South Korean launch services provider Innospace has signed an agreement with the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC) to conduct launches of its Hanbit rocket family from the Malbusca Spaceport on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria, expanding Europe’s emerging commercial launch infrastructure.
The agreement, signed on Jan. 8, makes Innospace the first company planning orbital launches from the site and is expected to cover operations through 2030, with an initial launch targeted for 2026, the consortium said.
ASC was founded in 2019 to establish a commercial spaceport on Santa Maria, located about 1,500 kilometers off mainland Portugal in the Azores. In August 2025, Portugal’s space authority, Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), granted the consortium a five-year licence to build and operate the facility.
“Innospace’s decision to launch from Santa Maria is a strong signal of international confidence in Portugal’s space ambitions,” said Ricardo Conde, president of the Portuguese Space Agency. “This agreement helps accelerate the path towards safe, sustainable, and regulated orbital launch services from the Azores.”
The Malbusca Spaceport has been gradually securing launch customers. In July 2025, shortly before receiving its operating licence, ASC signed an agreement with Polish suborbital launch provider SpaceForest for a single Perun rocket flight expected in 2026.
Innospace Chief Executive Soojong Kim said the Santa Maria agreement represents the company’s first launch site in Europe, adding to its existing launch operations in Brazil and Australia.
The statement appears to raise questions about Innospace’s longer-term role at Andøya Space in Norway. Innospace signed a memorandum of understanding with Andøya Space in January 2022 to launch from its planned spaceport, which officially opened in November 2023, and the Norwegian site remains listed as one of Innospace’s launch locations.
Innospace is developing the Hanbit series of small launch vehicles aimed at serving the growing market for satellite deployments to low Earth orbit. Europe has seen increased interest in small launch providers as governments and commercial customers seek independent and flexible access to space amid rising demand for constellation deployments.
ASC said it expects additional launch agreements as the Malbusca Spaceport progresses toward operational readiness.
