The Solar System Physics and Space Technology (SSPT) research programme at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) in Kiruna is devoted to

Comparative research on the evolution and dynamics of the solar system objects (planets, asteroids, comets, meteoroids) and their interaction with the solar wind.

We design and build instruments for space missions, analyze received data and develop computer models simulating planetary environments. Traditionally, the main focus of the group is experimental physics. We manufacture ion mass spectrometers, electron spectrometers, energetic particle detectors, and energetic neutral atom (ENA) imagers to study Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and comets. We use the state-of-the-art parallel computers (HPC2N) to run our numerical models.