Swedish Research Rocket Accidentally Lands in Norway

Facts

• A research rocket launched by Sweden Space Corp (SSC) on Monday from the Esrange Space Center in the country's north malfunctioned, landing 15 km (9.32 miles) inside neighboring Norway.¹
• The rocket reached an altitude of about 155 miles before landing in Målselv — a mountain range at an altitude of around 1K meters and 10 km from the closest settlement, the SSC said.²
• Meanwhile, the Norwegian foreign ministry says it doesn't yet know whether there was any damage to the surroundings.³
• The projectile — a TEXUS-58 rocket — is part of a European initiative commissioned by the European Space Agency to carry out zero-gravity experiments to learn how planets are born and how to move from fossil fuels to green energy.⁴
• The SSC reportedly recovered the payload on Tuesday and announced an inquiry to establish the technical reasons behind the rocket’s unplanned flight path. Swedish space officials say they gave Norway prior notice of the launch and updated their neighbor after the projectile landed.⁵
• The Norwegian foreign ministry condemned the incident, claiming Sweden didn't immediately inform it of the rogue rocket. It added that retrieval work wasn't supposed to begin without Norwegian authorization, which hadn't been granted.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²BBC News, ³New York Post, ⁴Al Jazeera, ⁵CBS, and ⁶Guardian.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by BBC News. Sweden should have informed Norway officials of its rocket’s failed launch as soon as it suspected that it would land in Norwegian territory. However, Norway didn't get formal notification of the incident until much later, and Sweden failed to contact the foreign ministry through the proper channels. Sweden’s rocket launch was a very serious border violation, and it must work to prevent an event like this from happening again.
• Narrative B, as provided by SSC. This is undoubtedly a serious incident and is being treated as such by Swedish authorities, who are now investigating the cause of the projectile’s wayward trajectory. The SSC and Swedish foreign ministry have been in close contact with Norwegian officials throughout the entire episode, and the SSC has already retrieved the payload and will work to fix any errors.