”The launch went completely wrong,” leader of the Rocket Range Kjell Bøen says to NRK.no. The research rocket, which carried equipment designed and developed by the SCRAMSPACE research team at the University of Queensland, Australia, landed far outside the security range, just few hundred meters from the Andøya settlement.
According to locals, the rocket landed just 200-300 meters away from the populated area. Footage from the site shows how the rocket hits the waters in the local port.
Local authorities now demand quick explanation about the incident. “What happened is very serious for the local population”, town Mayor Jonni Solsvik says to NRK.
The Andøya Rocket Range is unsure about who is to blame for the failed launch, the launch range or the SCRAMSPACE research team.
In a press release, the University of Queensland says that “the SCRAMSPACE team is very disappointed. The project represents a lot of time, effort and money by a committed consortium of partners and sponsors.” According to the university, the payload functioned perfectly but suffered from a failure with the launch system.
“However, the range has assured us that everyone is safe, no one has been hurt and no one is in danger, which is the most important thing,” Professor Russell Boyce says.
The Andøya Test Center will over the next weeks conduct several more missile firings northeast and east of Andøya, the center informs on its website.
