The History of Sounding Rockets and Their Contribution to ... - ESA

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In the end, Kiruna was chosen to establish Esrange. However, ESRO itself, its Member States and the USA
still used Andøya whenever there was a scientifi c/technical advantage for a specifi c sounding-rocket mission
to do so. Germany’s national space programme, for example, has used Andøya more than 60 times.
Esrange was inaugurated in 1966 and its ownership was transferred to the Swedish authorities in July
1972.
While at that point in time coordinated European sounding-rocket activities continued under the Esrange
Special Project, Norway was not yet able to join the ESP as a Member State, but Andøya was included
in the Project under a separate special Swedish/Norwegian add-on agreement as its second launch base.
Norway has participated to date in all meetings of the ESP Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) and has
contributed to ESP funding.
Norway considered the choice of Kiruna as a setback, but was to a certain extent compensated by ESA,
which installed satellite receiving stations for its space-science programme at Spitzbergen and Tromsö,
operated by Norwegian personnel.
84 sounding-rocket launches that took place during the fi rst fi ve-year period of the ESP Agreement (1972-
1977), 49 of which were launched from Andøya and 35 from Esrange/Kiruna. The Andøya base was initially
better suited (safer due to the larger impact area) for the new heavy-lift rocket types like Aries, which was
able to launch 500 kg payloads to altitudes of over 500 km, and Skylark 12, which launched 100 kg payloads
to 900 km altitudes. Later, the Swedish Space Corporation, in cooperation with the rocket builders,
developed special guidance systems for these large rockets, so that launches from Kiruna with land recovery
became possible.
4.3.9 Early Spanish sounding-rocket activities
In Spain, the government entrusted the coordination and fi nancing of space research to the Comision Nacional
de Investigacion del Espacio (CONIE). INTA is its technical centre for the support and execution of
space projects. It operates the El Arenosillo sounding-rocket launch range southeast of Huelva, from where
rockets are fi red over the Atlantic.
Spanish sounding-rocket activities started in 1966. By early 1969, 61 launches with Spanish participation
had already taken place, mainly for conducting meteorological measurements:
- 5 national launches using Skua 1 rockets for temperature and wind measurements in the stratosphere at
altitudes ranging between 50 and 68 km
- 39 cooperative INTA-NASA launches with 30 Judi and 4 Nike-Cajun rockets to perform stratospheric
wind measurements using radar tracking, interferometers and acoustic Doppler measurements, with the
latter made possible by Nike-Cajun rocket grenade explosions
- 17 cooperative INTA-German (Max Planck Institute) launches of Skua II rockets for wind measurements
in the ionosphere at altitudes of between 70 and 100 km.
The INTA/NASA joint meteorological sounding-rocket programme was reinforced in 1977 when 60 Super
Lokis were launched from El Arenosillo.
By mid-1969, Spain had developed its own sounding rocket, the INTA 100 and the INTA 300, the fi rst of
which was able to carry a payload of 18 kg to 150 km altitude.