At the level of the European Commission, in a rapidly changing and increasingly challenging international context, the independence of the old continent has been discussed for many years. One of the areas considered strategic is technical: Europe must remain technologically independent in order to be economically competitive and to be able to enter foreign markets, writes the Space Alliance.

The space component is on the short list, but experts in the field have warned for years that the new space wave that has begun in the US is far from the same scale as in the EU.

To meet the New Space era with new services and a group of satellites, the EU must review the industrial chain: more rockets and more launch bases.

At the moment there are several small companies developing new missiles (obviously focused on the small class initially, but if they succeed we can expect to diversify their portfolio), from several EU states; the stages of development are different, but it is certain that none of them currently have a viable product.

The first launch center opened in Europe is located in Sweden

The official opening of the Esrange spaceport will take place on January 13 in the presence of the King of Sweden, the country’s prime minister and a delegation of high-ranking EU officials led by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Construction of the Orbital Launch Center, which will be managed by SSC (Swedish Space Corporation), began several years ago. Located in the north of the country, above the Arctic Circle, at 68 degrees latitude and 21 degrees east longitude, it is part of a larger complex with an area of ​​5,200 square kilometers.

There were antennas for downloading data from satellites and a small center from where suborbital rockets were launched. The entire complex underwent a modernization program (estimated cost 50 million euros), but only the expansion of the old suborbital infrastructure cost 12 million euros.

Last year there was an explosion during the works, but fortunately only material damage; only a few people required hospitalization. The construction was delayed a little, but the obstacles were overcome and it was completed today.

The two companies have already tested the engines at the new facilities, but the first test flight will not take place until the end of 2023. These are the two German startups I was referring to earlier: Isar Aerospace, which developed a two-stage rocket called the Spectrum, and Rocket Factory Augsburg, which is working on the One rocket.

Spectrum has a launch capacity of 1,000 kg to LEO and 700 kg to SSO, while One has 1,300 kg to SSO, 500 kg to MEO and 450 kg to GTO.

We must also remember that also from the Esrange spaceport, the Arianespace group will conduct tests for the development of a reusable rocket as part of the Themis project, which is carried out jointly with the European Space Agency ESA, according to the Space Alliance.