The Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA, Swedish: Rymdstyrelsen) is a Government agency in Sweden operating under the Swedish Ministry of Education and Science. SNSA distributes government grants to research and development, initiates research and development in space and remote sensing, and is the Swedish contact in international cooperation. SNSA has twenty-one employees (2018) and its office is situated in the Solna Municipality, within Stockholm.[2] Rymdstyrelsen changed its English name from Swedish National Space Board to Swedish National Space Agency in 2018.[3]
Space programme
The Swedish space programme is mostly carried out through international cooperation. Out of a yearly budget of approximately 900 Mkr (100 M€), about 70% is used to support ESA programmes of importance to Sweden.[citation needed] The programme has included a sequence of satellite missions, both national ones and in cooperation with other nations.
In February 2013, a government 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."[4]
While approximately 1 billion Swedish krona (US$158 million) 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."[4]
Satellite missions
Viking (1986−1987), to explore plasma processes in the magnetosphere and the ionosphere
