Mars has always been the most interesting celestial body for us at earth. Through well known astronomers such as Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Christian Huygens, G. Domenico Cassini, William Herschel. Giovanni Shiaparelli and Euchene Antoniadi, we have gradually extended our knowledge about the planet. But in all respect for the previous astronomers, the space ages with satellites and landers, the past four decades have given us more detailed information about the planet than several hundred years of research have before.

As a part of the Cosmic Vision 2020 Mars Express is the first of the missions that will bring about more knowledge about our neighbours in space. Later, missions such as Venus Express to Venus, and BepiColombo to Mercury, will provide Europe with greater knowledge about the inner planets, missions that can place Europe in the forefront of planet investigation.

Modern astronomers uses the entire electromagnetic spectrum to learn about the cosmos. Europe’s next major scientific satellite, INTEGRAL, is designed to make astronomical observations in hard X-rays and gamma rays, the most energetic forms of electromagnetic radiation. One of the four instruments, the Joint European Monitor for X-rays, JEM-X, has been provided by a collaboration of European laboratories with a strong Nordic contribution.

Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI) is, in spite of many well-known space research institutes in Denmark, regarded as the flagship in Danish space research

After decades of research much of the interaction between the earth and the sun, the sun’s effect on our surroundings and the mechanisms that control the effects are not so well known. But, in spite of the possibilities the satellite techniques provide, ground based instruments are still the most cost effective way to gain new knowledge, with satellites and rockets as important supplements.

With Integral, the most high energetic space radiation we know can be continuously detected with instruments that are very well adjusted to these phenomena. Used on earth in medical examinations, but fortunately for us, continuous influence from space is effectively stopped by the atmosphere.

When the International Space Station (ISS) is complete, and fully manned, the station will need a regular supply of propellant, food and other supplies for general maintenance activities onboard. The most cost effective way to achieve this is to use unmanned ferries for one time use. Europe’s main contribution to the station is developing and building the required number of such ferries. The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is today in the closing stages of development/

This is the slogan the Andøya Rocket Range is using to help widen their customer base. If you want to launch sounding rockets or balloons or if you want to carry out an experiment through ground based instruments, the Andøya Rocket Range (ARR) in many cases will be able to help.

During the Arctic summer, when the temperature in the 80-90 km height region becomes very low, cirrostratous like clouds called Noctilucent Clouds (NLC) can be observed around 82 km height. These are the highest clouds in the Earths atmosphere and are caused by low temperatures in combination with the existence of water vapour in the upper mesosphere.