Spaceport Sweden is about both establishing a spaceport infrastructure and a co-operation where different stakeholders from Kiruna’s business sector make a concentrated effort to establish Europe’s first and most inevitable place for commercial space travel for private persons.
Space tourism in Kiruna has a great potential for development and is expected to become a global billion industry. The vision of Spaceport Sweden is to become one of the most important players in this new experience industry, where all operators are dependent on a well-functioning spaceport.
The space race started over 50 years ago with the Sputnik satellite, and in the same spirit as with aero-flight over 100 years ago, we now see how an increasing number of commercial actors are stepping forward to establish traffic in space. Companies are planning for a development based on an established space infrastructure.
Spaceport Sweden was inaugurated in January 2007 by Sweden’s Minister for Enterprise and Energy, Maud Olofsson. Today there is an established co-operation with Spaceport America, which will be the home base of the company Virgin Galactic. Virgin alone expects to launch about 50 000 space tourists during the first ten years, starting with Spaceport America in 2012, followed by Spaceport Sweden a few years later.
Preparing for space tourism
Spaceport America has carried out studies showing that in southern New Mexico, the extent is about thousands of new employment opportunities within a few years with different ripple effects. New companies become established, the growth of new research and educations, materials and technology development, and new commercial products and services.
The new phase of a more commercial space travel has already involved the creation of new business models for international co-operation, new research and new educations, new public procurement, new joint-action organizations between the public and private sectors, new authorities and new legislation.
Progressum, Kiruna’s business development company, is today leading the work with the development program Space City Kiruna 2020, where space tourism and Spaceport Sweden are included as a central operation. Progressum even leads the work with an EU project that will establish the branch Commercial Spaceflight – in Kiruna, Norrbotten County and Sweden.
The talk begins with basic information about what space tourism is. Thereafter, the group will be lead through the process of establishing Spaceport Sweden. An exciting journey that began in 2005.
How do the different actors work in arranging infrastructure, services and world-class experiences?
Sounds interesting? Contact us for a program suggestion.