Launched from Esrange spaceport on Monday, the Swedish Space Center’s experimental research rocket landed in the Norwegian mountains, not Sweden, as expected.

What happened

Norway’s foreign ministry told the BBC that the Swedes had not made any “official notifications” that the missile was hijacked or returned, but Esrange officials said they were contacted by officials on both sides of the border shortly after the incident.

Built for testing in microgravity conditions with the help of the European Space Agency, the unmanned rocket successfully launched and reached a target altitude of 250 kilometers, although its landing trajectory was about 40 kilometers northwest of where it was supposed to end, causing it to land. it will crash directly into Malselv, Norway’s northernmost region.

Fortunately, The rocket landed in a deserted area and no one was injured, including the rocket and its payload.. Local officials in Malselva said regional news services were contacted about the accidental landing of the rocket and asked if a Swedish helicopter could be sent to retrieve the rocket. Since that time rocket payload returned cannabis.

Marco Kochberg, a representative of the space centre, told the BBC the agency was taking the incident “seriously”. It is not yet known what went wrong.