Norway questions Sweden’s plan to launch orbital rockets from Esrange spaceport
Proposed spaceports surrounding Norwegian Sea
In the capitalist competition between Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom to establish Europe’s prime launch site, Norway’s government has now issued a long study questioning Sweden’s plan to launch orbital rockets from its Esrange spaceport, since polar launches heading north from there will have to cross Norway.
You can read the report here [pdf]. For Esrange to conduct orbital launches it will need the permission of Norway for each launch, and it appears Norway is not satisfied with Sweden’s assessments that say launches can occur safely. The report concludes:
Norway recommends that the relevant Norwegian authorities conduct an assessment of the risks a launch will pose to the people in Norway and Norwegian interests, and determine whether this risk is acceptable, taking into account the interests and safety of the Norwegian people and the severity of the risk.
…Due to the significant economic costs associated with the impact on oil and gas production in
the Barents Sea, CAA Norway recommends that no launches be permitted in areas where there
is any risk to Norwegian oil and gas installations.
The release of this report illustrates Norway’s geographic advantages. The German rocket startup Isar is gearing up to do its first launch from Norway’s new spaceport, Andoya, possibly before the end of this month. It will have a clear path to space. Meanwhile, the American rocket startup Firefly, which wants to launch from Esrange, faces serious regulatory hurdles from neighboring countries, like Norway, because any rocket must fly over their territories.
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Proposed spaceports surrounding Norwegian Sea
In the capitalist competition between Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom to establish Europe’s prime launch site, Norway’s government has now issued a long study questioning Sweden’s plan to launch orbital rockets from its Esrange spaceport, since polar launches heading north from there will have to cross Norway.
You can read the report here [pdf]. For Esrange to conduct orbital launches it will need the permission of Norway for each launch, and it appears Norway is not satisfied with Sweden’s assessments that say launches can occur safely. The report concludes:
Norway recommends that the relevant Norwegian authorities conduct an assessment of the risks a launch will pose to the people in Norway and Norwegian interests, and determine whether this risk is acceptable, taking into account the interests and safety of the Norwegian people and the severity of the risk.
…Due to the significant economic costs associated with the impact on oil and gas production in
the Barents Sea, CAA Norway recommends that no launches be permitted in areas where there
is any risk to Norwegian oil and gas installations.
The release of this report illustrates Norway’s geographic advantages. The German rocket startup Isar is gearing up to do its first launch from Norway’s new spaceport, Andoya, possibly before the end of this month. It will have a clear path to space. Meanwhile, the American rocket startup Firefly, which wants to launch from Esrange, faces serious regulatory hurdles from neighboring countries, like Norway, because any rocket must fly over their territories.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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
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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.
The Norwegians have a legitimate concern given that about 20% of their oil and gas production areas are in the Barents Sea and roughly 3/4 of this appears to fall along likely azimuths for polar and sun synchronous orbital launches from Esrange.
But Esrange has been used for years as a launch site for suborbital rockets of various kinds. If the Norwegians have, in the past, allowed territorial overflight by these, then the validity of their current complaint diminishes greatly. But if Esrange has been supporting the same sort of straight-up-and-down suborbital trajectories as, say, New Shepard flies in West Texas, then the Norwegian case would be far stronger. In that case, Firefly may find it has backed the wrong horse.
Underlying thought.
Launching “rockets” into space has long been a statement of nuclear weapons delivery capability. That was the main reason why the The Soviet Union’s launch of SPUTNIK was so terrifying. Even in ’62 as a seven yr old, when I first understood what my parents were talking about this during the Cuban Missile Crisis SPUTNIK was still referred to with considerable fear.
NATO does not DO nuclear Weapons. However the Sovereign Nation of Sweden can make a statement to the effect, “SO you have ICBMS? We can build them and launch them too..”
That could easily be an under current here. IF that is the case, (and that is a mighty big IF brother), then polar launches are not all that to worry about. Russia is EAST of Esrange.
Andrew M Winter: The fear of ICBM attack following Sputnik in the 1950s is correct. It doesn’t apply at all to the new spaceports in Norway, Sweden, or the UK. These are being built for private companies to rent and use, not for these nations to launch their own rockets or missiles.
Neither Norway nor Sweden is building rockets. Their spaceports thus pose no threat from them.