange.
The fire at Esrange Space Center in August earlier this year damaged important launch infrastructure at the site. Now, only three months later, the preparations are at full speed for a first rocket launch after the incident. Temporary solutions have been implemented for facilities, launch equipment, launch safety systems and cabling operational. The first planned launch will take place at the end of this month with the Mapheus 10 sounding rocket campaign [27 November - 12 December].“Thanks to the dedicated work from our employees in creating temporary infrastructural solutions, our sounding rocket campaigns can soon be resumed again, only three months after the incident. These campaigns are of such great importance for research in a variety of fields, and we are really happy to resume this part of our operations again”, says Lennart Poromaa, President of Science Services at Esrange.
In light of the current geopolitical situation in Europe, all planned rocket launches from Esrange Space Center have been postponed.This is a joint decision between SSC and our partners, which means that the planned rocket campaigns TEXUS 57 and REXUS 29/30 will stay on the ground for the time being. SSC continues to keep a close dialogue with our customers and partners. The balloon campaigns at Esrange stay unaffected and will continue according to plan.
Big news just in: @SSCspace has announced that the Esrange orbital launch facility in Sweden is complete. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Swedish head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf, together with European and Swedish political dignitaries is planned for January.
Inauguration of Mainland Europe’s first satellite launch complexDECEMBER 22, 2022PRESS RELEASEInauguration by H.M the King of Sweden, the Swedish Prime Minister and the President of the EU Commission in January 2023.......For questions or inquiries please contact: Philip Ohlsson, SSC Head of Communications, +46 (0)70 721 70 26, [email protected]Media Pack: http://sscspace.canto.global/v/press
For full press release please visit the following permalink:Inauguration of Mainland Europe’s first satellite launch complex
On 13 January 2023, the Swedish head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf, together with European and Swedish political dignitaries will visit Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden to cut the ribbon of a new spaceport that will significantly reshape the European space landscape. After years of preparation and construction, European mainland’s first orbital launch complex, Spaceport Esrange, will be inaugurated. The event will take place in the city of Kiruna in conjunction with Sweden taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Quick sanity check: Spaceport Sweden is the same thing as Esrange, right? That page I link mentions heritage from Esrange (and being in the same city), but the press releases about the Esrange ribbon-cutting all mention "Spaceport Esrange," not "Spaceport Sweden."
Quote from: trimeta on 01/13/2023 02:21 pmQuick sanity check: Spaceport Sweden is the same thing as Esrange, right? That page I link mentions heritage from Esrange (and being in the same city), but the press releases about the Esrange ribbon-cutting all mention "Spaceport Esrange," not "Spaceport Sweden."Incorrect. Spaceport Sweden is a unofficial and potentially fake site. Swedish Space Corporation and the Swedish government whole own the new ESA launch site. Its website currently is https://sscspace.com/ though I keep getting spoofed and deceptive sire alerts today.
Quote from: russianhalo117 on 01/13/2023 03:34 pmQuote from: trimeta on 01/13/2023 02:21 pmQuick sanity check: Spaceport Sweden is the same thing as Esrange, right? That page I link mentions heritage from Esrange (and being in the same city), but the press releases about the Esrange ribbon-cutting all mention "Spaceport Esrange," not "Spaceport Sweden."Incorrect. Spaceport Sweden is a unofficial and potentially fake site. Swedish Space Corporation and the Swedish government whole own the new ESA launch site. Its website currently is https://sscspace.com/ though I keep getting spoofed and deceptive sire alerts today.Good to know. I got that link from this article about Andøya (which Eric Berger referenced in his recent Rocket Report), and I guess the author of that piece was fooled by the hoax.
Swedish and European officials inaugurated what they called mainland Europe’s first orbital launch site Jan. 13, but it’s unclear who will launch from the facility and when.During a brief ceremony at the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden attended by the king and the prime minister of Sweden as well as the president of the European Commission, the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) declared a new orbital launch facility at the site, which has long hosted sounding rocket launches, is ready to accommodate customers.
The Norwegian foreign ministry has expressed irritation with Sweden for not immediately informing it of a research rocket that crashed in Norway, in a rare spat between the two neighbours.The rocket, which was launched early Monday from the Esrange Space Centre in Kiruna, northern Sweden, plunged into a mountainside in the Målselv municipality in Norway’s far north, about 10km (six miles) from the closest inhabited area.No one was injured and no material damage was reported.“The crash of a rocket like this is a very serious incident that can cause serious damage,” the foreign ministry in Oslo said.
Four rocket launches are planned at Esrange. All rockets are predicted to impact in Zone B.
The launch of MAIUS-2 also was the first from the newly renovated Skylark launcher, since the launcher was damaged in the unfortunate fire back in 2021. “One could say this is the return of a legend – the Skylark Tower is indeed one of the most iconic parts of the Esrange skyline. I am pleased that the first launch from it was a successful one, and I am looking forward to many more in 2024,” says Lennart Poromaa, President Science Services and Head of Esrange Space Center.
