The very new contract is for developing and delivering to Esrange Space Center the main range and launch safety control & command systems. SCC owns and operates the Swedish space base Esrange Space Center. Located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, near Kiruna, and surrounded by a vast wilderness, its geographic location is ideal for a launch site. Esrange space port is located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle and is operational since 1966. Since then, it has been used by the international scientific community for launching sounding rockets for microgravity and atmospheric research as well as high altitude balloons for astronomy, atmospheric research and drop tests of space and aerial vehicles. To meet the increasing need for launch opportunities for small satellites, CubeSats in particular, SSC has initiated SmallSat Express, a European launch capability for small satellites from its launching facility Esrange Space Center. SmallSat Express is part of a bigger project with the aim to manifest Esrange as a center of excellence providing a multitude of services, including small satellite launch services, to the scientific community as well as commercial customers. The new testbed at Esrange provides a platform for European and global space sector to develop next generation rocket technologies. This will now be supplemented with additional infrastructure needed for launching small satellites from Esrange. The first rockets tests will be conducted by ISAR and RFA later this autumn, both already established at the site. The European Space Agency’s reusability programme Themis plans to conduct its first reusability test flights in 2022 from Esrange, in a collaboration between SSC and ArianeGroup teams supported by ArianeWorks (an innovation unit formed up by the French Space Agency CNES and ArianeGroup). SSC’s ambition is to launch the first satellites in 2022.
