Companies In Germany Want To Go Into Space
Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are the well-known rocket billionaires, but there are also several young companies in Germany that want to go into space. Isar Aerospace, Hyimpulse and Rocket Factory Augsburg are the names of the three startups whose own rockets could soon take off. But where should their mini-missiles start?
So far, Europe has had to rely on the European Space Center Kourou in French Guyana for all launches. The spaceport is over 7000 kilometers from Germany and designed for much larger rockets, which is why many would like to see launch sites in continental Europe. The Federation of German Industries (BDI) advocates a spaceport in the North Sea. "A launch platform for small launch vehicles would give the German microlauncher companies a German launch opportunity," says BDI space expert Matthias Wachter in the ntv podcast "Wieder was Learned" and emphasizes that a launch site would enable Germany "to directly participate in the future space market".
Indeed, this market is very promising. It is estimated that more than 8,000 small satellites will be launched into orbit around the world in the next eight years alone. And if the BDI has its way, also from a launch platform in the North Sea. The association has presented a concept to the federal government in which a platform on the high seas would be technically feasible, strategically and economically sensible. "The idea is that we convert a platform that is already used today for erecting wind turbines," explains Wachter. "The launchers would be brought to this platform lying in the port and then they would go out into the North Sea."
The BDI is certain that a mobile platform in the North Sea would have many advantages: maximum flexibility, sufficiently high security and no noise pollution. The missiles would launch about 300 kilometers from the mainland. The so-called "duck's bill", as Germany's exclusive economic zone is known because of its shape, protrudes into the North Sea. "There the rocket would be erected and refueled and could take off from there. The platform would then be brought back into port and could pick up the next rocket."