Esrange

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The BLAST payload and high altitude balloon shortly before launch.

Skylark rocket launch at Esrange on May 2, 2005.

Esrange is a rocket range and research centre located outside the town of Kiruna in northern Sweden. It is a base for scientific research with high altitude balloons, investigation of the aurora borealis, sounding rocket launches, and satellite tracking, among other things. Located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle and surrounded by a vast wilderness, its geographic location is ideal for many of these purposes. Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic has looked into the option of using this site for launching space tourism, starting in 2011. The local hotel Aurora has been used by tourists since December 2007 [1], who want to spend time at the only rocket base allowing tourists to sleep in the hotels, which are normally meant for scientists and engineers.

Esrange was built in 1964 by ESRO, the European Space Research Organisation, which later became the European Space Agency. In 1972, ownership was transferred to the newly started Swedish Space Corporation.

In 2007, it has been proposed that Spaceport Sweden be colocated with Esrange at Kiruna.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Rocket activities

There had been Swedish rocket activities previously, mainly at Kronogård (18 launches in the period 1961-1964). However, the rocket activity in Sweden did not gain thrust until after ESRO established Esrange in 1964.

During the period 1966-1972 ESRO launched more than 150 rockets from Esrange. Most of these were Centaure, Nike Apache, and Skua rockets reaching 100-220 km altitude. They supported many branches of European research, but the emphasis was on atmospheric and ionospheric research.

In 1972 the management of Esrange was transferred to the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC). Gradually the smaller rockets were complemented by larger rockets reaching higher altitudes, achieving weightlessness for a few minutes when the rocket is above the parts of the atmosphere giving an appreciable friction. Three main programmes, Texus, Maser, and Maxus currently dominate the rocket activities at Esrange and support microgravity research for ESA and DLR:

More than 400 rockets have been launched from Esrange since 1966. For information on individual rockets, see the Esrange rocket launch list.

Esrange has four launch pads:

• Aries launcher
• Centaure launcher
• MRL Launcher (used for the Black Brant)
• Skylark launch tower (used for the Maxus and Skylark)

[edit] Balloon activities

Since 1974, more than 500 high-altitude balloons have been launched from Esrange for research purposes. The launch pad can handle balloons with volumes exceeding 1 million cubic meters.

[edit] Satellite services

The arctic latitude of Esrange makes it very suitable for communication with satellites in polar orbits. Satellite services began in 1978.

[edit] Satellite control services

A number of telecommunication satellites have been controlled through Esrange:

• Tele-X (1989-1998)
• Sirius-1 (1995-2003)
• Sirius-2 (1997-2009)
• Sirius-3 (1998-)
• Sirius-4 (2008-)

All the research satellites of the Swedish space programme have received control commands through Esrange:

• Viking (1986-1987)
• Freja (1992-1996)
• Astrid-1 (1995)
• Astrid-2 (1998-1999)
• Odin (2001-)

[edit] Ground station services

Data have been received at Esrange from more than 50 satellites, including SPOT 1-5, Landsat 2-7, ERS 1-2 and Envisat.

[edit] See also

• Esrange rocket launch list
• Swedish Space Corporation
• Swedish National Space Board
• Swedish Institute of Space Physics
• North European Aerospace Test range
• List of rocket launch sites
• Spaceport Sweden

[edit] External links

• Esrange - Official site
• Listings of stratospheric balloons launched from there

[edit] Sources

• The History of Sounding Rockets and Their Contribution to European Space Research, Günther Seibert, ESA HSR-38, November 2006, ISBN 92-9092-550-7.
• [2] - Official web site of the Swedish Space Corporation

Coordinates: 67°53′38″N 21°06′25″E / 67.89389°N 21.10694°E / 67.89389; 21.10694