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Arctic Sweden in race for Europe’s satellite launches

As the mercury drops to -20C, a research rocket lifts off from one of the world's northernmost space centres, its burner aglow in the twilight of Sweden's snowy Arctic forests.

Arctic Sweden in race for Europe's satellite launches
The SubOrbital Express 3 launches from the Esrange Space Center in Jukkasjärvi, northern Sweden on November 23rd 2022. Photo: Marc Preel/AFP

Hopes are high that a rocket like this could carry a satellite this year, in what could be the first satellite launch from a spaceport in continental Europe.

At the launch pad, about an hour from the mining town of Kiruna, there’s not a person in sight, only the occasional reindeer herd in the summer.

The vast deserted forests are the reason the Swedish space centre is located here, at the foot of “Radar Hill”, some 200 kilometres (124 miles) above the Arctic Circle.

“In this area we have 5,200 square kilometres (2,007 square miles) where no one lives, so we can easily launch a rocket that flies into this area and falls down without anyone getting harmed,” Mattias Abrahamsson, head of business development at the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), tells AFP.

Founded by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1966 to study the atmosphere and Northern Lights phenomenon, the Esrange space centre has invested heavily in its facilities to be able to send satellites into space.

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen inaugurated the site’s three new launch pads on January 13th.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (left), EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen (centre) and King Carl XVI Gustaf (right) inaugurate the Esrange satellite launchsite on January 13th, 2022. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT

At a huge new hangar big enough to house two 30-metre rockets currently under assembly elsewhere, Philip Påhlsson, head of the “New Esrange” project, pulls up a heavy blue door.

Under the rosy twilight of this early afternoon, the new launch pads can be seen in the distance.

“Satellite launches will start to take place from here next year,” Påhlsson says.

“This has been a major development, the biggest step we have taken since the inception of Esrange.”

More than 600 suborbital rockets have already been launched from this remote corner of Sweden’s far north, including the Suborbital Express 3 whose late November launch AFP witnessed as the temperature stood at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit.)

While these rockets are capable of reaching space at altitudes of 260 kilometres, they’re not able to orbit Earth.

Booming business

But with Europe gearing up to send its first satellite into space soon, Esrange is looking forward to joining a select club of space centres that include Baikonur in Kazakhstan, Cape Canaveral in Florida, and Europe’s space hub in South America, Kourou in French Guiana.

Various projects in Europe — in Portugal’s Azores, Norway’s Andøya island, Spain’s Andalusia and the UK’s Shetland Islands among others — are all vying to launch the first satellite from the European continent.

An attempt to launch the first rocket into orbit from UK soil — from a Virgin Orbit Boeing 747 that took off from a spaceport in Cornwall — ended in failure earlier this week.

“We think we are clearly the most advanced,” says the SSC, which is aiming to launch at the end of 2023 or early 2024.

The satellite industry is booming, and the Swedish state-owned company is in discussions with several rocket makers and clients who want to put their satellites in orbit.

With a reusable rocket project called Themis, Esrange will also host ESA’s trials of rockets able to land back on Earth, like those of SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk.

While the Plesetsk base in northwestern Russia carried out several satellite launches in the post-Cold War period, no other country in Europe has done so.

Small satellites driving demand

So why is the continent — so far from the Equator, which is more suited for satellite launches — suddenly seeing such a space industry boom?

“Satellites are becoming smaller and cheaper, and instead of launching one big satellite you spread it out over multiple small satellites and that drives the demand,” explains Påhlsson.

More objects were launched into space in 2021 than ever before. And more records are set to be broken in the coming years.

Orbiting the North and South Poles is enough for many satellites, making sites like Esrange more attractive.

In addition, having a launch site close to European clients spares them and their satellites long boat journeys to Kourou.

In Sweden, like in the rest of Europe, the rockets being developed are “micro-rockets”.

These are around 30 metres long, capable of carrying a payload of several hundred kilos. In the future, SSC is aiming for payloads of more than a tonne.

But working in the harsh Arctic climate “comes with challenges”, SSC says.

With temperatures regularly dropping to -20 or -30 degrees Celsius, special attention needs to be paid to the metals used, which become more fragile in the cold.

The war in Ukraine — where the engines for the European Vega rocket are manufactured — and the abrupt end to the West’s space cooperation with Russia have meanwhile increased interest in having spaceports on the continent.

“Europe needs independent access to space. The horrible situation in Ukraine has changed the space business,” notes Påhlsson.

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TECH

Why Google searches in Europe no longer show maps

New EU legislation has led to changes for internet users in Europe - including the way search results appear on Google.

Why Google searches in Europe no longer show maps

Internet users across the world have been accustomed to searching for addresses or locations on Google and immediately afterwards seeing Google Maps pop up in the results, allowing them with one click to be taken to the Maps page.

However, for people living in EU and EEA countries, this function stopped appearing in early March as a result of new EU regulations intended to decrease the ‘gatekeeping’ power of tech giants.

Now, when searching a specific address on your laptop, you will continue to see a small map in the centre of the screen, but will be unable to click on the map and be taken straight to Google Maps. The ‘Maps’ button that once appeared below the search bar, along with ‘Images’ or ‘News’ no longer appears either. 

Instead, you’ll need to head to the website www.google.com/maps or click ‘Directions’ to use the Maps function.

The change is most noticeable on a laptop or tablet device. When using searching an address on a smartphone, users may still be redirected to the Google Maps app when clicking the map image.

Why the change?

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) was voted on in 2022, and the regulations contained in it became enforceable on Wednesday.

The goal of the legislation was to manage competition and end the domination of large tech companies, such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and ByteDance (TikTok) within the European market.

These tech giants have been accused of promoting their own services to the detriment of other similar options from competitors, as well as acting as gatekeepers to prevent other companies from entering or growing in the market.

The goal is also to offer consumers with more options.

For example, when searching for nearby bars or restaurants, the results might have taken the user directly to Google Maps instead of other sites, such as Yelp.

A representative from Google explained the French media Franceinfo: “As part of our efforts to comply with the Digital Markets Regulation, we have made a number of changes to the way search results are displayed, including removing certain features.

“Users in the EU will no longer see the ‘Maps’ shortcut at the top of the search page,” they said.

The European Commission’s objective was to allow the “10,000 other online platforms – mostly small and medium-sized enterprises – to operate on the digital market,” French media Le Point reported.

Are there any other changes related to this?

Yes – people in the EU/EEA may have noticed that they received a question from the ‘Messenger’ service asking if they want to create a new account or continue using the app with their existing Facebook account.

This is because Messenger and Facebook are technically different services now. The same goes for Instagram and Facebook.

Even though both are part of ‘Meta’, the company will have to offer people the choice to keep their accounts separate, in an effort to allow users to choose whether they want their personal data to be tracked across sites.

Similarly, people in the EU using Apple products will no longer have to go through the Apple App store to install apps – other options will be available.

For example, Microsoft is reportedly working on a rival ‘gaming’ app store.

Eventually, the DMA will also force messaging services to allow users to contact each other – so you would be able to send a message from one platform to another. 

Is this just in the EU?

As the Digital Markets Act is a piece of EU legislation, it only applies to the European Union and EEA countries. However, other countries, including South Korea, Japan and the UK, are looking into ways they might rein in tech giants with similar proposals.

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