SSC and South Korean rocket company Perigee Aerospace Inc. have signed a collaborative agreement to launch satellites jointly from the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden, starting in 2025 — Perigee’s Blue Whale 1 microlauncher will be the first orbital rocket launched from Esrange.
The two-stage launch vehicle has the capacity to place up to 200 kg into a 500 km SSO. Together, SSC and Perigee will develop a service concept with a shared payload space onboard the rocket to make room for both companies’ customer bases.
Enforced by SSC’s global satellite ground station network, this service could also be supplemented by additional space-to-ground services.
“I’m very pleased to announce this historic collaboration, our first orbital launch partnership. The market demand for this service is huge and it’s needed now, by both European and international satellite owners. Perigee’s Blue Whale 1 rocket is an ideal match for our orbital launch complex at Esrange. With this partnership, SSC will be able to offer a competitive commercial European orbital launch service at our spaceport in Sweden. This is exciting news for us, and for the global space market,” said Charlotta Sund, CEO of SSC.
“SSC has an impressive 50 years of launch heritage and the new orbital launch infrastructure at Esrange is laying the foundation for the years to come. By bringing our Blue Whale 1 rocket, soon ready for orbital missions, we will partner with SSC to create a state-of-the-art orbital launch service, including further delivery through SSC’s ground service offering. After a successful orbital launch from South Korea next year, we look forward to beginning this historic journey at Esrange,” said Yoon Shin, CEO and Founder of Perigee.