Space Travel
Space travel is enormously important for the exploration of our planetary system and for gaining knowledge, but also for our everyday lives. Satellites are launched into the Earth’s orbit where they are used for weather forecasts, as navigation aids or for communication.
Switzerland participates in many space projects and is a member state of the European Space Agency (ESA). The Space Office of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) provides an interesting overview of Swiss space travel and space policy on its website and the Committee on Space Research of SCNAT in the COSPAR Report. Both are linked on the right.
Research in Switzerland is focussing in particular on space debris. This involves remnants of space activities that remain in space. They are a growing problem, as this debris is travelling uncontrolled at high speeds and can collide with satellites.
There have so far been two Swiss astronauts. Claude Nicollier completed his last space mission with ESA in 1999. Following a one-year course of training, Marco Sieber is officially an astronaut with ESA since April 2024. Along with 16 others, he prevailed against 22,500 other interested candidates.
In autumn 2024, the first Master's in Space Science and Technology has started at the (Swiss) Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ).
Switzerland has been working on a Space Act since 2022. Space is used extensively by various players for weather forecasts, monitoring and controlling energy networks, navigation services and much more. The Space Act will become the legal framework for all those involved.