News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on UK spaceport proposed for Sutherland site. Parent comment

Re:UK spaceport proposed for Sutherland site by JdeBP on Tuesday July 17, 2018 @05:54AM (#17548517)
It makes me wonder whether there is any place further north than Sutherland where the ESA could set up (or has already set up).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:UK spaceport proposed for Sutherland site by fbender on Tuesday July 17, 2018 @09:12AM (#17549460)
I don‘t know why nobody is mentioning it, but Esrange[1] in Kiruna is an active European launch site, arguably far more North than Sutherland. Even though launcher activities seem to be limited to sounding/sub-orbital rockets at the moment, I don‘t see a reason why they should be restricted to it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esrange

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:UK spaceport proposed for Sutherland site by kwhitefoot on Tuesday July 17, 2018 @07:25AM (#17548853)
Why not Svalbard.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:UK spaceport proposed for Sutherland site by isostatic on Tuesday July 17, 2018 @08:50AM (#17549295)
Svalbard is a bit tricky - while it is part of Norway (which itself is part of the ESA), it has military restrictions, and other countries can operate commercially from there.

There is a (suborbital) rocket launch facility there to study aurora etc, but it's limited to 4 launches per year.

Greenland could be a good site -- I believe they are still a member of ESA through Denmark, so Qaanaaq would be a great place for polar launches, weather and access permitting.

[ Parent | on HN ]