We are pleased to announce that the Swedish Government has assigned the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), in cooperation with SSC, to investigate the business opportunities for launching small satellites from Esrange Space Center in the future.

The Government states that space operations is an essential part of the community infrastructure. The society is dependent on space technology such as navigation, logistics, exact time, weather forecasts and telecommunications. On the satellite side, there is today an increased activity in the small satellite segment, where both established and new players develop or plan small and cost-effective units for research as well as commercial applications.

At SSC we are very pleased with this decision. Our initial calculations, together with a series of investigations and studies, have shown positive results. The decision today gives us the opportunity to go ahead and look at how Esrange’s satellite launch business can be conducted. Therefore we hope for a decision on necessary investments next year.

At Esrange SSC has launched sounding rockets for research purposes for more than 50 years. If the center can be used for launching satellites into orbit it is of great value for the environment, climate, security, science, industrial knowledge and regional development.

Press release at Government website (in Swedish)