this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
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German company set for first commercial rocket launch from Europe (www.newscientist.com)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Preparations are under way for a rocket test flight in Norway that could make history and give Europe greater independence from the market leader in orbital launches, the United States.

Isar Aerospace says it is planning to launch on 24 March between 12.30pm and 3.30pm CET, weather permitting.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes, but the news is that they are now launching from the European continent, making everything much cheaper because you don't have to transport rockets and payloads around the world.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

@tristipasta I thought it was more effective to launch the rockets from as close to the Equator as possible, as the gravitational field is less strong and so you need less fuel to take off.

That's why US also launches rockets from Florida and the USSR and later Russia used/uses the Baikonur facility in Kazahstan.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

True, but the primary advantage comes from the Earth's rotational speed rather than a significantly weaker gravitational field. The Earth's rotation provides an additional velocity boost to rockets, which helps reduce the fuel needed to reach orbit.

However, your remark is valid and is also addressed in the article (in the part behind the paywall):

Rockets launching close to the equator get a boost. Thanks to the planet's spin, they start out travelling much faster relative to the centre of Earth than rockets launching near the poles.

Andøya Space Center is located at 69° north, so Earth's rotational speed is considerably weaker there than in French Guiana. But this isn't important for high-inclination orbits: those that make a bigger angle with the equator.

Isar Aerospace says it will be able to put 1500-kilogram payloads into orbit up to 30 times a year, in orbital inclinations from 90° to 110.6º. This would include sun-synchronous orbits - those that always pass over a given point at the same local time - which are ideal for spy and weather satellites. Isar already has a contract to put Arctic Ocean surveillance satellites into just such an orbit for the Norwegian Space Agency.

The launch site is also reasonably free of air and marine traffic, and it benefits from all the infrastructure needed for small launch vehicles. "It will be more limited in terms of what you can achieve, but it's still, I think, reasonable," says Amato.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

@[email protected] wrote:

True, but the primary advantage comes from the Earth's rotational speed rather than a significantly weaker gravitational field. The Earth's rotation provides an additional velocity boost to rockets, which helps reduce the fuel needed to reach orbit.

Right, that was it!

So this means that they will only do launches during a specific time of the year?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You can launch to sun-synchronous orbits at all parts of the year. The satellite will orbit around once per 24 hours and so return to the same place at the same time everyday. So you just have to match when you launch with the time of day.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I got it now. Thanks!