Swedish Space Companies

Development of space activities requires technical development and an industrial organization. A major goal of Swedish space activities is to contribute to long-term development of the Swedish space industry. The activities in the field of science and applications also constitute a driving force for the development of industrial competence.

Development of small, low-cost satellites is a suitable working area for Swedish space companies and can also be seen as a gateway to space activities for smaller companies. The low-cost short-term profile represented by the Viking, Freja and Odin scientific satellites is an important complement to the more expensive and long-term projects of ESA and of the large spacefaring nations.

There are three main space companies in Sweden:

(a) The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), which is a government-owned, limited company under the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications. Its activities cover the entire range of space-related work from feasibility studies to operational applications of space technology. Systems engineering and management are typical of the company's activities, but SSC also designs and develops hightechnology hardware in-house, especially for use in space vehicles and in satellite ground stations. SSC also offers a complete remote sensing programme. SSC has a long and successful tradition of international cooperation in all areas of its business. SSC operates Esrange;

(b) Saab Ericsson Space AB works in the following fields of activity: spacecraft systems, computers and data handling, sensor system mechanisms, spacecraft structures, flight control systems for sounding rockets, microgravity payloads, small satellites, microwave antennas, microwave electronics and fibre optics. The most well-known computer is the one used on board the Ariane launcher, which, based on information from the guidance and navigation system, computes the necessary corrections, initiates the separation sequences of the three rocket stages and the satellite and so on. The company has supplied on-board computers to all Ariane launchers since the first launch in 1979;

(c) Volvo Aero Corporation is involved in the development and production of combustion chambers and nozzles for Viking (Ariane 4), development and production of nozzle and turbines for Vulcain (Ariane 5), technology programme in pump systems, nozzles and combustion. Volvo Aero has participated in the Ariane launcher project since the beginning of the 1970s.