AGI – From a new spaceport under construction, UK Pathfinder Launch, the UK intends to carry out the first vertical satellite launch from Northern Europe by 2022. So far, There are 34 official space airports in the world, 6 of which are dedicated to human flight into space, and many other companies are under construction around the world, notably thanks to the new “space race” of major US airlines.

Moreover Italy is no exception to the ongoing construction of the first Italian spaceport Ready for sub-tropical excursions at Grottagle in Puglia. “The ability to bring our launch partners, ABL Space together with the SaxaVord Spaceport team, along with our colleagues from the British Space Agency, shows that we continue to make exciting progress toward achieving the first vertical satellite launch in Northern Europe in 2022.”

This launch capability not only spurs prosperity in the region and across the UK, but also represents an important step in realizing the ambitions of the new National Space Strategy,” said Nick Smith, Regional Director for the UK and Europe. The UK government recently announced its National Space Strategy which outlines The UK Government’s long-term vision to make the UK “one of the world’s most attractive and innovative space economies”.

The builders claim thatSaxaVord’s launch facility will eventually create about 140 jobs at Unst It will inject at least £4.9 million annually into the island’s economy. It will create another 70 jobs across Shetland, adding an additional £2.9 million in total value to the economy. Currently, only three countries in the world have launchers and missiles that can be used for human flight in space, they are Russia, the United States and China. The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was the first to bring a human into space, cosmonaut Georg Gagarin, on April 12, 1961.

Instead, the historic launch pads of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida, brought the first space programs with American astronauts, such as Mercury and Gemini, into orbit. It was followed by the Kennedy Space Center from which the giant Saturn 5 rocket took the Apollo flights to the Moon, right up to the era of the Space Shuttle and the current SpaceX Crew Dragons. The Chinese spaceport dedicated to astronauts’ journey into space is JiuquanAnd In the desert of GobFrom where the Long March rockets launched today.

Among the space airports that have managed to launch vehicles capable of exceeding a height of 100 km, thereby technically bringing pilots into space, there are also Edwards Air Force Base in California, which in 1963 left a B-52 capable of shooting down the X-15, a record-breaking aircraft that reached 108 km altitude and Mach 6.70, i.e. 7.274 km/h. Records were surpassed in 2004 by SpaceShipOne Scaled Composites shuttle, which departed from the Mojave spaceport, also in California, and docked aboard the White Knight transport plane, reaching an altitude of 112 km and 3,518 km / h.

Italy is currently launching satellites with Europe from Kourou, in French Guiana, but has a national spaceport, Luigi Bruglio Space Center, off the coast of Kenya, which was used from 1966 to 1988. It is about Converting ENI oil rigs into a launch base Tropical of Italy and made it possible to have a privileged position to carry out the missions of the San Marco Program. The center is currently owned by the Sapienza University of Rome and managed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

There are other satellite launch platforms around the world, with military, research and commercial uses, and the countries that will host and successfully use them are: France, Australia, Japan, India, Israel, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, and New. Zealand.

The designation of Taranto-Grotagli Airport by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and ENAC dates back to May 2018, for the construction of the first Italian spaceport for suborbital flights by 2020.

The selection came as a result of an agreement signed in December 2017 between Turin’s Altec – a company owned by ASI and Thales Alenia Space – and Sitael – a subsidiary of the Angel Group – and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which is proceeding with the tests. Its semi-orbital shuttle, SpaceShipTwo, but it designs launch systems for small, low-orbit satellites in parallel.

Last year, the ENAC Board of Directors approved Regulations for the construction and operation of spaceports, a step forward in adapting the complex and building the first operational spaceport on Italian soil. In 2020, a new use of the aircraft carrier cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551) was assumed for the Italian Navy.

Garibaldi could be part of an initiative to use full-deck ships as launch pads for “micro and micro” satellite carriers. A study project, called SIMONA, was recently approved as part of the National Plan for Military Research (PNRM), to verify the technical feasibility of reconfiguring Garibaldi toward the national space strategy.