Exciting year at Esrange Space Center 2009
Press release from Swedish Space Corporation Press images
Space activities at Esrange Space Center 2009
The year of 2009 will be completely loaded with interesting space missions at Esrange Space Center - Swedish Space Corporations (SSC) operational facility for rocket and balloon launches, testing of new aerospace vehicles as well as control and operations of satellites.
Nine new satellite service missions SSC will support nine new satellite missions from its satellite station at Esrange Space Center during 2009. Most satellites have a scientific objective and they are owned by customers from all over the world. SSC provides satellites services such as ground control, routine support and reception of scientific data or satellite images.
Prisma, Swedens next satellite project is planned to be launched in the second half of 2009 and will have its ground station placed at Esrange Space Center. Prisma is developed and built by SSC on behalf of the Swedish National Space Board and has the objective to develop and qualify new technology necessary for future science missions in space.
Satellite services at SSC have been growing steadily since the first satellite operation contract in 1979. During 2009 four new antennas will be installed at Esrange to secure the accessibility to our ground communication systems. In total there will be 20 antennas for satellite missions up and running at Esrange in the end of this year.
SSC also offers reliable solutions for satellite operations world wide. Besides operating the busiest ground station in the world at Esrange Space Center, SSC also give their customers access to a global network of ground stations in strategic locations around the world, PrioraNet. For the moment Esrange Space Center is involved in more than thirty different satellite operations and you can read more about them here: satellite control and ground station services.
25-30 balloons missions From February to September this year 25-30 balloons will be launched throughout five international balloon campaigns.
The balloon campaigns are carried out on behalf of scientists and students from universities and institutes in Europe and America. Most of the flights have the aim to conduct scientific measurements in the atmosphere such as studies of ozone loss and trace gases. Some balloons are giant (1,2 million m3) and carry heavy instruments with the objective to study solar physics or to observe cosmic ray particles. Several technical flights will also be performed in order to develop the balloon flight technique itself.
The SSC launch team is one of the worlds leading actors in balloon launches. The activities mentioned above are carried out by ourselves or in collaboration with launch teams from the American balloon team at CSBF working for NASA or the French CNES balloon team.
Read more about the upcoming balloon campaigns at Esrange Space Center 2009.
Seven rocket missions First out are three student rocket campaigns planned for March. European university students will fly their own experiments designed and built within their universities.
Four microgravity rockets will be launched during 2009. The provided microgravity time differs between 4, 6 or 13 minutes depending on the rocket motor used. Three flights are planned for April and May and the fourth will take place in November.
The SSC launch team is one of the worlds leading actors in sounding rocket launches. The activities mentioned above are carried out by ourselves or in collaboration with launch teams from the German space agency DLR.
Read more about rocket campaigns at Esrange Space Center 2009.
For further information please contact: Mrs. Johanna Bergström-Roos, Information manager at Esrange Space Center, SSC Phone: +46 980-720 24 or +46 70-544 60 21 E-mail: johanna.bergstrom-roos@ssc.se
Mr. Lars Alm, Vice President, Region Kiruna, Satellite Operations Division SSC Phone: +46 980-720 68 or +46 70 655 20 68 E-mail: lars.alm@ssc.se
Dr. Olle Norberg, Senior Vice President, Marketing&Relations, SSC Phone: +46 980-720 24 or +46 70587 20 24 E-mail: olle.norberg@ssc.se