Intervju inom projektet 50 år i rymden

The interview treats Per Nobinder’s experiences as industry policy officer at Rymdtekniska gruppen, Rymdbolaget, and later Rymdstyrelsen, which altogether lend him a key role in the distribution of Swedish funds – via European space organizations or not – to space technology projects. The interview elucidates the structure and practice of Sweden’s policy making related to European space activities within ESRO and later ESA. Not least it discusses the trade-offs between technical, political and economic considerations in the distribution of European funds, stressing the Juste Retour as the ultimate principal for the outcome. Among Swedish industry actors competing for Swedish and European funds, Saab was the largest, Ericsson substantially smaller, while Volvo had unique technical competence in a European perspective – in a way that Saab did not. Partly as a result of this, Nobinder describes the cooperation with Volvo as smoother than that with Saab. Attempts to press the Swedish industry actors to co-fund Swedish state funds for space technology projects were, however, ultimately unsuccessful. The interview also highlights the relationships, power struggles and tensions between the private industry actors and state-owned Rymdbolaget, on the one hand, and between Rymdbolaget and the authority Rymdstyrelsen on the other. Not least through its dynamic director, Rymdbolaget tried to, and often succeeded, to shape Swedish policies related to space activities.