Swedish Press May 2018
(page 8) REGIONAL NEWS
SKÅNE
Grade four at Lövestad school in Sjöbo municipality got second place in the "Battery Hunt" competition after managing to collect 3.5 tons of batteries.
"It is quite incredible", says Jeanette Wiberg, teacher and coordinator at Lövestad school.
The competition engaged both children and adults in the village, and after the children had been declared second best in the whole country in collecting batteries, there was a celebration with cookies and cakes in the school yard.
"The big gain is that the students have become more aware of the environment. They talk a lot about recycling and that one can buy used furniture and clothes", says Jeanette Wiberg.
Altogether the school classes participating in the Battery Hunt collected 137 tons of batteries.
VÄSTERGÖTLAND
A motorist refused to stop at a police checkpoint for impaired driving in Högsbo, Göteborg. Instead, the driver accelerated and continued driving while the police followed behind. After somewhat of a chase, the driver drove off the road and into a ditch. He then tried to continue to drive and the police chose to drive into the car from behind.
"The car drove a bit too fast and ended up in the ditch, and when they were trying to leave, the police car and the car touched each other. It was supposed to stop the car from continuing, but the car tried to leave the area again," says Ann-Christine Löfstrand, the on-call police officer at Police Region West, to GP [Göteborgs Posten].
Fortunately no one was injured and the driver was arrested by police.
"There were no people injured, only metal damage."
The driver is charged with careless driving and driving under the influence of drugs.
The police action was lauded by the public on Facebook.
"It is good that you got hold of him, and that your car is the only material damage. Glad that you did not get hurt."
"Really good decision to stop the car before he entered Kungsbacka where the risk is great that he would have hit somebody and damaged more cars!"
ÖSTERGÖTLAND
Several municipalities in Östergötland will be offering their [university] students paid jobs within their respective areas of study. They will work once a week, and the municipality hopes that after finishing their studies and their work experience, the students will choose to stay in Östergötland.
According to Karin Ström Lehander of Linköping University: "Fully 70 percent of the students at Linköping University come from elsewhere. It is important to show them that there are good, interesting jobs in the region."
Altogether five municipalities are participating in the project: Linköping, Norrköping, Åtvidaberg, Motala and Mjölby.
"We are happy there will be 50 students [participating] this year", said Faiz Jaber of Linköping municipality.
The students will begin working this fall, and there are many benefits to the project, according to the municipality.
"The students get experience. And the municipalities acquire competent [employees] with the most up-to-date education. Students get a paid internship, one might say. But their studies will always take priority. We are very particular about that," said Karin Ström Lehander.
VÄRMLAND
Liza Johansson in Storfors got quite a surprise when she was going to dump the garbage and discovered a live dog in the garbage bin.
"It was such a shock, it was difficult to understand that it was for real. Since it was April 1st, my mother thought that I was joking at first", Liza Johansson says.
The dog had been placed in a plastic bag and only the head was peeking out. Liza's mother lifted the dog out.
"We didn't know if it was injured, aggressive or in pain. I documented the whole thing and then we went home."
Liza and her mother then took the dog home with them.
LAPPLAND
Reindeer herder Ingemar Blind in Gällivare saw a bear when out doing a wolverine inventory.
"It is very early [in the year], and it is of course still deep winter in the mountains", he said.
Blind, who was together with the county administration's wilderness warden in a helicopter when they saw the bear at Gáidumgeahci, the Kaitum chalets in the Gällivare mountains, was very surprised.
"It is still so early [in the season], but we can't just call out to it to go back to sleep."
Blind has pondered the discovery.
"I have heard that others have seen bears as well. I don't know why they have woken up [from hibernation] so early, I am no expert on bears. But it is worrisome with regard to the calving season," reindeer herder Ingemar Blind told Samiradio and SVT Sápmi.
(page 14/15) Exclusive interview with Olle Norberg
Olle Norberg and how it all began with a space suit
Olle Norberg worked as a satellite control engineer with the Swedish National Space Board located at the Esrange Space Center 1988-1989. During 1989-2001 he was a Ph.D. student, project manager and researcher at the Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna. He presented his doctoral thesis in 1998 and graduated with a Ph.D. in technology from Umeå University. Then during 2001-2009 he worked again at the Space Board, first as deputy head of Esrange Space Center and later as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Relations. In 2009 the government appointed Norberg as Director General of the Space Board.
Q: Tell me about your upbringing and how you came to be involved in the space industry.
A: I was born in 1963. In the 60's, Esrange was in the construction phase. Of course, I was far too young to understand what went on there. What caught my attention though was the Apollo program. For a 6-year-old the moon landings were totally fascinating, seeing people land on the moon. I remember how I saw a space suit in a shop window in Kiruna before Christmas in 1969. I wanted it, and I got it! Since then I have been fascinated by space and what you can do there. I read a lot about it as I grew up and dreamed of studying in that field. It was only natural then that I studied technical physics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Q: During your long career you have been a researcher at the Institute for Space Physics (IRF) in Kiruna, head of the Esrange rocket base just outside Kiruna and now Director General at the Space Board in Stockholm. Is there a common denominator for your experiences in these roles?
A: In some way, the common denominator - at least at Esrange and the Space Board - is helping other researchers and industries achieve their ambitions. As space researcher at IRF, it is clear that my focus was more on our group's ability to reach our own goal. But even there I was most interested in the parts that involved gathering data and building instruments, not just for my own scientific ambitions, but also for a larger purpose. If you try to find a common thread, it is rather my interest in how we in Sweden can help more people get the opportunity to work within the space industry and above all, to gain access to the resources we have at Esrange - fly rockets, balloons, download data, etc.
Q: Please say a few words about the Space Board's mandate and activities.
A: The Space Board is an authority which is under the Ministry of Education and Research. We deal not only with research questions but also with a lot of issues connected to Swedish industry and the use of space technology in society. Around two thirds of the resources we have go towards pooling our results within ESA and creating the infrastructure needed for society's space activity, such as satellites for navigation, telecommunication and earth observation. Thereby we also support the Swedish space industry to be competitive and innovative.
Q: Now and then it's been discussed in Sweden about launching commercial space tourism from the Esrange space base, this in cooperation with international space entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. How much success has Sweden had in turning these ambitions into reality?
A: We engaged in a collaboration with Branson's Virgin Galactic about 10 years ago. We looked at the possibilities to establish a space port in Europe for Virgin's trips. We had a cooperation agreement with Virgin Galactic to look at the technical prerequisites. But it has taken a very long time for Virgin Galactic to get going with their activities at the Mojave Air and Space Port in USA. We have yet to see the first commercial flight with space tourists aboard. I would like to say that Kiruna has good potential on whatever day all this starts. But then the question remains about how big space tourism will become. I can't venture to answer that. I was at the Mojave Air and Space Port myself in May last year together with our space minister. Of course there are exciting space activities over there. But in conversation with the airport manager it became clear that is rather Mojave who is looking at Kiruna to see how they can copy the structure that we have in the form of education and research in cooperation with industry. At Mojave there is only industry, no education or research.
Q: In September 2017 the government gave the Space Board a mission to work with the Swedish Space Corporation to investigate the possibilities of sending up small commercial satellites from Esrange. Can you tell us more about the background to this goal, what obstacles remain to be overcome, and when a definitive decision can be expected?
A: The origin of this idea goes back several decades in time to when Esrange was established as a launch site for sounding rockets. So it was natural that they at the same time looked at a variety of possibilities. Sounding rockets go straight up to a height of about 700 km and then fall straight down again. But to go into orbit, what are the consequences? What additional capabilities do you need in order to accomplish this? What is interesting now is that we are in a completely different situation regarding pressure from customers. In the past the idea was more of a technician's wishful thinking. Everyone at Esrange wanted this so badly, but the market was non-existent. Today the situation is completely different, in that there are a multitude of small satellites that are waiting to be launched - and now we aren't just talking about micro-satellites, but also about small satellites like OneWeb. The latter will mostly be launched by Soyuz rockets. But OneWeb and similar constellations will need to be filled in now and then when individual satellites cease to function, and here there is a market niche for a small launch site such as Esrange to send small satellites into orbit by means of small booster rockets. There are already several small rockets on the world market that would be suitable. We are hoping that the government will make funds available this year, because we need to build a certain infrastructure that is farther away from the main building compared to the sounding rockets. The government's budget proposal is usually presented on September 20, but this fall there will also be parliamentary elections, so we'll see.
Q: Your mandate as Director General at the Space Board will expire in May this year. When you look back on your 9 years in this post, which achievements are you most satisfied with?
A: I am very happy to have been able to get a small satellite program for research going. We are now building a satellite in the 50-kg class that Swedish researchers will be able to benefit from. We have also started a balloon and rocket based research program that provides continuity for Swedish researchers to take advantage of the resources at Esrange. I have also worked hard to develop a real national space strategy for Sweden. It will be released in May.
Interviewed by Peter Berlin.
(page 19) Lifestyle : Poetry
A Scandinavian-American Poet, Singer and Dancer
By Marion Palm
Marion Palm, an award winning writer and poet who lives in Brooklyn, NY, contacted Swedish Press to enquire whether we might publish a poem translated to Swedish by Marion's cousin in Stockholm. After leaving a message on her answerphone, we received the following email. We found her Swedish irresistible and are reproducing it verbatim in the following.
It was nice to come home and hear Swedish in my house today. Of course you may use my poems. I don't exactly remember where they were [published] but one of them was translated to Swedish by my cousin's son Pelle Gagneval, who lives in Stockholm, although the original authorship is mine. Pelle's mother and my mother Alice were siblings in Västervik, from the Hultsberg family.
My father brought Alice over here to America in 1934, and they lived here in Brooklyn the whole time, although they flew back and forth to Sweden several times. We spoke Swedish at home, and I didn't learn English until after I started school. I have studied Swedish at college in Minnesota, but am lazy about my spelling. Please forgive me.
[ The remainder of this article is already in English, so we are not reproducing it here. ]
(c) SweMail is the English translation of the Swedish articles in the monthly Swedish Press magazine, © Swedish Press 2018 and the volunteer translators: Eva Grenier, Jan Sundin, Laine Ruus, Randy Nord, and Valentin Petcu, coordinated by Ingemar Olson.