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The start of the European Union’s Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2014-2020 is the perfect time to examine the future of the European Union in Space.

WHEN?: 28 & 29 January 2014
WHERE?: European Commission, Charlemagne Building, Brussels (Belgium)
WHAT?: 6th Edition of the high-level Conference on EU Space Policy

At the beginning of next year, the overall framework should be established, including the long-term budgets that are to be allocated to current EU space programmes, along with the legal instruments that are to guide them. The negotiations are not closed yet, of course. Nevertheless, the time will soon come to implement these new means that are to be placed at the disposal of the European space sector. It is therefore necessary to also examine the technological, industrial and political challenges that will arise as we head towards 2020, in light of the increasingly sophisticated and critical services that are expected to be developed in the space sector, as well as the many questions raised by their joint civil and security dual-use, and to begin to debate the delicate and important choices that will no doubt need to be made to meet those challenges.

There is no lack of new medium- and long-term issues that need to be addressed:

European space industry: facing the challenge of competitiveness

Adoption and practical implementation of the proposals tabled in the European Commission Communication on EU Space Industrial Policy, and its links with other EU initiatives such as Horizon 2020 in order to foster commercial markets, and ensure a level playing field in the global marketplace and with others stakeholders, including agencies and industry bodies.

International dimension of EU space policy: partnerships and cooperation

EGNSS cooperation agreements, GEOSS, programmatic agreements with third countries, etc.

The growing role for satellite telecommunications, and new challenges for operators

Participation in e-society, links with EU regional policy, increasing role in security and defence, contribution of the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ and the ‘Horizon 2020’ programme, growing competition internationally for frequencies and markets, etc

Civil/security & defence: the dual dimension of space services and activities

Outcome of the December 2013 European Council dedicated to Common Security and Defence Policy and the specific sectoral industrial policy.

New challenges for space

SST, space debris removal, space sciences, exploration, societal challenges, etc.

EU space programmes: prospective state-of-play

• Galileo: completion of the constellation, technological choices for the next generation of satellites, etc.;
• Copernicus/GMES: development of the space and in-situ components, management of data policy, etc.;
• Operational Space Infrastructure Operators: dividing up management tasks;
• Launchers: development of policy, etc.

WHO?

This event will offer a unique opportunity for an informative debate between the main political and industry decision-makers, bringing together representatives of national and European institutions, bodies, agencies, industry, research centres and civil society.

ORGANISED IN COLLABORATION WITH:

The European Commission, the European Parliament and its Sky and Space Intergroup, the European Council, the European Space Agency, Eurospace, and key actors from the space industry and space-user sectors.

European Union Member States are showing mixed progress towards three climate and energy targets for 2020, even though the EU as a whole could reduce greenhouse gases emissions by 21% in 2020 with the set of national measures already adopted. These findings come from new European Environment Agency (EEA) assessments.

EEA’s report ‘Trends and projections in Europe 2013’ considers EU progress in meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction, renewable energy and energy efficiency targets. The European Union reduced emissions between 1990 and 2012 by approximately 18 % – so it is already close to the target of 20 % emissions reduction by 2020.

The EU was also on track towards its common target for renewable energy consumption – renewables contributed 13 % of final energy consumption in 2011, which should increase to 20% by 2020. The collective primary energy consumption of the EU is expected to decrease towards the political objective by 2020, although more policies are needed at Member State level.

While the assessment of Member State progress shows overall relatively good progress towards climate and energy targets, no single Member State is on track towards meeting all three targets. Equally, no Member State is underperforming in all three areas.

Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director, said: “EEA’s latest analysis confirms that renewable energy and energy efficiency are having a significant effect on bringing down emissions. We must keep building on this success – to achieve the emissions cuts demanded by science, Member States must ensure that they are not making choices today that become obstacles to a low carbon future.”

Source

Horizon 2020 is coming, bringing new topics and rules for space research. COSMOS, the European Network of National Contact Points for Space, offers you the chance to receive authoritative information and excellent networking opportunities to prepare for Space in Horizon 2020.

In cooperation with different partners a series of events will be organised in several attractive locations all over Europe. The Tour started on 20 September 2013 in Vilnius, Lithuania and will continue until March 2014. Choose your favourite location and be part of it!

The main topics addressed during events will be:

  • GNSS / Galileo
  • Earth Observation / Copernicus
  • Protection of European assets from and in space
  • Space Technology
  • Space science
  • International cooperation
  • Participation of SMEs
  • Outreach

Participants in events will get:

  • First-hand information on future EU Space funding under Horizon 2020
  • Pre-organised as well as spontaneous matchmaking opportunities via face-to-face meetings (for detailed info see “How it works”)
  • Short presentations on project ideas & competencies of potential partners
  • European-wide participation

For more information, please visit the event website

Language: English
Costs: Free of charge

(10 October 2013) After nearly tripling its planned lifetime, the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer – GOCE – is nearing its end of mission and will soon reenter our atmosphere.

With a sleek, aerodynamic design responsible for it being dubbed the ‘Ferrari of space’, GOCE has mapped variations in Earth’s gravity with extreme detail. Scientists further exploited these data to create the first global high-resolution map of the boundary between Earth’s crust and mantle – called the Moho – and to detect sound waves from the massive earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March 2011, among other results.

In mid-October, the mission will come to a natural end when it runs out of fuel and the satellite begins its descent towards Earth from a height of about 224 km.

(source: ESA)

(By Peter B. de Selding | Oct. 11, 2013 © SpaceNews) PARIS — The German government has put into place a two-step regulatory regime for commercial satellite imagery that subjects proposed sales of the most sensitive data to approval on a case-by-case basis, the German Aerospace Center, DLR, said Oct. 11.

In response to SpaceNews inquiries about where German policy stood following the announcement that Germany’s TerraSAR-X radar Earth observation system would begin marketing 25-centimeter-resolution imagery, DLR said there is no fixed limit to what may be sold.

Instead, DLR said Germany’s Satellite Data Security Act (SatDSiG) and related law set the general ground rules for commercial satellite data sales to assure that commercial imagery from German satellites does not harm German security and foreign policy interests.

For imagery whose sharpness or whose prospective customers give it special sensitivity, a second organization, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), must clear each sale.

“These procedures do not include an absolute limit for spatial resolution under which a data set could no longer be sold commercially,” DLR said in its statement, adding that the policy seeks to foster a commercial Earth imagery market. “However, it is obvious that datasets with higher information content face tighter restrictions.”

DLR, which is Germany’s space agency, is a co-investor with Astrium GmbH in the TerraSAR-X satellite system, which includes the TanDEM-X satellite now in orbit. A nearly identical satellite, called Paz, is under construction by Astrium for the Spanish government and scheduled for launch in 2014. Paz images will be marketed commercially by Astrium and Spain’s Hisdesat.

Astrium announced Oct. 8 that the current TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X system had been upgraded, with DLR’s assistance, and now could offer customers 25-centimeter resolution. Images of this sharpness typically will have a small scene size — 4 by 3.7 square kilometers, Astrium said — which will not appeal to many customers seeking broader-area coverage.

Astrium said the higher-resolution mode, called Staring SpotLight, is particularly adapted to defense and security customers.

The TerraSAR-X announcement comes in the context of attempts by U.S. and French geospatial-imagery companies to persuade their governments to lift the current 50-centimeter-resolution limit on commercial sales optical imagery. A sensor’s resolution, or sampling distance, roughly corresponds to the size of the objects that can be discerned in the imagery it collects.

U.S. and French companies have been the most active on the commercial market for optical imagery. Industry officials said that a decision by one to lower the ceiling on what is acceptable for commercial sale likely would force the other to do likewise.

DLR views Germany’s expertise in Earth observation as having export potential not only in imagery but in satellite manufacturing as well.

Astrium in recent months has been in talks with Russian organizations about the possible sale of a TerraSAR-X-type system for the Russian market, and also has invited other nations to join the new German-Spanish partnership to operate a constellation of X-band radar satellites.

Referring to the Russian market, Gerd Gruppe, who heads DLR’s space department, said a recent German-Russian bilateral meeting made clear Russia’s interest in Germany’s satellite Earth observation expertise.

“This is where a vast market could unfold for German manufacturers,” Gruppe said in DLR’s Countdown publication dated September but distributed in October. “DLR could act as an important broker, bringing together German and Russian competencies.”

The following is an edited text of the DLR statement on current German policy:The distribution of “high-grade” satellite-based Earth observation data is regulated by the German “Satellitendatensicherheitsgesetz” (SatDSiG), which can be translated to “Act to Safeguard the Security Interests of the Federal Republic of Germany from Endangerment by the Distribution of High-Grade Earth Remote Sensing Data,” or the Satellite Data Security Act.

The federal law implements the national satellite data-security policy to guarantee that Earth remote sensing data that is commercially available from state-of-the-art Earth remote sensing satellites does not endanger security and foreign policy interests.

At the same time, the act provides legal certainty for the companies involved, and fosters the commercial development of the market for satellite data, derived products and geo-information.

The backbone of SatDSiG is a tight two-layered control procedure covering each individual distribution transaction from high-grade Earth remote sensing systems to prevent harm to security interests and ensure the peaceful coexistence of peoples and foreign relations.

The procedures include technical parameters that define the information content, which obviously include the spatial resolution but also other parameters such as spectral coverage, number of spectral channels and polarization features.

According to the SatDSiG, every request, from both commercial and scientific users, for TerraSAR-X data is subject to a “sensitivity check.” This serves to categorize the order as either sensitive or not sensitive, applying a set of parameters including information content, area to be imaged, who is making the order, and timeliness.

Every order being categorized as sensitive has to be approved by a national agency, the “Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle” (BAFA), the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control. Only following BAFA approval will the requested data be delivered.

These procedures do not include an absolute limit for the spatial resolution, under which a data set could no longer be sold commercially. However, it is obvious that delivery of data sets with higher information content faces tighter restrictions.

Source

first ogeo magazine has been launched

With the new version of the OGEO portal we would like to start a quarterly e-news: …. our OGEOzine …. and provide some concise info, links to recent events or news and act as reminder how Earth Observation can be used in the Oil and Gas industry.

OGEOzine (n.1).pdf

ESA was invited to visit the Asian Development (ADB) on 13+14 June, to promote awareness of European EO capabilities and discuss potential collaboration. The ADB expressed an interest in knowing more about what Europe could offer in the domains of Ecosystems/Agriculture, Forestry/Mining, Urban, GeoHazards/Risks, Maritime Surveillance, Climate Resilience & Proofing.

The first day (13 June) consisted of seminars that addressed these themes. For these seminars, ESA took representative EO service providers specialised on these domains to present the capabilities of European and Canadian Industry. These companies comprised : GeoVille (A), GAF (D), GISAT (Czech), TRE (I), CLS (F), and Hatfield Consultants ©. In addition, the Secretary General of EARSC gave a broader overview of the European EO service sector.

On the second day, ESA had separate meetings with senior ADB personnel. These included the Directors of all 5 geographic operating regions of ADB, together with the Director of Policy and Strategy, and the Deputy Director General of Regional Sustainable Development. The visit was extremely positive and concluded with ADB expressing strong support to further collaborate with ESA to assess the value of European EO capabilities for ADB activities.

For further details on the discussions held, please see 20130613_ESA_ADB_visit_notes_FINAL.pdf

Dialogue continues between ESA and ADB staff regarding requirements for EO-based information in support of bank activities. Some 38 candidate bank projects are being investigated across all 6 geographic regions of bank operations, with the types of information required falling in the following basic categories :

  • urban development (13),
  • water resources (10),
  • climate change (8),
  • agriculture and rural development (5),
  • forestry (4),
  • disaster risk (4),
  • marine and coastal environment (6),
  • energy and natural resource extraction (4)

Given this large interest from ADB, the aim is to finalise the requirements for 10 ADB projects that can be supported by EO-based information. The geo-information requirements of the selected Bank projects will form input to the ITT that ESA will release for the European and Canadian EO service suppliers to respond to in December of 2013.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the World Bank have been collaborating under the umbrella of the “Earth Observation for Development” initiative – branded eoworld – since 2008. In 2013 ESA and the World Bank have entered into a new phase of collaboration for a further 3 years to place greater emphasis on mainstreaming EO information into World Bank operational activities.

In this context, a second internal ‘Call for Projects’ was opened within the World Bank between July 8 and September 9. The purpose of this Call is to identify on-going international development projects of the World Bank, where there are current key requirements for additional geo-information needed for the planning, implementation or monitoring of the project activity. The Call has prioritized 4 thematic sectors identified as: urban development, disaster risk management, forestry and oceans. However, the submissions on other thematic areas were also welcomed including operations in fragile and conflict-affected states, ecosystems services, extractive industries, renewable energy, and insurance and reinsurance sector, as well as capacity building in water resources management.

A total of 38 responses were submitted by Bank project teams across all 6 geographic regions of operations, in the following broad sectors / themes of development activity :

  • forestry, agriculture and rural development (11),
  • water (8),
  • urban (5),
  • transport (2),
  • oceans including coastal (4),
  • disaster risk management (4),
  • health (2),
  • ICT development (1),
  • climate change (1).

Regarding the types of geo-information requested, these are spanning a broad range:

  • Land/Environment (6),
  • Land/Forest (7),
  • Land/Mapping (7),
  • Land/Risks (6),
  • Land/Water-Snow (6),
  • Ocean (3),
  • Atmospheric/Air Quality (1),
  • Climate change Info Services (1),
  • Several (1).
    Note that Land/Risks includes the topic coastal zone management (coastal erosion).

ESA is currently assessing the responses on specific criteria: the scope of the geo-information requirements specified, the feasibility of EO to satisfy them and the overall relevance of EO for the design and implementation of the Bank project and the linkage to the programs and initiatives. Once complete, ESA and World Bank will jointly select 12-15 Bank projects that can be supported by EO-based information. The geo-information requirements of the selected Bank projects will form input to the ITT that ESA will release for the European and Canadian EO service suppliers to respond to in November / December of 2013 .

The World Bank has been promoting the collaboration with ESA; with article that has been on the home page in august and can be seen at the following link

(10 October 2013) After nearly tripling its planned lifetime, the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer – GOCE – is nearing its end of mission and will soon reenter our atmosphere.

With a sleek, aerodynamic design responsible for it being dubbed the ‘Ferrari of space’, GOCE has mapped variations in Earth’s gravity with extreme detail. Scientists further exploited these data to create the first global high-resolution map of the boundary between Earth’s crust and mantle – called the Moho – and to detect sound waves from the massive earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March 2011, among other results.

In mid-October, the mission will come to a natural end when it runs out of fuel and the satellite begins its descent towards Earth from a height of about 224 km.

(source: ESA)

(October 08) The European Space Agency is in the countdown phase to one of the highlights of its scientific year: the launch of its three-spacecraft Swarm mission to study the Earth€™s magnetic field in unprecedented detail.

Having arrived at Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Archangel, about 800km north of Moscow, in separate Ilyushin Il-76 transport flights from Munich, the three 500kg Astrium-built spacecraft are now being fuelled and integrated with a single Rockot launcher for their 14 November trip to orbit.

One aloft, the trio €“ flying in rough formation €“ will independently measure the Earth€™s magnetic field strength. Scientists on the ground will pore over the differences between their measurements, rather than merely their absolute values, in a bid to disentangle the contribution to the magnetic field of the Earth€™s rotating, liquid core, its mantle, crust and oceans, the upper atmosphere region known as the ionosphere, and the interaction between the Solar wind and the ionosphere€™s outer shell, the magnetosphere.

The scientific objective is to better understand how the Earth€™s magnetic field is generated, how it varies around the globe and why this field that protects us from space weather appears to be weakening. To achieve that aim, ESA and prime contractor Astrium have had to employ some unusual design tricks.

As with all missions to space, Swarm must survive launch. But, says mission manager Rune Floberghagen, with all three identical 468kg craft closely packed to fit on one launcher, there is an additional risk of collision in the first few seconds after release.

Although Swarm is ESA€™s first constellation mission, once it is in space and clear of the Rockot launch vehicle, navigation becomes a €œrelatively flexible€ concern and orbital manoeuvres to the three spacecraft can be carried out independently, says Floberghagen. Two of the satellites will initially orbit essentially side by side around the poles at an altitude of 460km, while the third flies about 80km higher. The lower pair need only be kept within about 1.4Ëš latitude of each other. Being at the same altitude and close in horizontal position, says Floberghagen, it can be assumed that they will be affected equally by the magnetosphere and ionosphere, and hence those critical differences between the measurements they take can be assumed to stem from very local effects of the Earth€™s crust, mantle and core.

However, he says, what is important is that their along-track separation is watched very closely. As these lower two will be on approximately the same orbital plane, they could collide over the poles if one is not kept about 10s ahead of the other €“ which translates into a gap of 70-80km. Beyond that, the relative positions of the three satellites are only roughly important; what is critical that ESA knows exactly where each one of them is, using GPS and their onboard star-trackers, in order to know which part of the Earth is being measured at any moment.

The third satellite, at 530km up, will initially fly on an orbital plane 0.6Ëš off the lower pair€™s, with the result that its orbit will, over the first three years of the mission, drift to a 90Ëš separation. At that point, Floberghagen explains, when the lower pair are in the Earth€™s shadow the higher one will be in daylight, and vice versa; thus at any given moment the difference between measurements taken by the lower pair and their higher partner should help reveal the Sun€™s influence on the Earth€™s magnetic field.

Over four years, the lower pair of Swarm satellites will see their altitude decay naturally €“ owing to the drag effect of residual atmosphere €“ to just 300km. Therefore, and obviously unusually for spacecraft, they are streamlined to minimise drag and the amount of propellant needed to hold altitude. The front end, with a surface area of just 1m², houses the first 3D ion imagers to go into orbit, to measure ionosphere characteristics.

OUT ON A LIMB

The other unusual design characteristic critical to the mission is that while the total length of each satellite is 9.1m, 4m of that is a trailing boom, on which are mounted the magnetometers and star-tracker. By putting the magnetic field instruments far behind the body of the spacecraft, they will sit in a magnetically clean region, clear of any magnetic disturbance from the spacecraft€™s electrical systems. Once the boom is deployed €“ and it has been designed for extreme stability €“ the spacecraft has no moving parts, whose vibrations would disturb its instruments.

As the name suggests, Swarm relies on multiple spacecraft. Indeed, says Floberghagen, there had at one point been talk of up to seven units, but they were reduced to three to cut costs. The mission design, however, allows other spacecraft to join the constellation, in the probably unlikely event that another space agency were able to launch a companion.

Should one or even two of the spacecraft fail, the mission will still be scientifically useful, he adds. The first backup plan is to operate the lower pair €“ again, to focus on the differences between the measurements taken. If the mission were reduced to just one satellite, it could still measure the circular variation of the Earth€™s magnetic field, hopefully shedding some light on one of its mysteries: the poles wander.

Indeed, magnetic North has moved about 2,000km since it was first measured in 1831, and outright North-for-South field inversions are a regular feature of Earth€™s geological history. Indications are that a field inversion is imminent, an event that would certainly wreak havoc on navigation. So any new insight into the deep workings of the planet that may come from a Swarm of even one spacecraft will be of more than academic interest.

Source: Flight International (UK) and Hispanicbusiness