Swedish Space Corporation - South Point Satellite Station

The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) provides space subsystems, space and satellite operations, rocket and balloon systems including experiment equipment, launch services, aerospace engineering services as well as airborne maritime surveillance systems. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries

ECAPS History ECAPS AB is a Swedish spacecraft propulsion company, established in 2000 as a joint venture between the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and Volvo Aero with the goal of developing and commercializing in-space thruster technology using a l ...

and NanoSpace, the SSC is also engaged in the development of propulsion systems and micromechanical systems for space applications. From its facility

Esrange Esrange Space Center (short form Esrange) is a rocket range and research centre located about 40 kilometers east of the town of Kiruna in northern Sweden. It is a base for scientific research with high-altitude balloons, investigation of the au ...

Space Center in Northern Sweden, the SSC launches sounding rockets and high-altitude balloons for research in the areas of microgravity, astrophysics, astronomy and atmospheric studies. One notable program during the late 1980s/early 1990s was a joint project with the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies using SSC's MASER rocket to lift aloft various experiments requiring microgravity environments, at a low cost. This was during a period when U.S.

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially 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. Its official program ...

flights along with associated planned experiments were still being disrupted by the aftermath of the

Challenger disaster On January 28, 1986, the broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39a.m. EST (16:39 UTC). It was ...

. At Esrange SSC operates one of the world's busiest civilian satellite ground stations, communicating with both telecom and scientific satellites. The SSC's facility Stockholm Teleport provides satellite communication services, and the wholly owned German company LSE is specialised in satellite control and ground station services. The SSC runs a global ground station network, PrioraNet, in which its US subsidiary Universal Space Network plays a big part. On 1 July 2011, the SSC sold its satellite division to the German space company OHB which then formed a Swedish subsidiary named OHB-Sweden. In February 2013, a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

audit was released by the Swedish National Audit Office which concluded that "Swedish space investment is distributed among multiple organizations that operate as stovepipes with no real communication between them and no common ambition." While approximately is spent each year on Swedish space initiatives, the audit report calls for additional "government oversight of the European Space Agency (ESA) and a review of the Swedish Space Corporation's structure and mission." The SSC announced on 21 September 2020 that it was not renewing its contract to help operate Chinese satellites from its ground stations, and that it would cease doing business in China altogether.

Scientific satellites developed

* Prisma satellites – launched 15 June 2010 * SMART-1 – launched 27 September 2003 * Odin – launched 20 February 2001 * Astrid 2 – launched 10 December 1998 * Astrid 1 – launched 24 January 1995 * Freja – launched 6 October 1992 *

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

– launched 22 February 1986

Telecom satellites project management

Tele-X Tele-X was the first communications satellite serving the Nordic countries. It was launched with an Ariane 2 launch vehicle from Kourou, French Guiana, on 2 April 1989. On 16 January 1998, its fuel was exhausted and it was moved into graveyar ...

* Sirius W *

Sirius 2 Astra 5A was one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES at the Astra 31.5°E. Launched in 1997 to the 5° East position by NSAB (Nordiska Satelit AB) (later SES Sirius, and now a non-autonomous part of SES) as Sir ...

* Sirius 3

Other locations

SSC Ground Station Network: * Yatharagga Satellite Station – SSC Space Australia * Esrange Satellite Station at Esrange Space Center

References

External links

Swedish Space Corporation
– Official website
OHB Sweden
– Official website
SSC Ground Station Network
{{authority control 1972 establishments in Sweden Technology companies established in 1972 Government-owned companies of Sweden Scientific organizations based in Sweden Defence companies of Sweden Aerospace companies of Sweden Space programme of Sweden Companies based in Solna Municipality