The Swedish space industry reached an impressive milestone as the 600th suborbital rocket, MAPHEUS-15, was launched from Esrange Space Center in Kiruna — the science rocket reached an altitude of 309 km carrying a payload containing 21 different experiments.
The payload featured a wide range of scientific disciplines that were conducted during 7 minutes of microgravity, such as advanced material science and biological research on human cells. The payload will be recovered by helicopter tomorrow.
This campaign was successfully conducted via a joint partnership between the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The launch was conducted by DLR’s Mobile Rocket Base (MORABA) and the scientific payload was managed by DLR’s Institute for Material Physics in Space.
Credit: © DLR. All rights reserved
“I am very proud of this milestone which shines a light on the many years of international collaboration at Esrange. This has been instrumental in achieving hundreds of successful rocket missions, providing invaluable access to space for scientists worldwide”, said Lennart Poromaa, Head of Esrange Space Center.
“We are grateful for the many years of extremely productive collaboration, during which also the core teams from SSC and DLR have grown together. Thanks to their support, the MAPHEUS program has grown tremendously over the past 15 years, and we are looking forward to many more launches to come,” said Thomas Voigtmann, DLR Project Manager for the MAPHEUS campaigns.