Swedish Space Corporation – Three decades of experiences with space

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.

read more

ASPERA – Where did the water on Mars go?

Today, there is no, or very little, water in the atmosphere of Mars. However, it seems that there once was a lot of water on Mars. For example, studies of surface features suggest that there existed the equivalent of a several hundred meter deep water layer.

read more

Mars – the planet most like Earth

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.

read more

Mars Express – Europe’s contribution to learn more about Mars.

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.

read more