HELSINKI — Norway inaugurated its northern Andøya spaceport Thursday as business launch competition on continental Europe heats up.
Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, inaugurated the spaceport at a ceremony Nov. 2. The spaceport is situated at Nordmela on the Norwegian island of Andøya contained in the Arctic Circle and is in the ultimate stages towards operating capability, in response to a Nov. 2 press statement.
Andoya Space says the spaceport will turn into the primary operational orbital spaceport in Europe.
The event comes as Europe faces a bottleneck in launch capabilities, with delays to the Ariane 6 and grounding of the Vega C, and a necessity for strategic autonomy.
The fully constructed spaceport is planned to host several launch pads. German rocket developer Isar Aerospace has exclusive access to the primary launch site, which has been built to Isar’s specifications. This infrastructure features a launch pad, payload integration facilities and a mission control center.
The launch site will support Isar’s two-stage Spectrum launch vehicle, designed to deliver as much as 700 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) and as much as 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit.
The corporate says it is ready to perform final stage testing of Spectrum. It recently conducted integrated hotfire tests of its Aquila engines for 260 seconds.
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“Today, Norway, the Andøya region and Isar Aerospace take a giant step towards space,” Daniel Metzler, chief executive and co-founder of Isar Aerospace, said. “During the last five years, now we have built a rocket that can help to resolve essentially the most crucial bottleneck within the European space industry – sovereign and competitive access to space.”
“Along with Andøya Spaceport, our team has created a superb piece of engineering, the primary orbital launch site in continental Europe which is able to bring this access to space to Norway, and back to Europe.
“The opening of the spaceport on Andøya island marks a vital milestone for Norway, [the] European Latest Space industry and our partnership with Isar Aerospace,” Ingun Berget, President of Andøya Spaceport said.
“This permits us to have the primary satellite launches ever from European soil to happen from Andøya.”
When that launch will happen is just not clear. Isar noted its recent progress but didn’t provide a timeline for testing and a primary test flight. Earlier agreements suggest a launch from Andøya in 2025.
Elsewhere in Europe, Sweden inaugurated its Spaceport Esrange earlier this 12 months. Again, royalty carried out the ribbon cutting. Esrange already hosts suborbital launches and engine testing facilities for Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA). SaxaVord and Sutherland spaceports in Scotland, UK, are also seeking to attract launch partners.
Matija Renčelj, research manager on the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), told that emerging European spaceports will need to search out their area of interest, and this may occasionally mean extending beyond business launch.
“While Andoya, Kiruna and other spaceports in continental Europe is usually a major stepping stone in the general transformation of the European launch landscape, the success of those spaceports within the long-term will rely upon several features,” Renčelj said.
These include availability of launchers, their reliability and demand for his or her services, in addition to the extent of intra-European competition that will be sustained in the long term.
“Taking a look at broader European developments, Kourou spaceport appears to be opening up to recent initiatives, UK and Sweden have progressed up to now period, and initiatives in other European countries are stepping up.”
“Given the rise of multiple spaceport initiatives, individual European spaceports will need to search out a distinct segment to justify operational expenditures, which could also be slightly of a strategic nature, than purely business, to sustain their viability within the long-term.”
Isar’s fellow German launch competitor RFA can also be working towards its first launch. That can happen from SaxaVord Spaceport, situated on the UK’s Shetland Islands, lying between Scotland and Norway. The UK Space Agency recently provided funding to assist prepare for that flight, which is scheduled for 2024.
RFA was earlier planning to launch the three-stage, 30-meter-tall RFA One rocket within the last quarter of this 12 months. Scotland-based launch startup Skyrora can also be planning to launch from SaxaVord. RFA also has an agreement with Andøya to secure launch capability. The UK’s Orbex and Germany’s HyImpulse are also developing orbital launchers.
Meanwhile construction of Sutherland spaceport on the Scottish mainland is underway. Spaceport Cornwall in southwestern England hosted an orbital launch attempt in January this 12 months, however the Virgin Orbit launch failed. Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy months later.
Europe’s institutional and other launches happen from Kourou, French Guiana, on South America’s Atlantic coast.