The head of aerospace at Nammo fears that Norway is now in danger of being left behind when it comes to recruitment for aerospace. The company has major problems in obtaining qualified Norwegians for the aerospace department, and three quarters of them are now foreign nationals. – We are happy for each and every one of them, but would have liked to see that Norway had the capacity to train more Norwegians in the industry, he says. No astronauts from Norway He believes that Norway is now at a crossroads, and that we are in danger of being left behind if we do not get our own space education. Today, there are several fields of study and educational institutions in Norway that provide education for a number of subjects within space travel, but Lium believes that there is a lack of a separate space education. Lium is supported by Iacob Nedreaas, who is head of Space NTNU in Trondheim. He believes it is quite obvious why there are so many foreigners in the industry. – We do not have a direct space flight line here in Norway. – We lack an education course that facilitates the positions that are actually needed. This is something they have in other countries, for example Germany and the USA. He points out that Norway has not yet recruited a single astronaut. Both Nedreaas and Lium participated last week in an aerospace conference in Trondheim, where education was central. SPACE INTEREST: From left: NTNU students Iacob Fleischer Nedreaas, Kristin Mehli Skuterud and Adrian Larsen during the space conference in Trondheim in September. Photo: Bent Vidar Lindsetmo / news Reacting to space travel cuts Both are reacting strongly to what happened last autumn, when the government originally wanted to cut support for ESA, the European Space Agency. The proposal was to cut by NOK one billion until 2030. But after consideration in the industry committee, the governing parties reversed themselves, and the proposal did not pass in the Storting. Now both are putting their trust in the national budget, which will be presented on 6 October. There they hope that Norwegian aerospace education can get a solid boost. In the Hurdal platform, the governing parties write that they will “bet on the space industry.” Norwegian space travel 1962: Norway became a space nation when the research rocket Ferdinand 1 was launched from Andøya Raketskytefelt, now Andøya Space. 1968: Tromsø telemetry station was established. It laid the foundation for Kongsberg Satellite Service, which operates Svalsat, the world’s largest ground station for polar orbiting satellites. 1987: Norway became a member of the European Space Agency. 1989: Televerket, later Telenor, launches the communications satellite Thor-1. 2010: First national satellite for maritime surveillance, AISSat-1, was launched. The foundation laid for today’s Norwegian fleet of small satellites. 2020: Through NICFI’s satellite programme, the Ministry of Climate and Environment makes detailed satellite data available for one hundred countries with tropical forests. 2021: Rimfax, a radar from the Norwegian Defense Research Institute, is one of seven instruments on NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance that lands on Mars. In 2022, there were approx. 1,000 people who worked in Norwegian space companies. Source: Norwegian Space Center Without space technology, no satellites Head of department Thomas Tybell at NTNU in Trondheim says that the Norwegian space industry is central to value creation in Norway. He believes this is important for all of us in everyday life. – Without space technology, we have no satellites, and much of the basis for modern society will fall away, he says. SPACE EXPERT: Head of Department Thomas Tybell at NTNU in Trondheim. Photo: Bent Vidar Lindsetmo / news Tybell says that NTNU in Trondheim has a number of plans in the next few years that will further develop the subject offer in space travel. – The government is betting on the space industry State Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Oddmund Løkensgard Hoel, (Sp) does not directly answer whether more educational capacity is needed within Norwegian aerospace subjects, but writes in an e-mail that he expects the educational institutions to make ongoing assessments. “We know that the space research communities are active in the dialogue about what is needed going forward,” writes Hoel. State Secretary in the Ministry of Business, Health Flø Kvamsås (Ap), believes that the government has followed up on the point in the Hurdal platform regarding investment in the space industry. He refers, among other things, to the proposal from the government to allocate NOK 5 million to a national center for earth observation. NOK 450 million will also be used for satellite-based ocean monitoring in the period 2023–2025.
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Nammo fears that Norway will be sold out if we do not get our own aerospace training – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
