Germany’s Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport has committed an additional €870,000 to support the development of an offshore launch platform that will operate from the North Sea.
The North Sea launch platform is being developed by the German Offshore Spaceport Alliance (GOSA), a joint venture formed in December 2020 by Tractebel DOC Offshore, MediaMobil, OHB, and Harren Shipping Services. The platform will be constructed on the 170-metre-long Combi Dock I vessel and will accommodate launchers with a mass of between 36 and 52 tonnes. A 2020 feasibility study stated that the development and operation of the North Sea launch platform would cost between €22 and €30 million over six years.
In September 2023, the German government committed an initial €2 million to the project. A month later, a GOSA spokesperson told European Spaceflight that its first launch from the North Sea was expected in April or May 2024. In April 2024, the company announced that it would support the launch of four small rockets ranging from 15 to 52 kilograms from the floating platform between 16 and 30 June. The launches were postponed to July, after which no further updates were provided.
On 7 February 2025, the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) announced the launch of the “Offshore Spaceport – Finding Solutions and Infrastructure Development for Orbital Launches” project, a joint venture between BMDV and GOSA. BMDV has committed €870,000 to the project, with the distribution of funding managed by the German aerospace agency (DLR).
The project’s primary aim is to develop a “holistic solution for an offshore spaceport, primarily for commercial orbital and suborbital launches, by the end of September 2025.” The findings from the project will be incorporated into the development of demonstrator systems that will “pave the way for the use of the mobile infrastructure for the first launches.”
