Did it land in London?
this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2026
270 points (99.3% liked)
Europe
11943 readers
1018 users here now
News and information from Europe πͺπΊ
(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)
Rules
- This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
- No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
- Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
- No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
- Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
- If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
- Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
- Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
- No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
- Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.
(This list may get expanded as necessary.)
Posts that link to the following sources will be removed
- on any topic: Al Mayadeen, brusselssignal:eu, citjourno:com, europesays:com, Breitbart, Daily Caller, Fox, GB News, geo-trends:eu, news-pravda:com, OAN, RT, sociable:co, any AI slop sites (when in doubt please look for a credible imprint/about page), change:org (for privacy reasons), archive:is,ph,today (their JS DDoS websites)
- on Middle-East topics: Al Jazeera
- on Hungary: Euronews
Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com
(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)
Ban lengths, etc.
We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.
If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.
If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the admin that applied the rule (check modlog first to find who was it.)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Genuine question. What is the difference of this sending a "vehicle" to orbit vs the satellites sent from Esrange in Kiruna northern Sweden?
I guess it should be read as "continental Europe". Europe has a major launching platform in French Guiana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_Space_Centre
P.S.: It's advantageous to be close to the Equator like French Guiana to benefit from a faster rotational speed of Earth's surface for the rocket launch.
Not when you want to go into a polar orbit. That is flying over the earths poles and have the earth spin under the orbit. That allows satellites to take photos or use other sensors over every part of the planet. However to do that you need to have as little spin as possible hence being close to the poles is a good idea.
I thought there were launches from Azores that reached orbit
Not yet, but planned.
But the launchpad on Santa Maria island isn't in continental Europe, and technically that island specifically is on the African tectonic plate.
Kazakhstan?
It was launched from Norway.
Parts of Kazakhstan are in Europe, but the region where Baikonur is, is generally considered as being a part of Asia
Russian soil.
The rocket was launched from AndΓΈya which is on the west coast of Norway, hundreds of kilometers from the Russian border.
Well done, congratulations! πππͺπΊπ©πͺ
Ze Germans are again feared rocketeers!
Private Rocket might be up for promotion after this.
The rocket is small, the payload is miniscule, the orbit was a polar one, not the more economically feasible equatorial orbit. If this had launched from Florida, Baikounour, or China, nobody would give a shit.
That being said, it took a lot to get to this point, and this is really a big step for European security and independence, and deserves recognition and celebration. I believe this will go down in history as a first small step towards something greater for Europe.
(There are also some advantages to polar orbits, such as for earth observation and telecommunications satellites.)
It is also the first successful launch of this launch system. That is not happening that often.
not the more economically feasible equatorial orbit
You somehow manage to make that sound like polar orbits are a minor thing and equatorial orbits are superior and harder to reach when it's the opposite. Equatorial in earth's rotational direction is the by far easiest one. That's the default because every other orbit is a lot harder in comparison.
Yeah I guess it might have come across like that.
What I meant is that launching stuff into space is extremely expensive, so not having the benefit of the Earth's rotation, as is the case with equatorial launches, is a really bad thing. Polar orbits are more difficult, and more expensive. This is why we usually launch European rockets from French Guiana.
Having the option to launch from European soil is extremely important to our security though. But if you want to compete economically with SpaceX, China, and Russia, you're going to go need to launch from the equator.
Saying that, as a Norwegian myself I am however incredibly happy with the investments made to AndΓΈya, but I doubt it will ever become a European Cape Canaveral.
But not reusable isn't it? Shouldn't modern rockets be reusable?
Spanish company PLD Space is working on recoverable and reusable rockets. They had a successful launch in 2023 but it was suborbital. They are working on a low orbit rocket now: https://www.pldspace.com/en/news/pld-space-successfully-completes-first-private-space-rocket-launch-in-europe.html
They launched from Huelva so it was the first launch of a private rocket from continental Europe (but, again, suborbital).
Can't do the second step after the first one, I guess.
I was thinking the same. It's good for what it is, but especially for smallish rockets reusability is going to be key if we want any use out of them beyond occasional military satellites.
ππππβ¨π