Norway has a long tradition in the Sun-Earth connection field - much due to the innovative research don by Kristian Birkeland. Today we still leading the way in aurora research and have one of the larges international solar research groups and host the Hinode European Data Centre. We are also collaborating on the NASA IRIS mission. 

Furthermore, Norway has focussed on the use of space as a tool for the government. Monitoring the health and human activities in the arctic oceans can only be done effectively by using satellites. Today a large number of satellites, both US, Canadian and European, are observing the Arctic using different instruments. Norway is a major user of satellite data and also when it comes to acquiring the data via the Svalsat satellite stations at Svalbard. We are leading the way in monitoring ships, illegal fishing and oil spills in the High North. We are also pushing for better radio communication and broad band in the Arctic - which is lacking today.  The lecture will summarise the Norwegian space activities and in particular where we collaborate with USA.

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