Aaron Dinardi, a space engineer with experience from SpaceX, has sharply criticized Sweden's handling of space issues. He argues that state investments mainly support scientific projects without commercial or defense benefits.
In an interview with Di's editorial page, Dinardi describes how Swedish funds go to the Swedish National Space Agency and ESA projects. ESA takes a 20 percent administration fee and the rest is used for hardware that lacks market or defense relevance.
Dinardi points out that space issues fall under the Ministry of Education with a focus on research rather than applications. He suggests agencies such as the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and FMV should procure complete dual-use solutions, similar to the US OTA mechanism.
As a comparison he mentions Finland, which has built an ecosystem with companies like ICEYE and ReOrbit. Sweden's first military satellites were built by foreign firms and launched on SpaceX rockets. Dinardi believes change requires top-down political decisions.
