The Founding of Space NTNU

The Beginning

Prior to 2018 the space community at NTNU was in its early infancy, only existing in a few hidden corners on campus, most notably through the NTNU test satellite project (NUTS) and passionate individuals like Roger Birkeland, Petter Evju Skanke and Marie Henriksen, who were promoting opportunities and organizing events. However, throughout 2018 the space community grew significantly and flourished. Orbit NTNU was founded from the legacy of NUTS, Propulse NTNU was founded, and Smallsat Lab grew momentum with the HYPSO missions.

In the school year 2018-2019, as Propulse was working on their first rocket for Spaceport America Cup, the idea occurred to fly a payload developed by Orbit. A close collaboration between the two organizations was initiated, the space ecosystem at campus as a whole thrived, and both social and professional bonds were formed. That is when the idea popped up, why not make an organization that has the main purpose to promote and support the space ecosystem at NTNU and make it the national, and even the Nordic, premier space ecosystem.

Kjersti (Co-Founder & CTO at Propulse at the time), Rannveig (Founder & CEO at Propulse at the time) and Edvard (Co-Founder & Project Manager at Orbit) were in a room, and magic happened. In a backroom of Grand Hotel in Oslo, during Space Dinner 2019, bylaws and founding documents were drafted, and out came Space NTNU, and the real hustle started to get an organization of such scale up and running.

In the spring of 2019, the first unofficial Space NTNU event was hosted, where Propulse NTNU’s first rocket was presented, along with Orbit NTNU’s payload, a presentation of all the space-related projects and organizations in Trondheim, along with presentations by ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, the Norwegian Space Agency and Spaceport Norway.

Over the spring and summer, collaboration agreements were initiated with all the relevant student organizations, start-ups, national institutions and partners, and the organization was taking shape. And what better occasion to officially launch Space NTNU to the public, than at Spaceport Norway, organized in Trondheim in the fall of 2019. Ole Dokka was an unwavering supporter of Space NTNU from the start, gave free exhibition spots to the student organizations, a grand launch ceremony in the programme, and helped create a worthy kick-off for Space NTNU.

The Growth

After the initial founding team had led the start-up phase of the organization, it was time to give the reins over to the next team. Initially, it was thought that the board of Space NTNU should consist of board members of the member organizations, so the board for 2019/2020 was elected from the boards of Orbit, Propulse and Ascend, and the work continued, with a highlight being the Space Career Day hosted with the Norwegian Space Agency. New members were recruited, working on event planning, social media, web development and more. However, in the spring of 2020, the pandemic put a quick stop to the growing plans of Space NTNU, and all physical events were cancelled. During the fall of 2020, Space NTNU hosted and co-hosted several digital space events, and tried to engage students during a tough time. A lot of restructuring of Space NTNU happened during this period, particularly regarding how and who should lead it. It had become apparent that the workload of being on the board of a member organization and Space NTNU at the same time was too much, and the board should rather be a mix of people from people inside and outside of the member organizations. Space NTNU also had to think creatively about how to engage without in-person events, and out of this process came the idea of a space podcast, created by and for students, and this became Spacepodden.