About SpaceLab

Our mission to develop, test and calibrate new technologies for space missions in our modern and accessible laboratory.

Do you have any equipment to test? Don’t hesitate to contact us with your needs, questions or inquiries via the contact form.

The history of SpaceLab

The Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) has been developing scientific payload for satellite, balloon and sounding rocket missions since the 1960’s.

Over the past decades several in-house facilities have been installed and maintained at IRF in Kiruna, to test, calibrate and qualify these payloads.

The existence and performance of these test- and calibration facilities has made it possible to develop, build, and deliver high performance space instrumentation. These scientific instruments, made in Kiruna, are today flying on missions of all major space agencies through the solar system.

To effectively use the already existing test facilities it was decided to create SpaceLab. With this entity we are now opening the already existing facilities to external customers to test and calibrate their space hardware.

Current facilities operated at IRF Kiruna

IRF Kiruna accommodates a wide range of facilities and laboratories that are essential for the development and testing of future space instrumentation and research associated to them.

The future is bright

With space missions becoming more and more ambitious also the requirements for the payloads are changing. In addition, the available technologies for testing are continuously advancing, allowing for more efficient and accurate testing.

Therefore Spacelab will expand and modernize its test capabilities, which will help to match and master new instrument requirements arising from technological and scientific advances, and contribute to the space collective with services that, particularly in Northern Europe, are lacking to date.