The Swiss Space Office (SSO) is the federal government's competence centre for national and international space matters. In its role it cooperates closely with other federal offices and is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the policy and strategic orientations of the space domain in Switzerland. The SSO is part of the State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation. The Head of the SSO is Dr. Renato Krpoun. The SSO ensures international cooperation in the space sector and promotes contacts with foreign partners. It represents Swiss interests in international organisations and international cooperation programmes. The most important instrument for implementing Swiss space policy is the participation of Switzerland in

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

(ESA) programmes and activities. State Secretary Prof. Dr. Martina Hirayama and Dr. Renato Krpoun lead the delegation to ESA at ministerial, respectively delegate level. Switzerland is a founding member of the

, and has actively participated in European space development since 1960. The Swiss Space Office opened in 1998. The role of the SSO expanded to cover all aspects of space policy in 2000, when the new national constitution came into force. According to

Jane's Janes is a global open-source intelligence company specialising in military, national security, aerospace and transport topics, whose name derives from British author Fred T. Jane. History Jane's Information Group was founded in 1898 by Fred ...

, the SSO is "the administrative unit charged with planning and implementing Swiss space policy", which was defined by the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand co ...

. The SSO office in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

includes the ''Federal Commission for Space Affairs'' (CFAS), and the ''Interdepartmental Coordination Committee for Space Affairs'' (IKAR).

Claude Nicollier Claude Nicollier (born 2 September 1944) is the first astronaut from Switzerland. He has flown on four Space Shuttle missions. His first spaceflight ( STS-46) was in 1992, and his final spaceflight ( STS-103) was in 1999. He took part in two serv ...

is a Swiss Astronaut and has been on several missions with the United States

space program A space program is an organized effort by a government or a company with a goal related to outer space. Lists of space programs include: * List of government space agencies * List of private spaceflight companies * List of human spaceflight prog ...

in the 1990s and is also a member of the European Astronaut Corps. By 2007 he had retired from Swiss space missions to become a professor at EPFL. Switzerland's Marc Bertschi became the head of the ESA launcher program in 2007. STS-46 WCS Maintenance

Manned space missions

U.S.-Swiss

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

missions: * STS-46 in 1992. European Retrievable Carrier EURECA ''Atlantis'' *

STS-61 STS-61 was NASA's first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission launched on December 2, 1993, from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The missi ...

in 1993. Hubble Servicing Mission 2 ''Endeavour'' *

STS-75 STS-75 was a 1996 NASA Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the orbiter. Crew Crew seat assignments Mission objective Tethered Satellite System The primary objective of STS-75 was to carry the Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TS ...

in 1996. TSS-1R Italian mission ''Columbia'' *

STS-103 STS-103, the 96th launch of the Space Shuttle and the 27th launch of Space Shuttle ''Space Shuttle Discovery, Discovery'', was a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 19 December 1999 and ...

in 1999. Hubble Servicing Mission 3A ''Discovery''

Swiss space technology

Selected examples of Swiss contributions to space exploration and technology. *

Omega Speedmaster Omega Speedmaster is a line of chronograph Watch, wristwatches produced by Omega SA. While chronographs have existed since the late 1800s, Omega first introduced this line of chronographs in 1957. Since then, many different chronograph Movement ...

, worn by

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin ( ; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three extravehicular activity, spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eag ...

on the Moon during the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

mission, and standard equipment for NASA astronauts. *

Solar sail Solar sails (also known as lightsails, light sails, and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigati ...

developed at

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

used by the

Apollo Program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

to measure

solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer, the Stellar corona, corona. This Plasma (physics), plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy betwee ...

on the Moon. * ESA

Ariane rocket Ariane is a series of European civilian expendable launch vehicles for space launch use. The name comes from the French spelling of the mythological character Ariadne. France first proposed the Ariane project and it was officially agreed upon at ...

uses Swiss RUAG Space payload fairings. * Genesis probe sample return analyzed at

Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. * NASA

Mars Pathfinder ''Mars Pathfinder'' was an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a rover (space exploration), roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a Lander (spacecraft), lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a ligh ...

rover used Swiss Maxon motors. * University of Neuchatel contributed to the Mars

Phoenix (spacecraft) ''Phoenix'' was an uncrewed space probe that landed on the surface of Mars on May 25, 2008, and operated until November 2, 2008. ''Phoenix'' was operational on Mars for sols ( days). Its instruments were used to assess the local habitabili ...

. *

developed an ultra stable light source for testing NASA's TESS space telescope. * CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite)

space telescope A space telescope (also known as space observatory) is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO ...

developed at the

. * The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) is a high-resolution, 4.5 m per pixel (15 ft/pixel), colour stereo camera on board ESA's

Trace Gas Orbiter The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO or ExoMars Orbiter) is a collaborative project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Roscosmos agency that sent an atmospheric research orbiter and the ''Schiaparelli'' demonstration lande ...

developed at the

Offices

*Headquarters, CFAS, and IKAR:

*Delegation to the European Space Agency:

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

*Delegation to ESA at the European Union:

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Budget

In 2006, Switzerland contributed CHF 140 million ($142 million) or around 3.4% to ESA's budget. In 2005, the Swiss space industry's turnover was CHF 170 million.

References

External links

Webpage Swiss Space Office (English)