ESERO Sweden was inaugurated during a dedicated event hosted by the National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm and held at the presence of Anna Rathsman, Director General of Swedish National Space Agency, Elena Grifoni Head of ESA Director General's Cabinet, and Christer Fuglesang, Director of the KTH Space Center and former ESA astronaut.
"In such a context, the ESERO project represents a great way to connect the power of space - knowledge, know-how, creativity, innovation, vision - to the education of our children. Space plays an increasingly vital role in the functioning of our society and it can be very strong tool at disposal of education."
In-service and pre-service teacher training will form the backbone of the ESERO Sweden activity portfolio, where the real-life space context sets the scene for innovative curricular activities in the classroom.
ESERO Sweden will also provide free classroom materials, interdisciplinary school projects, information on STEM careers, as well as access to role models from the national space industry and academia.
The ESA Education programme currently targets the education of young people from school to university level, through a rich portfolio of activities meant to enhance youngsters' STEM literacy, skills and competences, to encourage and enable them to pursue studies and careers in the STEM sector - space in particular, to increase their awareness of the importance of space in modern society and economy, and to promote the wealth of direct and indirect professional opportunities space offers.
In particular, education occupies a special place in the current programmatic manifesto of ESA, Agenda 2025, which - reinforced by the recent recommendations of the High-Level Advisory Group - is stressing the virtuous transformative influence of space on society, and identifies inspired STEM education as a fundamental enabler to form, attract and retain the best talents to the space sector in favour of society at large.
Swedish space companies are internationally competitive and Swedish technology innovations are found on numerous rockets and satellites in Europe and worldwide.
The Swedish National Space Agency has financed seven Swedish satellite projects to date, many of them in international cooperation: Viking, Freja, Astrid 1, Astrid 2, Odin, Prisma and Mats.
Swedish scientists and engineers have participated in Swedish and European space programmes for decades.
Swedish popularity in space went rocket-high during Christmas 2006, when ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang became the first ever astronaut of Swedish nationality to launch to the International Space Station on his mission Celsius, named after the 18th-century Swedish astronomer.