SGAC Sweden

National Points of Contact Sweden

Welcome to the country page of the SGAC Sweden! The main objective of the SGAC Sweden is to reach and connect students and young professionals in order to inspire Sweden’s next space generation.

The Swedish space program is largely implemented in international cooperation, mainly within the framework of the European Space Agency, ESA. Sweden has been an ESA member state since the agency was first founded. Swedish space activities date back quite far, to the launch of the small Plutnik rocket in 1961, and the Swedish space industry has been growing ever since. Today Swedish innovations are found on numerous rockets and satellites and we hope to continue to see Swedish space involvement to grow further and to strengthen our international cooperations.

Please feel free to contact us, share your ideas, and engage your space community!

Young Space Activities Overview in Sweden

There are several space activities in Sweden directed to students and young professionals, below is an outtake of these.

MATS (Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography) – tomography of light and aerosols in the mesosphere, a satellite project led by the meteorologist Jörg Gumbel at Stockholm University, also included in the project is Chalmers, KTH and Omnisys. The satellite will study both noctilucent clouds and oxygen molecules in the atmosphere between 50-100 km height, and the waves that e.g. create the shapes of the clouds.

REXUS/BEXUS Programme which allows students from universities and higher education colleges across Europe to carry out scientific and technological experiments on research rockets and balloons. Each year, two rockets and two balloons are launched, carrying up to 20 experiments designed and built by student teams.

Esrange Space Center, located in northern Sweden above the Arctic Circle, is the largest civil ground station for satellites in the world and Europe’s largest overland test range for aerospace vehicles. Since the start in 1966, more than 500 sounding rockets and 550 stratospheric balloons have been launched from Esrange Space Center. The Swedish Space Corporation is currently working with SmallSat Express, a project aiming to start launching small satellites, CubeSats, from Esrange with start in 2021. Esrange along with other Swedish Space Industries offers positions, full time as well as temporary internships to young professionals. Please see list below of Swedish Space Companies.

Last but not least – SGAC Sweden:
Hoping for a more nominal 2021 we will organize an informal gathering in Summer 2021 for Swedish SGAC members and we will introduce monthly country calls for our Swedish members to connect, discuss current space topics, identify mentorship opportunities and get to know each other. The possibilities are endless – perhaps we organize the next ESGW!

Country-Specific Events in 2023

Coming soon!

Interesting Web Links

REXUS/BEXUS Program: The REXUS/BEXUS program offers students across Europe to carry out scientific and technological experiments on research rockets and balloons. Each year two rockets and two balloons are launched from Esrange Space Center.

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