Norway approves spaceport license for Andoya
Proposed spaceports surrounding Norwegian Sea
The Norwegian government announced yesterday that the Andoya spaceport that has been used for decades for suborbital test launches, has been given a spaceport license to conduct orbital launches from the site.
According to a statement from the Norwegian ministry, the license allows the spaceport to conduct up to 30 launches a year, including four during overnight hours. Those launches, to be overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway, can take place on azimuths between 280 and 360 degrees, supporting missions primarily to polar and sun-synchronous orbits.
The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace already has a 20-year lease to conduct orbital launches from Andoya, and hopes to do the first orbital test launch of its Spectrum rocket there. According to the Norway government, the first launch is planned for this year, but that likely will only be a suborbital test, not a full orbital launch. Of the three rocket startups from Germany, Isar is the only one that has not yet done any engine tests (as far as we know) or suborbital test launches of its rocket engine or design. Hyimpulse has done a suborbital test launch from an Australian spaceport, and Rocket Factory Augsburg have done numerous tests both in Germany and at the Saxaford spaceport. This license to Andoya will likely signal the start of those public tests by Isar.
A fourth European rocket startup, PLD from Spain, is presently prepping its own launchpad in French Guiana, and hopes to conduct its own first orbital test launch next year.
Until this week it appeared that Rocket Factory was in the lead to be the first European rocket startup to attempt an orbital launch. That changed when the rocket’s first stage was destroyed during a static fire launchpad engine test earlier this week. Right now it is not clear who is in the lead.
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Proposed spaceports surrounding Norwegian Sea
The Norwegian government announced yesterday that the Andoya spaceport that has been used for decades for suborbital test launches, has been given a spaceport license to conduct orbital launches from the site.
According to a statement from the Norwegian ministry, the license allows the spaceport to conduct up to 30 launches a year, including four during overnight hours. Those launches, to be overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway, can take place on azimuths between 280 and 360 degrees, supporting missions primarily to polar and sun-synchronous orbits.
The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace already has a 20-year lease to conduct orbital launches from Andoya, and hopes to do the first orbital test launch of its Spectrum rocket there. According to the Norway government, the first launch is planned for this year, but that likely will only be a suborbital test, not a full orbital launch. Of the three rocket startups from Germany, Isar is the only one that has not yet done any engine tests (as far as we know) or suborbital test launches of its rocket engine or design. Hyimpulse has done a suborbital test launch from an Australian spaceport, and Rocket Factory Augsburg have done numerous tests both in Germany and at the Saxaford spaceport. This license to Andoya will likely signal the start of those public tests by Isar.
A fourth European rocket startup, PLD from Spain, is presently prepping its own launchpad in French Guiana, and hopes to conduct its own first orbital test launch next year.
Until this week it appeared that Rocket Factory was in the lead to be the first European rocket startup to attempt an orbital launch. That changed when the rocket’s first stage was destroyed during a static fire launchpad engine test earlier this week. Right now it is not clear who is in the lead.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Why on Earth (yes, deliberate) would they locate a spaceport there? I just looked on Gurgle Map and you can drop the little goombah down onto the road that goes past the site. It’s basically a one-lane road that doesn’t go anywhere except other spots on a desolate island.
As far as I can tell there’s no (sea)port anywhere near the proposed spaceport location, and you surely cannot transport much on that pitiful excuse for a road. How are they going to get the massive amount of equipment and personnel there? Where will they live? How are they going to be supplied with ordinary stuff (food, water) much less the highly technical equipment needed?
Is there some advantage in launching spacecraft into polar orbits from a high-latititude location? I understand the advantage of launching into a somewhat equatorial orbit from a low-latitude location like Southern California, Florida, or (even better) French Guiana, but this place I just don’t understand.
This strikes me as a bizarre location.
Blackwing1 asked: “Why on Earth (yes, deliberate) would they locate a spaceport there? I just looked on Gurgle Map and you can drop the little goombah down onto the road that goes past the site. It’s basically a one-lane road that doesn’t go anywhere except other spots on a desolate island.
As far as I can tell there’s no (sea)port anywhere near the proposed spaceport location, and you surely cannot transport much on that pitiful excuse for a road. How are they going to get the massive amount of equipment and personnel there? Where will they live? How are they going to be supplied with ordinary stuff (food, water) much less the highly technical equipment needed?
Is there some advantage in launching spacecraft into polar orbits from a high-latititude location? I understand the advantage of launching into a somewhat equatorial orbit from a low-latitude location like Southern California, Florida, or (even better) French Guiana, but this place I just don’t understand.”
A spaceport in the middle of nowhere is better than one in Camden County, Georgia, USA. The locals vetoed that one.
The optimum launch latitude is the same as the orbital inclination that the satellite will have, so that the rocket only has to launch to the east. Many people think that the equator is optimal for all orbits, but it is only optimal for equatorial launches. As the rocket has to go northward for a higher inclination, it uses more propellant than the “throw” of the Earth’s equator saves. It isn’t a terrible loss of efficiency, so if I can only build one launch site, equatorial would be my choice, but keep in mind that as the inclination increases then at some point the rocket has to thrust westward in order to cancel that “throw.” For a 90° polar orbit, 1500 miles per hour have to be cancelled. For a sun-synchronous orbit, even more westward thrust is needed, because they have inclinations greater than 90°, making them considered retrograde orbits.
For a sun-synchronous orbit, a fairly high latitude is desirable, and sun-synchronous orbits have become very popular with small satellites. This way, only a few hundred miles per hour of westward thrust is necessary. At high latitudes, a small rocket can put more mass into sun-synchronous orbits. This is an advantage in launching spacecraft from a high latitude site.