Editing Esrange (section)

==Rocket activities==
There had been Swedish rocket activities previously, mainly at [[Kronogård]] (18 launches in the period 1961–1964).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Backman|first1=Fredrick|title=Making Place for Space: a History of 'Space Town' Kiruna 1943-2000|date=2015|publisher=Umeå University|location=Umeå, Sweden|isbn=978-91-7601-244-4|url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-101725}}</ref> However, the rocket activity in Sweden did not gain thrust until after [[ESRO]] established Esrange in 1964.

During the period 1966–1972 [[ESRO]] launched more than 150 rockets from Esrange. Most of these were [[Centaure (rocket)|Centaure]], [[Nike Apache]], and [[Skua (rocket)|Skua]] rockets reaching 100–220&nbsp;km altitude. They supported many branches of European research, but the emphasis was on atmospheric and ionospheric research.

In 1972 the management of Esrange was transferred to the [[Swedish Space Corporation]] (SSC). Gradually the smaller rockets were complemented by larger rockets reaching higher altitudes, achieving [[weightlessness]] for a few minutes when the rocket is above the parts of the atmosphere giving an appreciable friction. Three main programmes, [[TEXUS|Texus]], [[Maser (rocket)|Maser]], and [[Maxus (rocket)|Maxus]] currently dominate the rocket activities at Esrange and support [[microgravity]] research for [[European Space Agency|ESA]] and [[German Aerospace Center|DLR]]:

{|class=wikitable
!Programme
!Rocket motor
!Peak altitude
!Payload mass
!Microgravity time
!Period
!Launches
!Customers
|- 
|[[TEXUS|Texus]]
|[[Skylark (rocket)|Skylark 7]], [[VSB-30]]
|250–300&nbsp;km
|330–400&nbsp;kg
|6 minutes
|1977–
|60
|[[German Aerospace Center|DLR]] and [[European Space Agency|ESA]]
|-
|[[Maser (rocket)|Maser]]
|[[Black Brant (rocket)|Black Brant]], [[Skylark (rocket)|Skylark 7]], [[VSB-30]]
|250–300&nbsp;km
|330–400&nbsp;kg
|6 minutes
|1987–
|15
|[[European Space Agency|ESA]]
|-
|[[Maxus (rocket)|Maxus]]
|[[Castor (rocket stage)|Castor 4B]]
|700–720&nbsp;km
|800&nbsp;kg
|12–13 minutes
|1991–
|8
|[[European Space Agency|ESA]] and [[German Aerospace Center|DLR]]
|-
|[[TEXUS|Mini-Texus]]
|[[Nike Orion]]
|120–150&nbsp;km
|160–200&nbsp;kg
|3–4 minutes
|1993–1998
|6
|[[German Aerospace Center|DLR]] and [[European Space Agency|ESA]]
|-
|[[Rexus/Bexus|Rexus]]
|[[Improved Orion]]
|80–110 km
|100kg
|2 minutes
|1995–
|32
|[[German Aerospace Center|DLR]], [[European Space Agency|ESA]], [[Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity|ZARM]]
|-
|MAPHEUS 
|Nike-Orion, [[VS-30]], [[Improved Malemute]]/Improved Malemute, [[Red Kite (rocket)|Red Kite]]/Improved Malemute
|150-250 km
| -
|6 minutes
|2009-
|14
|[[German Aerospace Center|DLR]]
|-
|SERA 
|Cesaroni Pro 98-6G
|5-10 km
| -
| -
|2014-
|4
|[[CNES]]
|}

[[Swedish Space Corporation|SSC]], jointly with [[German Aerospace Center|DLR]], introduced a new launch service with the Suborbital Express programme launched in 2019. Suborbital Express is now integrating the [[Maser (rocket)|Maser]] microgravity programme.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sscspace.com/ssc-introduce-new-service-for-easy-access-to-space-suborbital-express/|title=Suborbital Express|website=Swedish Space Corporation|date=17 June 2019 }}</ref>

More than 500 rockets have been launched from Esrange since 1966. For information on individual rockets, see the '''[[List of rockets launched from Esrange]]'''.

Esrange has six [[Rocket launcher|launcher]]s:
* MAXUS launcher (used for the CASTOR 4B rocket)
* MAN launcher (owned by DLR)
* MRL Launcher (used for the Orion, Nike-Orion, Taurus-Orion, Nike-Black Brant V, Terrier-Black Brant rockets)
* Skylark launch tower (now used for the VSB-30 rocket)
* FFAR launcher (used for [[Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket]]s)
* SULO/VIPER launcher (used for [[Super Loki]] and [[Viper Dart|VIPER]] rockets)