18.07.2025

Credit: EuroSpaceport

EuroSpaceport has secured European Space Agency support for its North Sea launch site. The announcement also revealed that Poland’s SpaceForest has signed on to launch its suborbital Perun rocket from the facility in the second half of 2026.

Founded in 2020, EuroSpaceport is developing Spaceport North Sea, a sea-based launch platform built on a repurposed offshore wind turbine service vessel. Integration activities will take place in the Esbjerg harbour before the rocket is loaded onto the floating launch platform, which will then move to its launch position 50 to 100 kilometres offshore. There, the vessel will deploy specialised legs to anchor itself to the seafloor in preparation for launch activities.

On 16 July, EuroSpaceport announced that it had signed an agreement with the European Space Agency and Polish rocket builder SpaceForest to support the first launch from its Spaceport North Sea platform. According to the announcement, the company will receive support from the agency through its Boost! Programme.

Adopted by Member States in 2019, ESA’s Boost! programme aims to foster the development of new commercial space transportation services. SpaceForest has been a recipient of Boost! funding, receiving €2.4 million in October 2024.

In a 16 July press release, SpaceForest stated that the mission will be used to verify the launch procedures of its Perun rocket under nominal suborbital conditions, paving the way for the vehicle’s certification and commercialisation. The flight will carry a 50-kilogram payload of scientific and technological experiments developed by universities, research institutes, and commercial partners.

SpaceForest launched its 11.5-metre Perun rocket twice in 2023, in June and December, with both flights aborted mid-flight. The two flights reached an altitude of 22 kilometres and 13 kilometres, well short of the 50-kilometre target. The company is in the process of upgrading the rocket’s SF1000 hybrid propulsion system, a project that is being funded in part by the €2.4 million it received from the ESA Boost! programme.

EuroSpaceport is, surprisingly, not the only company pursuing the development of a floating launch facility in the North Sea. The German Offshore Spaceport Alliance commenced work on its version of the service in December 2020, with the German government committing nearly €3 million to its development. The organisation, a joint venture between Tractebel DOC Offshore, MediaMobil, OHB, and Harren Shipping Services, announced in February 2025 that it would be ready to begin hosting launches by the end of September.

Quelle: European Spaceflight LTD