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SWEDISH SPACE CORPORATION
SSC designs, launches, tests and operates space and aerospace systems and is one of the three biggest space-companies in Sweden.
Swedish Space Corporation: The year 2007 in summary.
(I visited Esrange in september 2007. The pictures in this text are from that visit.)
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) is one of the few companies in the world which has the expertise to develop complete space projects, from the concept stage, development and testing, through to launch and operation. If we then consider how many companies the size of SSC have the capacity to carry out the whole space technology chain, SSC is virtually unique.
The advantage for SSC´s customers is that they can work with a small, flexible company with a level of technology which only extremely large organisations can otherwise offer. This is all thanks to the high levels of individual expertise which SSC’s employees possess. A typical employee not only boasts in-depth knowledge within a specific field, but is also able to take on a wide range of different roles.
The fact that Sweden has developed a long line of satellite projects since the mid-1980s is one of the reasons why Swedish Space has been able to build up such a wealth of expertise. Sounding rockets, which marked the beginning of Swedish space activities at the start of the 1960s, are another factor. Developing and launching sounding rockets remains one of the company’s core activities, and balloon launches were added in the 1970s. Activities such as balloon flights from Esrange around the North Pole are now being planned, allowing scientists to carry out unique scientific measurements. Conditions at Esrange Space Center are better for this type of flight than anywhere else in the world.
The site’s excellent geographical location is also one of the reasons why SSC’s satellite station has come to be one of the world’s busiest civilian ground stations for polar satellites.
Hence, it is Sweden’s space programme which has laid the foundation for the breadth, expertise and experience which has been so important in SSC’s growing commercial success. The same programme has also provided resources for new development which it would otherwise have been hard – or even impossible – to finance, and which will ultimately benefit mankind, either directly or indirectly, in the form of new knowledge and the good of society.
SSC’s activities are carried out within four business areas: Aerospace Services, Airborne Systems, Satellite Operations and Space Systems. Space systems and maritime surveillance systems are developed at the Space Technology Building in Solna, near Stockholm. Rocket and balloon launches, satellite data collection and satellite control take place at Esrange Space Center, and flight and space systems are tested at the RFN test range in Vidsel. Various satellite communication services are offered at Stockholm Teleport.
These business areas have been developed based on shared technology, providing significant synergy benefits. New opportunities are arising all the time. For example, we will soon be able to carry out more effective environmental monitoring at sea, thanks to the possibility of combining observations carried out using SSC’s airborne maritime surveillance systems with satellite observations.
SSC now has three wholly-owned subsidiaries working within space activities: the Swedish innovation companies NanoSpace and ECAPS, and the German consultancy company LSE Space.
The Swedish Space Corporation is now entering a phase of significant expansion, with a growing number of employees and a sharp focus on international growth and the commercialisation of the company’s various projects, taking the Swedish space programme as its basis. This expansion will bring new opportunities for creating even more of what the company’s work is all about: space technology which brings benefits and new knowledge.
2007 in brief:
EXTENDED CONTRACT FOR TERRASAR-X
Swedish Space Corporation has negotiated an extended
communications services contract for the German satellite
TerraSAR-X. TerraSAR-X is a scientific radar satellite which
can observe objects on earth of one metre in size, even at
night and in cloudy conditions.
SUCCESSFUL TEST FLIGHTS
FOR X-RAY EXPERIMENT MODULE
XRMON is a new, innovative experiment module with built-in
x-ray equipment, developed by Swedish Space. A successful
parabolic payload test flight was carried out ahead of the
forthcoming flight onboard the MASER 11 sounding rocket
next year.
NEW SWEDISH BALLOON AND
ROCKET PROJECTS
Two new Swedish space projects, the balloon-borne
PoGOLite telescope and the PHOCUS sounding rocket,
are now taking shape. Both the balloon and the rocket will
be launched from Swedish Space’s facility Esrange Space
Center during 2009.
Swedish Space Corporation CONTRIBUTES TOWARDS
BALTIC ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
Swedish Space has signed a contract for an airborne maritime
surveillance system for the Estonian Border Guard
Aviation Group. The system will be used for tasks such as environmental
monitoring and search and rescue.
WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THE CLIMATE?
The Odin satellite has been studying the ozone layer since
2001. Swedish Space and Chalmers University of Technology
have carried out studies of a new climate satellite project to
continue monitoring the atmosphere in order to increase
our understanding of the climate and to improve forecasting.
Consolidated income statement for 2007.
(Swedish crowns, thousands)
Net sales 550 929
Raw materials and consumables - 33 154
Other external costs –194 661
Personnel costs – 304 005
Depreciation and write-downs of tangible fixed assets –27 328
Other operating income 10 046
Other operating expenses –706
Operating profit 1 121
Result from participations in associated companies 5 270
Interest income and similar income 9 897
Interest expenses and similar items – 4 488
Income/loss after financial expenses 11 800
Tax – 3 709
Net profit for the year 8 091
This text is an exerpt from the financial info of The Swedish Space Company. If you want to read more, go to
www.ssc.se
and read on "SSC Group/financial info/summary in English" or go to
http://www.ssc.se/?id=6453
and then click on the "Summary in English"
THE TEXUS-PROJECT.
TEXUS 45.
(February 21, 2008)
(from the web-site of SSC)
The sounding rocket Texus 45 was successfully launched today from the Swedish Space Corporation’s launch facility Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. The launch took place at 06:15 (UT) and the rocket provided 398 seconds of weightlessness for the three experiments onboard.
One of the experiments studies the behaviour of 72 fishes (cichlid fish) as they enter into weightlessness. The aim is to focus on motion sickness and the scientists try to understand why certain individuals get sick and others don’t. They especially look into how sick animals can adapt to this situation and overcome their sickness.
- A sounding rocket flight provides a unique feature as we are able to observe our samples during entry of the phase of weightlessness. Nobody has ever before observed how animals behave in this phase and we are very excited to analyse the film sequences that were recorded onboard and successfully recovered by helicopter, says Prof. Dr. Reinhard Hilbig from the University of Hohenheim in Germany.
Another experiment onboard, performed by the Technical University of Darmstadt, studies the hydrodynamics and the heat transfer in cases of spray impact onto a heated surface. The research aims at finding improved spray cooling methods in industrial processes.
The third experiment studies two-phase flows in capillary channels. The results of this experiment contribute to the answers of fundamental questions within the field of fluid mechanics. This experiment is a collaboration between scientists from the University of Bremen and the Institut de Mécanique des Fluides in Toulouse.
TEXUS 44
(February 7, 2008
)(from the web-site of SSC)
The sounding rocket Texus 44 was successfully launched today from the Swedish Space Corporation’s launch facility Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. The launch took place at 11:30 (UT) and the rocket provided 376 seconds of weightlessness time for the 4 experiments on board.
Sixty scientists from all over Europe visiting Esrange.
(January 31, 2008)
(from the web-site of SSC)
Around sixty scientists and technicians from all over Europe are visiting Esrange to participate in the first two rocket launches during 2008. The rocket campaigns, Texus 44 and Texus 45, are funded by ESA (European Space Agency) and the German space organisation DLR. The Texus program is carried out jointly by DLR, EADS Astrium, Kaiser-Threde and the Swedish Space Corporation.
All together there will be 7 experiments flown in 6 experiment modules on the two Texus missions. The primary aim of these experiments is to investigate the properties and behaviour of metal alloys and fluids as well as biological cells in a weightless environment. One of the biological experiments is focusing on motion sickness and the scientists try to understand why certain individuals (small fishes) get sick and others don’t:
-For us sounding rockets are a most appropriate spacecraft for our scientific team to reach our goals, says Prof. Dr. Reinhard Hilbig and P.D. Dr. Ralf Anken from the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim in Germany. In addition, we are very dependent on getting back our experiment in a good shape, and we consider launches from Esrange to be most reliable.
ODIN SATELLITE OPERATIONS PROLONGED.
(January 23, 2008)
(from the web-site of SSC)
Swedish Space Corporation has been commissioned by the Swedish National Space Board to control and operate the scientific satellite Odin an additional year, until December 2008. Since last year, Odin is also part of the European Space Agency’s third party mission programme.
Odin was designed for a two-year mission and has now outlived the design goal life time by six years. Since the launch in 2001, Odin has delivered a large amount of data concerning the ozone layer depletion to scientists. A year ago, scientists discovered that measurements made by Odin in the stratosphere could be used also for studies of clouds and aerosols which may have a cooling effect on our planet, as against the warming effect of carbon dioxide.
Updated 22/11/2024
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