Space science and technology in the Cold War: The ionosphere, the military and politics in Norway1

Abstract

The fascination of auroral phenomena in the polar region has stimulated scientific research in Norway throughout this century. This was extended to a study of the effect of the ionosphere on radiocommunications before World War II. After WWII the ionospheric research community increasingly oriented its work to defence‐related topics. Norway's strategically crucial position close to Soviet ICBM launch sites and Soviet submarine sea passages ensured US defence agency funding for studies on the perturbing effects of the ionosphere on communications systems during the hottest period of the Cold War. New requirements (a launching base, a telemetry station) imposed by the advent of space technologies (sounding rockets, satellites) moved the field to the core of the political process and raised a number of complex security and foreign policy issues in the high north for the Norwegian government, as well as transforming the character and the institutional base of the research itself.