It may be at least five years until the first commercial space planes are available outside the US, but Karin Nilsdotter, CEO of Lapland-based Spaceport Sweden, isn't waiting around. Her goal: to make Sweden Europe's tourist gateway to space. "We're developing the infrastructure now," she says, "so that Sweden will be first to mind when the time comes."
In the meantime, the company offers space tourism experiences based here on Earth, including centrifuge g-force training, astronaut-style team-building courses, and Zero G parabolic flights. Nilsdotter is also working with the Swedish government (and with private companies including Virgin Galactic and XCOR) to lay the legislative groundwork for manned space flight. "We also have EU funding for a space startups incubator and accelerator," she says.
But why Kiruna, a small mining town 145km north of the Arctic Circle? Well, the nearby Swedish Institute of Space Physics has a launch range for rockets and stratospheric balloons, and the local Luleå University of Technology, with its focus on space science education, will supply the skilled workforce the spaceport will need. According to Nilsdotter, the town's remoteness works in its favour -- low flight-density to the local airport means it can easily be converted to service space planes. "The opening up of space will create opportunities in everything from medicine and materials to fashion and food," says Nilsdotter, who was previously chair of Swedish Lapland Tourism. "I can't wait to go into space, I am a future astronaut. But I'm truly passionate about all the opportunities it creates here on Earth."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
