Swedish forest has key role as Europe shoots for stars

Deep in the Swedish forest, where reindeer roam and scientists ski in winter, lies one of Europe's hopes for a spaceport that can ultimately compete with the United States, China and Russia.

- By STEFANIE Dazio AND MALIN HAARALA

MUCH of the Swedish Esrange Space Center's appeal lies in its location and size.

For decades, Europe has relied upon the U.S. for its security among the stars. But the Trump administration’s “America first” policies, plus a commercial market that’s growing exponentially, has prompted Europeans to rethink their approach.

The state-owned Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden, is among the sites building out orbital rocket programs to allow Europe to advance in the global space race and launch satellites from the continent’s mainland.

“The gap is significant,” said Hermann Ludwig Moeller, director of the European Space Policy Institute. “I would argue that Europe, to be anywhere relevant in the next five to 10 years, needs to at least double its investment in space. And saying that it would double doesn’t mean that it would catch up by the same factor, because you can expect that other regions will also continue to step up.”

European spaceport near the equator

Currently, Europe’s only space base capable of launching rockets and satellites into orbit is in sparsely populated French Guiana, an overseas department of France in South America that’s roughly 310 miles north of the equator. Otherwise, Europe borrows NASA's Cape Canaveral in Florida.

In March, Isar Aerospace launched the first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle from the Andoya Spaceport, another site that’s part of Europe's efforts to expand its presence in space, on an island in northern Norway.

Although the rocket crashed into the sea 30 seconds after liftoff, the private German aerospace company had largely ruled out the possibility of the rocket reaching orbit on its first complete flight and deemed the short journey a success.

Moeller believes a successful orbital launch from continental Europe could occur within the next year, though he won't guess where.