Proposed North Sea offshore launch platform gets ESA okay
Launch platforms proposed for North Sea
The proposed North Sea offshore launch platform of the startup Eurospaceport has now signed an agreement with the European Space Agency to support a test launch of a suborbital test rocket by Polish rocket startup SpaceForest.
The map to the right shows approximately where Eurospaceport’s launch platform will be located for this launch. The map also shows the locations of the two proposed spaceports in the United Kingdom, as well as a second German-based launch platform, Offshore Spaceport Alliance, based out of Bremen.
The SpaceForest launch is targeting a 2026 launch, with the ESA contract covering some of the expenses. As it will be suborbital, the rocket will likely not cross over any nearby habitable land.
The Offshore Spaceport was first proposed in 2020, and has received financial support from the German government, and announced earlier this year that it would be ready to host launches by September 2025. As of yet no launches have been scheduled.
Both of these launch platforms will need to travel farther to the west in the North Sea to provide any orbital rockets a path north that will not fly over other nations. Even so, launches for both will likely be limited to polar orbits, making their value less appealing to rocket companies.
At the same time, their proximity to Europe and the ability of the launch platforms to dock in Europe gives them other advantages that will be of interest to the German rocket startups.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Launch platforms proposed for North Sea
The proposed North Sea offshore launch platform of the startup Eurospaceport has now signed an agreement with the European Space Agency to support a test launch of a suborbital test rocket by Polish rocket startup SpaceForest.
The map to the right shows approximately where Eurospaceport’s launch platform will be located for this launch. The map also shows the locations of the two proposed spaceports in the United Kingdom, as well as a second German-based launch platform, Offshore Spaceport Alliance, based out of Bremen.
The SpaceForest launch is targeting a 2026 launch, with the ESA contract covering some of the expenses. As it will be suborbital, the rocket will likely not cross over any nearby habitable land.
The Offshore Spaceport was first proposed in 2020, and has received financial support from the German government, and announced earlier this year that it would be ready to host launches by September 2025. As of yet no launches have been scheduled.
Both of these launch platforms will need to travel farther to the west in the North Sea to provide any orbital rockets a path north that will not fly over other nations. Even so, launches for both will likely be limited to polar orbits, making their value less appealing to rocket companies.
At the same time, their proximity to Europe and the ability of the launch platforms to dock in Europe gives them other advantages that will be of interest to the German rocket startups.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
There are lots of end-of-life rigs.
I’d like to see a row of them for other uses…sea-base, bridge pylons for the Bering or Drake Straits, etc.