A Swedish research rocket has broken up and landed in Norway
A rocket launched by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) deviated from its course and landed in the mountains of neighboring Norway, Swedish authorities confirmed on Tuesday. The rocket’s payload was recovered and transported back to the Swedish launch site. No injuries have been reported and an investigation is underway.
The TEXUS-58 rocket blasted off from the Esrange space center in northern Sweden on Monday morning. It “took a slightly longer and more westerly trajectory than expected and landed after the end of flight 15 kilometers into Norway,” about 40 kilometers northwest of the planned landing site, SSC said in a statement.
“It landed in the mountains at an altitude of 1,000 meters and ten kilometers from the nearest settlement,” This is what SSC spokesman Philip Ohlsson tells Reuters.
SSC said it contacted Swedish and Norwegian authorities “shortly after landing.” The research payload has since been recovered and flown back to Esrange by helicopter. The “technical details of the non-nominal flight path” is now being investigated.
“This is an anomaly that we take seriously. We are now investigating the reason why the rocket flew further northwest than nominal.” said Marko Kohberg, director of rocket and balloon operations at Esrange, adding that it is too early to speculate.
The rocket was part of a program commissioned by the European Space Agency (ESA), and flew to an altitude of 250 kilometers with three microgravity experiments on board. Two of the experiments, VIPer and Perwaves, are related to “green transition” research, while the third, called ICAPS, investigated the process of planet formation.