BENGALURU : Sweden , whose space collaboration with India dates back to 1986, will be sending an instrument on India’s Venus Orbiter Mission ( VOM ), which was cleared by the Union Cabinet last Wednesday (Sep 18). The Scandinavian nation’s deputy minister of foreign trade, Håkan Jevrell, confirmed this to TOI in an interview. Håkan Jevrell, who is in Bengaluru leading Sweden’s largest space delegation to date, held elaborate meetings with Isro , the Indian National Space Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), and also took the delegation to IISc on Wednesday (Sept 25).
Other members of the Swedish delegation said that the instrument on VOM will be developed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF). While the cabinet approved the mission formally with a cost of Rs 1,236 crore last week, Isro has been preparing to go to Venus for several years now, and the tie-up with IRF has also been in talks.
As per IRF, Sweden is set to embark on its second Venus exploration with the “institute’s Venusian Neutrals Analyzer (VNA) instru ment,” which will study the interaction between charged particles from the Sun and Venus’ atmosphere and exosphere. This venture follows IRF’s successful participation in the European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission from 2006 to 2014.
Chandrayaan-4 & Gaganyaan
Sweden, which boasts a network of ground stations to track and monitor satellites, has been Isro’s partner for all three lunar missions — Chandrayaan-1, 2 & 3 — and is looking forward to partnering on Chandrayaan-4 and also Gaganyaan, India’s human spaceflight mission.
“Of course, we would love to see that. But discussions are ongoing. We’re very proud to see that we have strong capacities and capabilities within the Swedish space corporation that has brought us to the situation of being part of the previous missions. Wo uld love to see a continuation,” Jevrell said.
He added: “...The Swedish space corporation already has a global network from South America to Australia and high north in the US and so on. So, we have those capacities already and that has been part of collaboration previously. Let us see how things develop, but we are very ready and open to cooperate.”
Pvt sector collaboration
On whether there’s a change in the way the Indo-Swedish partnership will progress in the wake of India opening up its space sector, Jevrell said the more the private sector partakes, the better it is.
“...We’ve seen this in many areas and as a country, we are extremely proud to say that we’ve produced many big global companies. We now have unicorns that are global and that is done, of course, with a strong research base and aca demia working together with the govt and the private sector. That’s been a good solution for us and now we believe when we see the opening up of the sector in India, we have a good proposal for working closely together,” he said.
Terming the delegation he’s leading as very broad, he said there were some bigger companies that have been around for a long time and some younger firms that are more niche. “...Today’s (Wednesday) meetings and deliberations with IN-SPACe and Isro were more for continuous starting points to compare capabilities and see where we can find matches so that our companies come closer together. Also, of course, it was to give some ideas to the decision-makers and regulators about what we should do more and what’s needed to be able to come really close,” he said.
Other members of the Swedish delegation said that the instrument on VOM will be developed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF). While the cabinet approved the mission formally with a cost of Rs 1,236 crore last week, Isro has been preparing to go to Venus for several years now, and the tie-up with IRF has also been in talks.
As per IRF, Sweden is set to embark on its second Venus exploration with the “institute’s Venusian Neutrals Analyzer (VNA) instru ment,” which will study the interaction between charged particles from the Sun and Venus’ atmosphere and exosphere. This venture follows IRF’s successful participation in the European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission from 2006 to 2014.
Chandrayaan-4 & Gaganyaan
Sweden, which boasts a network of ground stations to track and monitor satellites, has been Isro’s partner for all three lunar missions — Chandrayaan-1, 2 & 3 — and is looking forward to partnering on Chandrayaan-4 and also Gaganyaan, India’s human spaceflight mission.
“Of course, we would love to see that. But discussions are ongoing. We’re very proud to see that we have strong capacities and capabilities within the Swedish space corporation that has brought us to the situation of being part of the previous missions. Wo uld love to see a continuation,” Jevrell said.
He added: “...The Swedish space corporation already has a global network from South America to Australia and high north in the US and so on. So, we have those capacities already and that has been part of collaboration previously. Let us see how things develop, but we are very ready and open to cooperate.”
Pvt sector collaboration
On whether there’s a change in the way the Indo-Swedish partnership will progress in the wake of India opening up its space sector, Jevrell said the more the private sector partakes, the better it is.
“...We’ve seen this in many areas and as a country, we are extremely proud to say that we’ve produced many big global companies. We now have unicorns that are global and that is done, of course, with a strong research base and aca demia working together with the govt and the private sector. That’s been a good solution for us and now we believe when we see the opening up of the sector in India, we have a good proposal for working closely together,” he said.
Terming the delegation he’s leading as very broad, he said there were some bigger companies that have been around for a long time and some younger firms that are more niche. “...Today’s (Wednesday) meetings and deliberations with IN-SPACe and Isro were more for continuous starting points to compare capabilities and see where we can find matches so that our companies come closer together. Also, of course, it was to give some ideas to the decision-makers and regulators about what we should do more and what’s needed to be able to come really close,” he said.
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