The scientists and users set the wishes and demands for a satellite like Metop, but it is only the industrial community that can concretise these wishes into an operational satellite. No company alone has the knowledge required, and to gather all information into one piece is an enormous puzzle for the organisations.

When ESA gave the green light for further development of the Vinci engine last autumn, they also gave the go-ahead for further development of the turbines the Swedish company Volvo Aero is responsible for, and the work is now evolved around engine testing.

After a down, mainly in blame of a general down in the commercial satellite market and electronics for these systems, Saab Ericsson Space is now in a time with increasing sales in a generally growing market.

After several successful launches, both for ESA’s satellites and for the launch provider Eurockot, something went wrong October 8.

With the successful launch of Ariane ECA in February this yea, Volvo Aero proved that the parts to the launcher engines that were delivered from the company met the necessary demands of quality the launcher industry expects. From the very beginning of the Ariane launcher era, Volvo Aero has supplied parts to the engines.

When Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) was chosen as prime contractor for the SMART-1 satellite in 2000, its long experiences from developing, constructing, launching and managing Swedish national satellites weighed heavily. As far back as in the early 80s, SSC entered the market of developing satellites such as the scientific satellite Viking, and the communication satellite Tele-X.

Launching satellites requires that a very large amount of different types of software functions perfectly together, not only in the satellite, but also for all ground equipment that supports the satellite.

The main task for the SADM is to rotate the Solar Arrays and transfer the current from the Solar Arrays into the spacecraft.

While most of the products early on were mainly meant for publicly financed space research and development, Saab Ericsson Space today generally recognises that they are one of the most important suppliers for the commercial space industries

The docking and de-docking activities are the most critical operations of the ATV mission. The actual docking will be fully automatic and the 20 tonne spacecraft could severely damage the ISS if control were lost during these manoeuvres.