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Andøya Space
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Andøya Space
Andøya Space, also named Andøya Space Center and formerly Andøya Rocket Range, is a rocket launch site, rocket range, and spaceport on Andøya island (the northernmost in the Vesterålen archipelago) in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway.
Since 1962, over 1,200 sounding and sub-orbital rockets of various configurations have been launched from the site.
Andøya Space is a civilian, limited liability company with its ownership split between two groups: 90% by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, and 10% by Kongsberg Defence Systems company. It operates on a commercial basis. Andøya Space also supports the SvalRak launch facility in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard to the north. The facility has provided operations for both ESA, NASA, JAXA and DLR missions and related scientific research.
On August 18, 1962, the rocket that was to take Norway into the space age, Ferdinand 1, launched from Andøya Rocket Range. This happened only five years after the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1.
The Norwegian scientists named the rocket "Ferdinand" after the story of the peaceful bull that did not like to fight but would rather sit in the meadow smelling the flowers. The name was appropriate since the area of the Rocket Range was called Oksebåsen, "The Ox Pasture". This was during the Cold War, so the name should also indicate that Andøya Rocket Range only had peaceful intentions with its research.
Ferdinand-1 was a NIKE-Cajun two-stage rocket that carried two instruments in its payload. The purpose of the launch was to do measurements in the ionosphere, where charged particles from the Sun ionize the atoms. The process is most intense in the polar ionosphere, and is important not only for the Northern Lights, but also for long-range radio communication, because the free electrons reflect the radio waves. The goal was to explore the possibility of improving long-range radio communication.
The rocket was 7.7 m (25 ft) long, had a total weight of 698 kg (1,539 lb) and a maximum speed of 6,760 km/h (4,200 mph). It reached a height of 102 km (63 mi) into the atmosphere. Launching and collecting data after the first rocket was considered a success. Ferdinand 1 became the first of a number of successful rocket launches from Andøya.
In 1997, a second launch site—Svalbard Rocket Range—was established at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, enabling scientists to launch sounding rockets straight in the polar cusp, where the Earth's magnetic field lines converge.
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Andøya Space
Andøya Space, also named Andøya Space Center and formerly Andøya Rocket Range, is a rocket launch site, rocket range, and spaceport on Andøya island (the northernmost in the Vesterålen archipelago) in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway.
Since 1962, over 1,200 sounding and sub-orbital rockets of various configurations have been launched from the site.
Andøya Space is a civilian, limited liability company with its ownership split between two groups: 90% by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, and 10% by Kongsberg Defence Systems company. It operates on a commercial basis. Andøya Space also supports the SvalRak launch facility in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard to the north. The facility has provided operations for both ESA, NASA, JAXA and DLR missions and related scientific research.
On August 18, 1962, the rocket that was to take Norway into the space age, Ferdinand 1, launched from Andøya Rocket Range. This happened only five years after the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1.
The Norwegian scientists named the rocket "Ferdinand" after the story of the peaceful bull that did not like to fight but would rather sit in the meadow smelling the flowers. The name was appropriate since the area of the Rocket Range was called Oksebåsen, "The Ox Pasture". This was during the Cold War, so the name should also indicate that Andøya Rocket Range only had peaceful intentions with its research.
Ferdinand-1 was a NIKE-Cajun two-stage rocket that carried two instruments in its payload. The purpose of the launch was to do measurements in the ionosphere, where charged particles from the Sun ionize the atoms. The process is most intense in the polar ionosphere, and is important not only for the Northern Lights, but also for long-range radio communication, because the free electrons reflect the radio waves. The goal was to explore the possibility of improving long-range radio communication.
The rocket was 7.7 m (25 ft) long, had a total weight of 698 kg (1,539 lb) and a maximum speed of 6,760 km/h (4,200 mph). It reached a height of 102 km (63 mi) into the atmosphere. Launching and collecting data after the first rocket was considered a success. Ferdinand 1 became the first of a number of successful rocket launches from Andøya.
In 1997, a second launch site—Svalbard Rocket Range—was established at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, enabling scientists to launch sounding rockets straight in the polar cusp, where the Earth's magnetic field lines converge.
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