A Short History of Swedish Space Activities
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HSR-39 December 2007 A Short History of Swedish Space Activities by Nina Wormbs and Gustav Källstrand ESA Communication Production Office ESTEC, PO Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands Tel: +31 71 565-3408 Fax: +31 71 565-5433 HSR-39 December 2007 A Short History of Swedish Space Activities Nina Wormbs and Gustav Källstrand Publication: A Short History of Swedish Space Activities (ESA HSR-39, December 2007) Editor: Karen Fletcher Published and distributed by: ESA Communication Production Office ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands Printed in: The Netherlands Price: €20 ISBN: 978-92-9221-889-8 ISSN: 1638-4704 Copyright: © 2007 European Space Agency iii Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Objectives and scope.................................................................................................................1 1.2 Sources......................................................................................................................................2 1.3 Report structure.........................................................................................................................3 1.4 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................4 2. Establishment: 1957-72 ....................................................................................................................5 2.1 The Kiruna Geophysical Observatory.......................................................................................5 2.2 The Swedish Space Research Committee and ESRO membership ..........................................6 2.3 The emerging national programme and the establishment of Esrange .....................................9 2.4 Funding difficulties.................................................................................................................11 2.5 Interim activities .....................................................................................................................12 2.6 Reorganisation ........................................................................................................................14 3. Professionalisation: 1972-1989 ......................................................................................................17 3.1 SBSA and SSC organisation...................................................................................................17 3.2 Remote sensing 1972-89.........................................................................................................18 3.3 Nordsat and the 1979 Space Bill.............................................................................................21 3.4 Viking .....................................................................................................................................23 3.5 Tele-X: an experimental telecommunication satellite.............................................................25 4. Mature steady-state: 1989-2006 .....................................................................................................29 4.1 Freja ........................................................................................................................................29 4.2 Telecommunications...............................................................................................................31 4.3 Remote sensing 1989-2000.....................................................................................................32 4.4 Sounding rockets – Maxus and the Esrange Special Project ..................................................34 4.5 Small scientific satellites.........................................................................................................38 4.6 Satellite names ........................................................................................................................40 4.7 SMART-1 ...............................................................................................................................41 5. Sweden in space over time .............................................................................................................43 5.1 A ‘large technological system’?..............................................................................................43 5.2 Characteristics of Swedish space activities.............................................................................46 5.3 Organisational particularities ..................................................................................................47 5.4 The military connection ..........................................................................................................48 5.5 Swedish space science – a brief summary ..............................................................................49 5.6 Industry and its interests: the Saab Space example.................................................................51 5.7 Reviews of the space sector ....................................................................................................53 6. Timeline..........................................................................................................................................57 7. Abbreviations and acronyms ..........................................................................................................59 8. References ......................................................................................................................................61 8.1 Interviews................................................................................................................................61 8.2 Sources....................................................................................................................................61 8.3 Internet references...................................................................................................................63 8.4 Literature.................................................................................................................................63 1 1. Introduction Christmas 2006 saw the Swedish media awash with articles and programmes on space exploration. The reason for this was that the first Swedish astronaut ever was at long last travelling into space. After a 14-year wait, Christer Fuglesang flew on the Space Shuttle. He had been selected for a flight assignment by the European Space Agency in 1992, had subsequently trained in Russia, just outside Moscow, and then moved on to Houston, Texas, where he had undergone further training pending launch. The mission on which Fuglesang eventually flew was named Celsius after the 18th-century Swedish astronomer. Following extensive travelling throughout Europe, Anders Celsius returned home accompanied by members of the French Academy of Sciences to take measurements of the shape of the Earth around the poles. Whilst in Lapland, he made observations of the aurora borealis, thus for the first time taking advantage of Sweden’s geographical situation in studying geophysics.1 Astronaut Fuglesang’s assignment was not to study the aurora borealis, even though he enjoyed watching it from the vantage point of the International Space Station; the focus of the Celsius mission was work on the ISS power supply. The struggle to retract the solar panels is probably what will remain foremost in the minds of the Swedes who followed the mission through the media. Before lift-off, the largest-circulation Swedish newspaper wrote about “the Swedish space adventure” and proceeded with its own countdown, going on to cover every move made, day by day. Science reporters and news anchors filled air-time with questions, which were patiently answered by Fuglesang. Illustrators drew pictures and communication experts explained how the Shuttle works, what the International Space Station is, and why the exploration of space concerns everyone. Any person or group who had had any contact with Christer Fuglesang was interviewed and finished up making the news in their own right. All aspects of the mission were covered and all questions explored, several times over. Even historical aspects were not overlooked, a link being made with the first steps taken on the Moon.2 During the flight, there was non-stop coverage of the space walks and other activities. When Fuglesang returned home to Sweden in January a few weeks after the flight, he was greeted like a celebrity. There was huge media coverage, mirroring the American experience of the 1960s.3 A Swede in space was enormously interesting, to Swedes at least; no one paid as much attention elsewhere. What does all this say about space exploration and about Sweden in that particular context? Why is it that the biggest Swedish space event is the launch of a Swede into space – even if he was trained as a cosmonaut and astronaut elsewhere – and not the placing into orbit of a technically complex Swedish-made satellite or space probe? 1.1 Objectives and scope The ‘space fever’ created by Christer Fuglesang’s involvement in the Celsius mission opens up a whole spectrum of interesting questions on the whys and wherefores of the Swedish space programme. The purpose of this report is not to focus on those questions, but rather to use them as a way of relating the overarching aim of this report to the public debate on the space programme. The primary objective of this