Swedish National Space Agency (Rymdstyrelsen)

The Swedish National Space Agency, also called SNSA, is a central government agency in Sweden. It sits under the Ministry of Education and Research. It is responsible for national and international space and remote sensing work, mainly research and development. Its office is in Solna. The agency was known as SNSB until 2018.

The agency has three main tasks. It gives out government grants for space research, technology development and remote sensing. It starts research and development work in these fields. It is also the Swedish contact for international cooperation.

Sweden takes part in the European Space Agency, ESA, and most of the money goes through that work. The site gives government funding for 2023 as about SEK 1.3 billion. Of this, SEK 914 million went to ESA, SEK 218 million to national work and SEK 58 million to Esrange. A further SEK 47 million paid for administration. About 70 percent of the budget goes to international cooperation and about 20 percent to national research and development.

Swedish researchers, companies and users of space applications can apply for money. Independent foreign reviewers assess the grant requests, and the agency board decides who gets support. The agency can sign space contracts for Sweden. It also works to spark interest in space through schools and the public.

The agency does not do its own research. Others run the main space sites. Esrange, a base for rockets and balloons, is run by the Swedish Space Corporation. Esrange has been in use since 1966 and the site calls it the largest civilian space center in Europe. Onsala Space Observatory is run by Chalmers University of Technology. The Eiscat radar in Kiruna is run by Eiscat.

The postal address is Box 4006, SE-171 04 Solna. The visitor address is Hemvärnsgatan 9, Solna. The phone number is +46 8 40 90 77 00. The site also hosts the national space strategy.