Norway has officially opened what it calls the “first operational spaceport in continental Europe.” Andoya Spaceport was inaugurated on 2 November by Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon. The new spaceport is located in Nordmela on the Norwegian Island of Andoya. Although the spaceport will eventually include several launch pads, just one has been completed to date. The pad has been secured for exclusive use by Germany’s Isar Aerospace, which plans to use the pad to launch the maiden flight of its two-stage Spectrum rocket. Fully constructed, the spaceport will host several launch pads. Isar Aerospace has exclusive access to the first launch site, which was built to Isar’s specifications, including a launch pad, payload integration facilities as well as a mission control center. This set-up guarantees greatest flexibility and planning security for Isar Aerospace and its clients in bringing small- and medium-sized satellites to space. The launch site will support the two-stage launch vehicle Spectrum, which is set to carry out final stage testing. Andøya Space has a long history in providing infrastructure for suborbital launches. Since 1962, around 1,200 launches of sounding rockets and long duration balloons have taken place at Andøya. With Isar Aerospace to perform Spectrum’s first test flight, Andøya Spaceport will become the first operational orbital spaceport in continental Europa. Given its location far north at a coastline, Andøya Spaceport can offer launches to highly retrograde orbit inclinations. These are favorable for sun synchronous as well as polar orbits which the market has a strong demand for as launch sites for these orbits are limited globally. Andøya Spaceport is a fully-owned subsidiary of Andøya Space. GTD has delivered recently the complete LCS (GTD's Launch Control System) to Andoya Space (ASX). This system is designed to oversee countdown sequencing, situational awareness, and flight safety. Congrats to Andoya Space and congrats to ISAR
