Society's dependence on space infrastructure - An overview and analysis of the consequences for the development of Sweden's civil defence

Space services are gradually becoming integral to the functioning of society. Satellites help us communicate, navigate, monitor the Earth's surface and predict the weather to a high degree of accuracy, to name a few examples. Space services dependencies exist within both military and civilian organisations and it is hard to create meaningful distinctions between military and civilian forms of space infrastructure. A loss of space services could potentially cause widespread social disruption and reduce Sweden's total defence capability. One of the goals for Sweden's civil defence - as expressed in the Total Defence Bill for 2021-25 - is to safeguard the most important societal functions, which is why it is important that stakeholders throughout Swedish society have a shared understanding of the ways in which they depend on space services. Awareness is a prerequisite for effective management of the risks. This report provides an overview of society's dependence on space services, offering examples of space services dependencies within each one of Sweden's ten civil defence sectors. It is likely that society's reliance on space services will increase in the future. Society's dependence on space services can be seen as a complex risk, the management of which requires targeted preparedness-raising measures.