Tag: Portugal

Proposed commercial spaceport in Azores launches two suborbital demonstration rockets

8:38 am

Santa Maria spaceport

A spaceport startup, the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC), has successfully launched two small suborbital demonstration rockets from the island of Santa Maria in the Azores of Portugal, where it hopes to eventually establish a spaceport.

The first of the two flights was launched from a mobile platform at 13:04 UTC on 27 September. The rocket reached an altitude of 5,596 metres. The second was launched at 11:49 UTC on 28 September 2024. According to the company, the second launch ‘was not perfect,’ but it did not provide any further details on what occurred during the flight.

The rocket was developed and built by ASC, and was intended to demonstrate its own rocket capabilities as well as provide information to the Portuguese government for establishing its own regulatory guidelines, as per an agreement signed in August.

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Portugal’s air traffic agency signs deal with company wishing to build spaceport in Azores

9:14 am

Santa Maria spaceport

Portugal’s air traffic agency, Portugal NAV, today signed an agreement with the spaceport company Atlantic Spaceport Consortium, to work out the details of placing a commercial spaceport on the island of Santa Maria in the Azores.

Under the cooperation agreement, the pair aim to define the guidelines that a future spaceport will need to adhere to when launching from Santa Maria. This includes defining exclusion zones, examining how to monitor and authorize launch activities, and studying under what conditions to impose partial or total launch restrictions for safety reasons.

The map to the right shows the location of the island, relative to Europe and Africa. No timeliine for construction has been given, though the consortium hopes to launch “a small atmospheric rocket” in September. It has also signed a deal in 2022 (just before Russia’s invasion) with a Ukrainian rocket startup.

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Ukrainian rocket company signs deal with Portuguese spaceport organization

10:43 am

Capitalism in space: Ukrainian startup rocket company Promin Aerospace has signed an agreement with the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC), a Portugal organization that is aimed at building launch facilities on Portuguese-controlled islands in the Atlantic.

Promin has raised $500K for what it claims will be “the smallest solid rocket capable of launching a payload into orbit.” ASC meanwhile is presently building a suborbital launch site in the Azores.

How much of this is real is entirely unknown. The reality of both appear to me to be somewhat nebulous. Nonetheless, if successful the partnership will put another new cheap orbital rocket as well as another spaceport on the map.

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World’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge to open in ’21

9:52 am

A new tourist attraction, the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge, is set to open in Portugal next year.

At this length, the new bridge will be considered the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world, beating out the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge in Switzerland, which spans 1,621 feet and opened in 2017, according to The Sun. But it isn’t just long, it’s also situated 575 feet above the ground, connecting the Aguieiras Waterfall and Paiva Gorge.

I have embedded below the fold a video showing the bridge under construction. As the article notes, if you are afraid of heights this is not the tourist attraction for you.
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