Space technology

DTU has a strong international position in space technology — an area attracting increased focus from both the government and the business community, as space exploration not only gives us a better understanding of the universe, but also of our own planet.

Astronaut Andreas Mogensen
Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen - affiliated with DTU as an adjunct professor - gives an update on his preliminary results from some of the research projects he is conducting. Photo: ESA/NASA.

The Danish space industry has seen significant growth in recent years and is an area where Denmark has a strong position — Denmark ranks among the countries with equipment on the most space missions.

In 2024, a public-private partnership called Space Commercialisation Denmark was also established, which will support a larger and more international space ecosystem in Denmark. The goal is, among other things, for 500 Danish companies to be equipped with knowledge about the opportunities in space technology.

Boasting Denmark’s largest technical-space science environment, DTU has been involved in more than 100 international space missions to Mars, the Sun, and Jupiter — often in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA in the United States. In addition, DTU has installed eight instruments on the International Space Station (ISS), many of which support the green transition in Denmark and help ensure a global overview of climate change with observations of climate, forests, and oceans.

Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen is affiliated with DTU as an honorary professor and has conducted research in collaboration with DTU during his mission to the ISS in 2023-24.

Space technology is about much more than exploring the universe. It is also about understanding our own planet. DTU is involved in the entire process: from developing instruments to sending them on space missions, analysing satellite data on the climate, and carrying out measurements on land and at sea that provide new knowledge about the Earth. DTU is also working to develop start-ups based on space technology, for example in the areas of health, precise positioning, and mapping of dark ships that hide their location in Danish waters.


Three focus areas at DTU:

The universe and exploration

DTU has developed and manufactured instruments for a large number of space missions for both NASA and ESA, and is actually one of the universities in the world that has built instruments for the most space missions. In addition, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen is an honorary professor at DTU and has carried out a number of experiments for DTU on the International Space Station (ISS).

In recent years, DTU has contributed equipment and research related to, for example, the NASA mission Juno to the solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter; the ASIM climate observatory on the International Space Station, which observes electrical emissions in connection with thunderstorms; NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, which is searching for signs of past life on the Red Planet; and the largest telescope in space—the James Webb Space Telescope—which orbits the Sun and investigates the evolution of the universe.

DTU is also developing star cameras that help satellites navigate by looking at the stars, magnetometers to measure magnetic fields on Earth and in space, and the radar and radiometer system to measure, for example, the thickness of sea ice and ice sheets.

Climate monitoring

The Earth’s climate is getting warmer, resulting in changes that are important to monitor. Climate monitoring enables us to measure how much ice is melting from large ice caps and glaciers, and to predict how much the sea level is rising. We can also gain more knowledge about the impact of climate change on, for example, the ecosystems in our oceans and cloud formation in the atmosphere. From space, we can also monitor large amounts of precipitation on land and how they affect water levels in large rivers and lakes, and these data can be used in the long term to provide an overview of which areas are particularly exposed to extreme weather in the future.

The monitoring is largely carried with the help of space technology, where satellites measure, photograph, and register the Earth in countless ways.

DTU has supplied equipment for a large number of satellites and analyses data that measure everything from the melting of ice in the Arctic and Antarctica to the Earth’s atmosphere, the marine environment, and the ability of forests to absorb CO2. Data that can also help us to develop better climate models.
Monitoring the Arctic is a key focus area, because climate change is happening faster here than in the rest of the world, and it impacts the rest of the planet, especially through melting of the ice sheet and glaciers.

Security

DTU is involved at the highest level of research in a number of areas of security technology, for example high-precision navigation in space and the development of sensors on satellites that can be used to search large areas, identify ships, icebergs, vehicles, and to monitor illegal and military activities.

DTU also conducts research into GPS jamming and spoofing, as well as threats to the Earth, for example space weather such as solar storms that can impact critical infrastructure like power plants, objects such as large asteroids and comets that can hit the Earth and cause huge damage, or space debris in the form of old satellites or debris that are in orbit around the Earth and that can damage our space-based infrastructure.

DTU is also a partner in the National Defence Technology Centre (NFC) together with the other Danish universities. The centre was established in 2023 to strengthen collaboration between industry and the Danish Armed Forces in areas such as space technology.

Contact our experts in space technology

John Leif Jørgensen

John Leif Jørgensen Professor and Head of Measurement and Instrumentation

Professor John Leif Jørgensen is a leading expert in space technology, especially within measurement and navigation instruments. He is known for his research in camera-based space exploration and the development of star trackers used by spacecraft to navigate. He has been involved in more than 100 space missions.

Louise Sandberg Sørensen

Louise Sandberg Sørensen Professor

Professor Louise Sandberg Sørensen is an expert in the use of satellite data to monitor how the Earth's glaciers and ice caps, especially in Greenland, are changing due to climate change.

Michael Linden-Vørnle

Michael Linden-Vørnle Astrophysicist and Chief Adviser

Astrophysicist Michael Linden-Vørnle has a broad knowledge of space science and technology. He works with satellites for monitoring in the Arctic, emergency preparedness and space security in relation to solar storms and space debris, as well as asteroids and comets that are at risk of colliding with Earth.

FAQ about space technology

See our answers to frequently asked questions about space technology.

Space technology refers to the many different types of technology used in space. It can be anything from satellites to space rockets, telescopes, probes, unmanned vehicles, and autonomous vehicles intended to drive on alien planets. And all the equipment and instruments needed to make these things possible.

Satellites can give us an overview of the Earth, which is useful for monitoring the climate. Climate satellites collect data on everything from the Earth’s surface to the oceans and the atmosphere, and these data can be used to calculate what is happening to our climate.

Most satellites observing the Earth are in low Earth orbit—typically 200-800 km above the Earth’s surface—enabling them to record images and collect data with better spatial resolution than, for example, the satellites orbiting 20-30,000 km above the Earth’s surface.

Satellites use radars, lasers, cameras, and thermal equipment to measure everything from how the Arctic ice sheet is melting to how much rainforest is being felled, the atmosphere’s content of greenhouse gases, and to monitoring the occurrence of droughts and storm surges.

The data obtained from the satellites’ instruments require processing before they can be used by researchers. For example, the large amount of data will be translated into maps and graphs that can provide answers to questions relating to agriculture, monitoring of water resources, or health and air quality. As the individual instruments can often only provide answers to more specific questions, it will typically be necessary to combine data from several different instruments and/or satellites.

First and foremost, space technology gives us a better understanding of the universe and our own planet. The universe is a gigantic laboratory where we can learn more about the basic structure of nature. How did the Earth and the universe begin—what is life? This is basic research, and it can sometimes be difficult to predict what this knowledge can be used for.

At the same time, satellites orbiting the Earth provide many functions such as communication, navigation, monitoring of weather and climate, as well as natural and man-made disasters. Roughly speaking, space is a crucial prerequisite for our modern society to function as it does.

In addition, part of the technology developed for space missions ends up being used on Earth. For example, everything from wireless communication to the battery-powered drill, freeze-drying, memory foam, and image sensors for digital cameras have been developed as a result of space research. It’s called spinoff.

With its national space strategy, the Danish government has also identified space technology as important in the development of green technology that can support the green transition. In general, space is very good business that can contribute to the growth and prosperity of society.

Once again, there is great focus on the Moon in space research, with both the US and China planning to send humans to the Moon by 2030. In the long term, it is being investigated whether we can use the Moon as a stepping stone to get to Mars, and NASA, ESA, and a number of other space agencies have plans to build a space station that will orbit the Moon. The project is called Lunar Gateway, and here astronauts will test the systems required to get further into space.

In the field of satellite technology, groundbreaking missions are also underway. DTU is involved in the upcoming Proba-3 mission to the Sun, where two satellites will fly in formation. Although the satellites will be about 60,000 km from Earth, their location can be controlled with a precision of as little as 1 mm.  This type of advanced formation flight opens up a number of opportunities to also observe the Earth or the universe, because several satellites can form a single instrument that can see far more details than is possible with a single space telescope. In addition, the same mission will test whether this technology can be used to track and monitor space debris—such as satellites or parts from satellites that are no longer in use but are still orbiting the Earth—so that other spacecraft and satellites can avoid potentially dangerous collisions.

In the area of climate change, the EU is working to develop a digital copy of the entire Earth, called Destination Earth, which can simulate and predict how our climate will change in the future using satellite observations with added artificial intelligence and supercomputers. DTU is developing the model of the ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica.

It requires advanced technology to send aircraft into space—whether manned or unmanned. The challenge of manufacturing space technology is that you cannot repair it or make major changes once it has been launched, just as it must be able to withstand completely different conditions than here on Earth. For example, there is strong radiation from the Sun, a hard vacuum with no air molecules, and enormous temperature fluctuations. So normal equipment like a mobile phone would not last very long in space before it would break. When you want to use technology developed for conditions on Earth in space, it therefore has to be improved and made durable enough.

Before technological equipment is used in space, it must be subjected to thorough testing, for example by simulating the launch conditions by means of vibration tests, by performing thermal tests to ensure that the equipment can withstand extreme temperatures, and by performing vacuum tests to mimic the airless environment in space. In addition, you use computer simulations and make physical prototypes of equipment to test the design and functionality. Finally, the equipment is environmentally tested in chambers simulating the extreme conditions.

Occasionally, smaller test missions are carried out, e.g. in low Earth orbit to ensure that the technology works correctly before it is sent off on the intended mission.

There are more than 13,000 satellites in orbit around the Earth, according to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)—a number that has grown dramatically in recent years.

The satellites ensure, among other things, that we can talk on the phone, find your way with navigation on the smartphone, watch TV, keep an eye on the weather, and search for information on the internet. The number of satellites has seen enormous growth in recent years, as there were only 2,000 satellites in space in 2018. SpaceX is in particular behind the large increase, and they have sent over 6,000 Starlink satellites into orbit around the Earth in recent years to provide internet to people around the globe. There are plans to launch an additional 6,000 Starlink satellites.

This also means that the space around the Earth is becoming more cramped, and there is more and more space debris floating around in space. Space debris can be old satellites that no longer work or debris that has fallen off different spacecraft, and together this increases the risk of active satellites colliding with space debris.

Satellites typically navigate and orient themselves using a digital star tracker. DTU Professor John Leif Jørgensen has developed a star tracker system that in various versions is and has been included in well over 100 spacecraft and satellites from ESA and NASA, and which is considered among the most precise and robust systems of this kind in the world.

Denmark launched its first satellite in 1999. It was the Ørsted satellite—named after Hans Christian Ørsted—which measured the Earth’s magnetic field with great precision. Today, it has been replaced by the European Swarm mission, which Denmark is the scientific leader of and which has supplied both magnetometers and star trackers.

Satellites are launched using a rocket that often carries several satellites at the same time. When the rocket reaches a certain altitude, the satellites are released and move on to their final orbit.

They then orbit the Earth in different orbits, with the closest being about 200 km from the Earth’s surface, while others are 36,000 km or higher above us.

The satellites can be either passive or active. The passive satellites typically have a camera that takes pictures of the Earth or the universe, while the active ones send a signal towards the Earth that is reflected back. It can be radio or laser signals down towards the Earth that are reflected by, for example, the ice sheets, and by measuring how quickly the signal comes back to the satellite, you can calculate the height of the ice.

There are many different types of satellites, such as weather satellites, navigation satellites, communication satellites, climate research satellites, space telescopes, and military satellites.

Andreas Mogensen was on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from August 2023 to March 2024. He was the first non-American pilot on the trip up to the space station, and subsequently he was also the commander of the space station for almost six months, making him the longest-serving European commander on the ISS to date.

The mission was called Huginn and here Andreas Mogensen worked on 10 experiments, four of which for DTU. Among other things, he photographed giant lightning, tested virtual reality glasses as mental relaxation for astronauts, took pictures of earthshine, which is sunlight that reflects off the Earth’s surface and hits the moon, and initiated 3D printing in metal of spare parts in space—a project his successors on the space station have completed by the end of 2024.

Andreas Mogensen is the first and so far only Danish astronaut. In 2015, he spent 8 days stay on the ISS.

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Strategy

National space research strategy

The government has a national space research strategy, that has been updated in the autumn of 2024. The strategy proposes that Denmark should have stronger research and innovation environments and play a greater international role, and that — over the next 10 years—up to four national space missions should be carried out, including a mission that will contribute to exploration of the Moon.

Companies that are investing in space technology increase their revenue by up to DKK 4.5 every time they invest DKK 1 in ESA.
Calculations from Ramboll
The global space technology economy is expected to triple by 2035 to almost USD 1.8 trillion.
According to consulting firm McKinsey & Company

News about space technology

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It took several weeks for DTU Space to get the metal object 3D printed aboard the International Space Station, as the operation required a number of safety precautions. Photo: ESA/NASA.

Space technology

12 December 2024

The world's first 3D metal print from space has landed and is on its way to DTU

DTU has designed one of the first metal objects ever produced in space. It was made using a 3D printer aboard the International Space Station and landed on Earth on Sunday with a SpaceX spacecraft. After New Year, the 3D-printed object will be sent to DTU for detailed examination.

Space technology

12 December 2024

Third generation of important climate satellite on the way

The GRACE satellites have been feeding the world with important climate data for over 20 years. Now the third generation is being manufactured, and DTU is supplying important instruments.

Space technology

10 December 2024

Ice is melting, seas are rising - how scientists are tracking the changes

The ice is melting in Greenland. But how much and how fast, and what does this mean for sea levels? To find answers, researchers are using measurements that rely on space technology.
The European Proba-3 mission was launched into space on 5th December from India with new technology on board from DTU Space, that have the potential to revolutionize the future of space exploration.

Space science

05 December 2024

DTU and ESA explore the Sun's corona and test groundbreaking space technology

Today, the European Space Agency launched the satellite mission Proba-3 to explore the Sun's corona using equipment from DTU. This is part of a revolutionary concept where two satellites fly in formation, which could help create super telescopes and combat space debris in the future.
DTU Space scientists on climate research mission on the Greenland icesheet.

Climate research

29 November 2024

DTU takes on important role in new European climate research project

A new EU project involving DTU Space will connect models and data from multiple sources to enhance knowledge of the impact of climate change on glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland and Iceland.

Astronomy

29 October 2024

DTU Researchers discover one of the fastest-spinning stars in the Universe

New research in our Milky Way has revealed a neutron star that rotates around its axis at an extremely high speed. It spins 716 times per second, making it one of the fastest-spinning objects ever observed. Photo: NASA

Innovation - Digital Tech Summit

28 October 2024

Universities have the potential to bring innovation back to Europe

Over the past ten years, all Danish universities have invested massively in building world-class environments for knowledge-based entrepreneurship and accelerating the introduction of research into society. This commitment is essential as Europe faces significant challenges in closing the innovation gap between the EU and USA and China.

Space research

20 August 2024

New data on radiation allows missions to Jupiter's moon Europa

Scientists on NASA's Juno mission have used images from stellar cameras to map high-energy radiation at Jupiter's moon Europa and find surprisingly low radiation on the side facing away from the moon's direction of movement.
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