Astrobotic inks potentially historic contract with Norwegian spaceport

One of North Shore-headquartered Astrobotic’s vehicles could be the first rocket to launch and land itself in Europe.

Astrobotic has inked a partnership with Norwegian company Andøya Space to perform a launch campaign of its terrestrial vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing vehicle Xodiac. This gives commercial and government partners the ability to test developmental systems. The partnership comes five months after German startup Isar Aerospace became the first to launch an orbital rocket in continental Europe from Andøya’s spaceport, which then crashed.

“Historically, if you look at where the center of power have been concentrated for a long time in space exploration, it’s certainly centered around the great powers,” Sean Bedford, Astrobotic senior director of business development, said. “I think across the world, over the last two decades, we’ve seen an explosion of an entrepreneurial approach to how we can go into space. I think as launch costs come down and people start to see business cases that can close, to use a really borrowed cliche, but one I think is applicable here, the sky is no longer the limit.”