Credit: SSC Space
The Swedish National Space Agency has signed an agreement with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to cooperate on the licensing of US rocket launches from Sweden’s Esrange Space Centre.
While the Esrange Space Centre has been in operation since the 1960s, it has strictly been used for suborbital flights. In 2023, SSC Space, the commercial operator of the facility, inaugurated a new launch complex at Esrange to support orbital missions. While the facility has yet to host a launch, South Korea’s Perigee Aerospace and US launch provider Firefly Aerospace have both committed to using it in the future.
Sweden’s efforts to enable US rocket launches from Esrange took another step forward on 15 April 2026, as the Swedish National Space Agency signed an agreement with the FAA to coordinate the licensing of those missions. The agreement builds on a 2025 Technology Safeguards Agreement between the two countries, which laid the groundwork for US launch providers to export what the US government considers “advanced space technology” to Sweden.
“This is an important collaboration when it comes to launching American rockets from Esrange,” said Ella Carlsson, Director General of the Swedish National Space Agency. “When space activities take place across national borders, cooperation between authorities is crucial. The cooperation agreement facilitates our future collaboration with the FAA, and we are very happy about that today.”
While the agreement outlines a collaborative framework between the two parties, the 15 April announcement by the Swedish National Space Agency stressed that it would not affect the Swedish permit process, with the agency retaining oversight of rocket launch licensing in the country. It added that, under the agreement, the agency would be able to “use information from the FAA as a basis if necessary.”
In addition to collaborating with the FAA on licensing launches by US rocket builders, the Swedish government is working to optimize and expand its licensing capacity. In late March, the country committed €1.3 million in new funding to the Swedish National Space Agency to increase its capacity for launch permit applications from two per year to as many as 20 annually.
Whether any of the legal frameworks or administrative efficiencies being implemented will be used remains unclear. Currently, Firefly Aerospace is the only US rocket builder committed to launching from Esrange. The company plans to launch its Alpha rocket from the site, although its near- and medium-term missions are currently scheduled to launch from US sites. In early April, Firefly also announced plans to work with Seagate Space to make use of a floating launch platform, a move that could reduce its reliance on multiple fixed launch sites.
Despite uncertainty regarding its near-term utilization, the Swedish government has committed to supporting the development of an orbital launch capability at Esrange. On 16 March, SSC Space announced that it had signed a SEK 209 million (€19.2 million) contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration to enable a national satellite launch capability for the Swedish Armed Forces. Just weeks later, on 31 March, the government announced as part of its Spring Budget that it would provide SSC Space with SEK 386 million (approximately €35.5 million) to further support the development of orbital launch capabilities at Esrange.
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