What will become of the German North Sea floating launch site?

Recent support from Bremen stands in contrast to budget cut proposals.

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What will become of the German North Sea floating launch site?

German Offshore Spaceport Alliance

The current political coalition governing Bremen signed an agreement on 3 July that, among many other commitments, pledged to continue to support the establishment of a floating launch site that would be operated from the end of Germany’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the North Sea. However, at the same time, the national government is proposing slashing the national space budget by as much as 15%, which would put projects like the North Sea launch site on the chopping block.

Background 

A project to examine the possibility of developing a German spaceport was introduced by the Federation of German Industries (BDI) at its Space Congress in Berlin on 18 October 2019. The primary motivations behind the proposal were to strengthen the country’s newspace ecosystem, create the conditions for competition, and open up new strategic options for the federal government.

In August 2020, BDI published a feasibility study proposing that the country could develop a mobile launch platform that would be stationed in the North Sea during operations. The study found that the spaceport would offer access to sun-synchronous and polar orbits without having to fly over populated areas or any land masses at all. The location also has low sea and air traffic volumes. Main sea routes between European trade harbours are located east and further south of the launch location. The same is applicable to the air routes connecting Europe’s most frequented airports. 

In December 2020, Tractebel DOC Offshore, MediaMobil, OHB, and Harren Shipping Services joined forces to form the German Offshore Spaceport Alliance (GOSA) to push the proposal forward. Tractebel provides expertise in the planning, implementation, and operation of maritime offshore projects. MediaMobil is a satellite communication solution provider that focuses on maritime mobile systems. OHB is a space technology company with decades of expertise in manufacturing satellites. Finally, Harren Shipping Services is a Bremen-based shipping group.

In September 2021, Germany's Minister of the Economy Peter Altmaier revealed the government's support of the North Sea spaceport proposal. The announcement came at an event that included the signing of four Memorandums of Understand with launch operators supporting the development of the spaceport. Altmaier explained that the government had pledged to act as an "anchor customer" for the floating launch site.

The 3 July 2023 commitment from the Bremen coalition is the latest sign that support for the floating launch site is growing.

The basics

A permanent platform was considered for the launch site. However, the site's location has been declared a marine protection area, which limits options. According to the study, operating the current solution from the proposed location would allow for 250 days of use per year. Initially, the average launch campaign would last around 15 days. However, later logistics optimisation would reduce that down to as little as 10 days. This 10-day launch campaign target would allow for the support of up to 25 launch campaigns per year. 

The launch sequence would see a rocket being loaded horizontally onto the mobile launch platform aboard the microlauncher unit. The platform would then leave port and head to the launch zone. Once there, the crew would be evacuated to an auxiliary vessel at a distance of three kilometres. The rocket would then be erected, fueled, and launched remotely.

The microlauncher unit, which would include the mobile erector and launch platform, would be able to support vehicles between 20 and 30 metres long with a diameter of around 2.2 metres, and a mass of between 36 and 52 tonnes when fueled. The launch pad itself would have a footprint of 9x9 metres including all safety equipment. A crew of 20 would be required to support a launch.

The ship selected by GOSA is the Combi Dock I, the first in a series of four vessels that were built between 2008 and 2019 at the Lloyd shipyard in Bremerhaven. The ship is 170 meters long and 25 meters wide. The cargo bay is 18 metres wide and 16 meters deep. The final configuration would feature three heavy-lift cranes which would be able to lift a combined 700 metric tons.

The 2020 feasibility study found that the development and operation of the North Sea spaceport would cost between €22 and €30 million over six years. This translates to an annual contribution from the government of no more than €5 million a year. According to the study, an initial phase that would allow for up to 12 launches per year would see GSOA charging around €750,000 per mission launched. Once the floating launch site was fully operational supporting 25 launches a year, that per mission cost would be reduced to approximately €590,000.

Support

In September 2021, German launch startups Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) and HyImpulse signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) expressing support for the North Sea launch platform. Additionally, Skyrora from the United Kingdom and T-Minus from the Netherlands both also signed MoUs supporting the project.

In response to questioning from European Spaceflight, HyImpulse SEO Christian Schmierer stated continued support for the project, although he added that the company’s priority was, however, land-based spaceports. He added that the North Sea spaceport would be a compelling option for missions relating to German national security interests. 

RFA was significantly more enthusiastic about the proposal with CCO Jörn Spurmann highlighting the strategic importance of Germany developing its own spaceport.

“Germany is very capable of building satellites and has three excellent launch system companies working on their first flight,” Spurmann told European Spaceflight. “With a German spaceport, the entire upstream portfolio can be operated from Germany alone. This, of course, has strategic importance and will also raise public awareness of spaceflight. The relevance of a spaceport on the political agenda will increase many times over with every euro invested. Without a spaceport, we will always have to ask a partner country for launches, which is of great advantage for international cooperation and the European idea. From a national strategic point of view, it is a must-have to improve German relevance at international negotiation tables. Launching German satellites with German rockets from German territorial waters would not only simplify logistics but also save us export controls. Accordingly, we find the project promising and are pleased about the recent political support for GOSA.”

T-Minus cofounder Hein Olthof expressed the company’s continued support, highlighting the berthing port’s proximity to the Netherlands as a particularly beneficial element.

“We're still supportive of the GOSA initiative: it fits well with our highly responsive rockets for atmospheric- and hypersonic research and BMD training,” said Olthof. “Of course, the fact that its berthing port is close to the Netherlands is favourable for us as well. We definitely consider its unique proposition as a valuable addition to the existing sites we launch from.”

Skyrora’s response to a request for comment was straightforward with an interesting reference to a now-defunct launch operation with a similar launch infrastructure to the proposed North Sea site. “The seaport is of interest to us based on our team’s previous experience working with Sea Launch," explained a Skyrora spokesperson.

The project does, however, not enjoy universal support among German launch startups, with Isar Aerospace being the notable exception.

“In our view, there are too many arguments against a launch site in the German North Sea, both structurally and operationally as well as economically,” an Isar Aerospace spokesperson told European Spaceflight. “We think that it will be very difficult to operate the North Sea launch platform on an economically sustainable basis. However, if that changes, and it becomes possible to operate the platform on a purely commercial basis, then we would, of course, not exclude the possibility.”

Conclusion

Although there are several European launch facilities either operational or in the process of getting there, fewer than you would imagine are actually in the EU. The UK launch sites are all, thanks to Brexit, outside the EU, as is Andøya Space Center in Norway. That leaves the Guiana Space Center and Esrange in Sweden as the only launch sites within the EU. Launching from Esrange offers headaches to potential customers due to needing to fly over Norway, which requires launch operators to go through an additional layer of legislative red tape. It is, as a result, unsurprising that no launch operators have committed to launching from Esrange. 

So, for missions that are required to be launched from territories within the EU, the competition isn’t as stiff as on the commercial side. In fact, it could be argued that the North Sea spaceport could be the go-to location for small launch vehicles launching EU national security missions which would include the IRIS2 communications constellation. Even on the commercial side, an EU-mainland-based facility has advantages. In addition to a reduction in shipping costs when compared to Guiana, export licenses for transportation to launch facilities in non-EU countries like the UK for launch operations would be eliminated. 

There could, as a result, be numerous benefits to launching from the proposed North Sea site. There are, however, also drawbacks. Although the Combi Dock I would employ stabilization systems, variables affecting the nominal operation of a launch would be significantly greater in number than from a land-based site. The biggest question mark for the proposal will, however, be if the operators that have expressed interest actually utilize the floating launch site to a sufficient degree as to justify its continued operation. Esrange has already proven that the Field of Dreams premise of “build it, and they will come” only works for baseball fields and not rocket launch infrastructure.

Of course, there is also the issue of national support. Although Bremen, which is heavily invested in the country’s continued support of space activities, does back the initiative, the national government does appear to be more interested in cutting back on space spending. A recent proposal shows that the planned space programme budget for 2024 is €313.8 million, a 15% reduction from the €371.08 million budget for 2023. The proposed budget has, unsurprisingly, not been greeted favourably in the space industry. 

“The budget proposal sends a very negative signal at a time when we need more investment for strategic and technological reasons," said managing director of the German NewSpace Initiative Matthias Wachter.

With budget cuts looming and strategic projects like IRIS2 and the continued development of Ariane 6 being the most likely to be retained in full, projects like the North Sea launch site may just not make the cut.