After nearly a decade of revisiting the drawing board, planning, and preparation, the two Swiss nanosatellites 'Sigrun' and 'Skogul' were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base early this morning. Ground control has confirmed communication with both satellites, and that they have settled into their proper orbits as of this afternoon.
This successful endeavor resurrects the Munin project of the late 1990s, in which the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (Institutet för Rymdfysik, or IRF) and several universities collaborated on a nanosatellite to study auroral activity. The original satellite, unsurprisingly named 'Munin', was launched in November 2000 and ceased responding to ground control after less than three months spent in orbit. The IRF is confident that the flaws of the original nanosatellite have been mended, and the original design updated such that Sigrun and Skogul will have a functional lifespan of a decade or more.