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Interview Research Commissioner Mr. Potocnik

Q: Commissioner, 22 December saw the launch of the first calls for proposals for the EU‘s new research programme, FP7. Why was that a big day for you?
A: I think it is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it shows that the EU is working, and capable of delivering a major programme like this on time. When you think that we only had an agreement on the budget in May of this year, so couldn‘t properly start the legislative proposal till then, it is something near a miracle, what we have achieved. I think we did it because there was agreement across the board – within the Commission and the Parliament and all the Member States – that the aims of the Seventh Framework Programme are just too important to ignore.
And that‘s the second reason why today is important. Europe needs research. If our businesses are to remain competitive in the global marketplace, if we are to face up to challenges such as climate change, or the ageing of our population, then we need to know more and be better. We don‘t have natural resources, we care about our environment and we treasure our social systems. So our best hope for keeping one step ahead of the rest of the world is our brain power.
Q: How much money is being made available with these calls for proposals and what sort of projects are you looking for?
A: We are launching calls for proposals for FP7 in 42 areas today, representing about €4 billion. We are looking for projects to be suggested in all sorts of areas – developing the research potential of Europe‘s poorer regions, supporting researchers who want to work in another country, research to help small companies. We are also looking for projects in specific thematic areas. This could be something like combating stroke, from the Health theme, tools for controlling infectious animal diseases, from our food, agriculture, fisheries and biotechnology theme, or low resource consumption buildings, from our environment theme. But we don‘t have specific ideas – we indicate the theme and then it is up to the research community to form partnerships and come up with really good ideas in that specific area.
This call for proposals also sees the beginning of the European Research Council. This is a new element in FP7 and gives Europe, for the first time, a body dedicated to supporting the best research out there that pushes forward the frontiers of our knowledge. The ERC‘s Scientific Council – the men and women from the scientific community that are steering the ERC – have decided that the first year should be dedicated to starting investigators, that is, researchers at the beginning of their career. I‘m really excited about the ERC, and how it can help Europe build its knowledge base.
Q: So what happens next?
A: Each call for proposals will indicate a deadline by which we need to receive the proposals. Once that deadline has passed, all the proposals are examined by independent evaluators. These are scientists from across Europe and also outside, who are able to evaluate how the projects correspond to our three main criteria: the quality of the science (obviously the most important), the intended impact of the project and the means of implementing it. On the basis of this independent evaluation, the best projects are identified and then the Commission and the project team agree a contract, and the funding starts.
Q: What do you think Europe will get out of this programme?
A: If we achieve what I think we can, then by the end of FP7 we will be leading the world in a number of new technologies, such as low emission buildings. Our pharmaceutical industry will be producing new therapies for some of the major diseases and illnesses we face today, like cancer or influenza. We will be helping developing countries with technologies for things like water purification, or finding new ways to flight illnesses such as HIV and malaria. We will be reducing the polluting effect of coal and other fossil fuels through carbon capture and storage, and exporting this to the rest of the world. And maybe the ERC will help us again a few more Nobel prizes along the way!
(Source Europa)

BOSS4GMES (Building Operational and Sustainable Services for GMES) project started on December 1, 2006.

Co-funded by the European Commission and BOSS4GMES consortium (composed of 37 members), BOSS4GMES project will address for the first time the long-term sustainability of GMES and the preparation of the transition from Research and Development to operational exploitation. BOSS4GMES consortium will deploy its efforts to provide European bodies and agencies, Member States, regional and local authorities as well as public and private users with decision support tools and processes in the environment and security areas.
(Source Boss4gmes)

SEOS- Science Education through Earth Observation for High Schools: Contributions from EO Industry to the e-learning tutorials.

An initiative of using remote sensing in science education curricula at high schools has been launched by the European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories (EARSeL). The project, entitled Science Education through Earth Observation for High Schools (SEOS) and submitted to the European Commission in the 6th Framework Programme, is intended to start in the very near future. It combines the efforts of 11 partners, all members of EARSeL and representing re-search and cultural organisations, universities and information management corporations. Based on their research results, internet-based tutorials will be realised on selected topics in earth obser-vation. This will also assist the students in understanding how earth observation form space is beneficial to society by improving knowledge of our planet.
The tutorials cover themes, which are relevant to lessons in geography, biology, physics, engi-neering and mathematics. A particular focus is on the context of these subjects, in agreement with the interdisciplinary aspects of earth observation, which stimulates knowledge in other science disciplines and solves problems in team work. Students will connect local personal observations to global perspectives, and will thus gain an understanding for the techniques needed to receive and interpret these data. Its results are thus suitable to achieve scientific literacy, which belongs to the key scientific education standards. Besides an overview module on Earth observation from space entitled A World of Images, the tutorials will cover the following topics: Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritages, Coral reefs, Remote sensing and geo-information in agriculture, Land-cover/landuse change and land consumption, Understanding spectra from the earth, Ocean colour in the coastal zone, Currents in the oceans measured from space, Remote sensing using lasers, 3D models based upon stereoscopic satellite data, Natural resources management, Marine pollu-tion, Classification algorithms and methods, Modelling of environmental processes, and Time se-ries analysis.
The European Space Agency ESA and several national remote sensing organisa-tions will make their data archives available to the project.
The tutorials will be realised at first in the English language. At a later stage they will be translated into other European languages, by means of modern technical language translation tools but with added human control, to make them useable in Europe and beyond. UNESCO will use the pro-duced material for educational purpose in selected developing countries, hence extending the benefits of this project to an even larger audience.
Making earth observation with remote sensing an element of science education provides a basis for using environmental monitoring in the work-life subsequently. The tutorials realised in SEOS span also the elements of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) pro-gramme, and are particularly suitable for the users of GMES services and information products at governmental organisations and in the private sector.

The project team would highly welcome contributions from EARSC members to the e-learning tu-torials and is looking forward to profiting from their valuable data and information on Earth obser-vation.
Contact:
Dr. Rainer Reuter
EARSeL Co-Chairman
University of Oldenburg
D-26111 Oldenburg
Tel. ++49 (0)441 798 3522

Participants from across Europe meet to discuss the proposed GMES Atmosphere Service

The GMES Atmosphere Service Workshop was held on 6 and 7 December at the Belgian Academy Palace in Brussels. The workshop was attended by over 100 participants from 27 countries, several European Commission Directorates General (Environment, Joint Research Centre, Research, Transport and Energy, Enterprise and Industry), European agencies and organisations, such as ECMWF, EEA, ESA, EUMETSAT, as well as key projects funded through European Commission 6th Framework Programme and ESA GMES Service Element activities (GMES and PROMOTE).
The workshop was organised as part of the follow up from the GMES Advisory Council (GAC) request to launch a GMES atmosphere-related service.
The workshop presentations and discussions focused on three main items:
* Users, objectives and requirements
* Implementation issues
*Conditions for sustainability
The workshop was structured in three parallel sessions around different user streams:
´Air Quality’,
‘Climate Change/forcing’ and
‘O3/UV/Renewable energies’.
To support these discussions, an orientation document was circulated to the participants prior to the workshop.
Following introductory presentations from Directors P Weissenberg and T. Makela, the plenary session continued with overview presentations on the three main items for discussion. A final presentation from the Head of the GMES Bureau, V. Moutarlier provided an overview of the structure of GMES and the implementation process.
The workshop brought numerous communities together and identified some important cross-cutting issues. Outcomes from the workshop are in general in agreement with the focus of the orientation paper, however with some subtle but important changes with regard to scope and priorities. Sustainability was acknowledged to be strongly compromised by gaps in space data coverage from 2010 to 2020 and in-situ data issues. Continued involvement of users in the implementation process was seen as key.
The main conclusions of the workshop will be reported as input to the GAC meeting scheduled February 14th, 2007. Based on the workshop report and orientation paper, the GMES Bureau will request the GAC to endorse the start of the implementation process for a GMES Atmosphere Service Pilot.
(Source GMES.Info)

An international conference on the Baltic Sea and the European Marine Strategy was held in Helsinki on 13 to 15 November 2006 under the auspices of the Finnish Presidency of the Council in order to focus on the need for intensified dialogue between researchers and policy-makers on issues related to the marine environment.

Scientists and policy makers discussed the Directive on marine strategy tabled by the European Commission that defines common principles for the protection of Europe‘s seas. In their final declaration, participants called on national, regional and European authorities to set up and implement more environmental policies and legislation using innovative and economic instruments to provide incentives and technical solutions to protect European Seas. GMES, as Environment monitoring system, will be of major support to ensure the marine environmental protection.

From Website Conference
The EU‘s new strategy on the marine environment and a related draft directive stress the need to apply an “ecosystem approach” to improve the state of the Baltic Sea and Europe‘s other troubled seas. Such an approach involves comprehensively examining the impacts of all human activities on marine environments. For this to be done effectively, more must be learnt about complex marine ecosystems and the processes that affect them. A major international conference on the Baltic Sea and the European Marine Strategy, which was opened today in Helsinki by the Finnish Minister of the Environment Jan Erik-Enestam (Opening speech), will focus on the need for intensified dialogue between researchers and policy-makers on issues related to the marine environment.
The proposed marine strategy directive aims to define common principles for the protection of Europe‘s seas. The ultimate objective is to ensure that all European seas can be classified as having “good environmental status” by 2021.
“Finland has always stressed the importance of protecting the seas – also during our current EU Presidency,” says Enestam. “Our ambitious objective is that a decision will be made on the new marine strategy directive at the December meeting of the EU Environment Council.”
The draft directive aims to intensify the work being done to protect the marine environment, taking advantage of existing tools such as Europe‘s various regional marine conventions. The fruits of the work done over the last 30 years under the Helsinki Convention on the protection of the Baltic marine environment, for example, will be comprehensively exploited in the implementation of the new directive.
“Europe‘s seas are all unique, and they face different problems. Over-fishing is a serious problem in the Atlantic, while the Mediterranean is particularly threatened by excessive coastal development. Here in the Baltic Sea the greatest problem is eutrophication – the consequences of which include toxic algal blooms in the summertime,” says Enestam. “I‘m especially worried about the rapidly increasing amounts of oil and chemicals being shipped over the Baltic from Russia. To respond to this threat here in Finland we‘ve strengthened our capacity to combat oil pollution in recent years. We also have our own wide-ranging national programme for the protection of the Baltic Sea, which aims to control the factors that endanger the state of the sea.”
The new marine strategy and directive will form the environmental pillar of the EU‘s future maritime policy. This common policy aims to maximize the economic benefit obtainable from Europe‘s seas. “There is always a risk that economic benefit might be prioritised ahead of environmental issues,” says Enestam. “The marine strategy directive must draw lines that cannot be crossed. It‘s important to remember that many livelihoods such as fishing and tourism are dependent on the state of the marine environment.”
The conference is organized by Academy of Finland, Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Finnish Institute of Marine Research, Finnish Environment Institute, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications, Finnish Ministry of Education, Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry, Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation, City of Helsinki, HELCOM Baltic Marine Protection Commission
For more information:
Ministerial Councellor
Ulla Kaarikivi-Laine,
tel +358 50 559 9142
Maria Laamanen,
senior Adviser,
Ministry of the Environment,
tel. +358 400 285 410

A Russian Cosmos 3M booster launched from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia has put Germany ‘s SAR-Lupe satellite into orbit

December 2006
The satellite was put into orbit at 2.28 p.m. GMT 20-12-06 “This is the first time Russia is launching a German military spacecraft,” spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov said.
The Russian launch vehicle successfully took off on schedule from the Russian Plesetsk space station south of Archangelsk at 15:00:19 hours Central European Time, placing the first of a total of five radar satellites in its low orbit at an altitude of around 500 km half an hour later as planned. The German satellite system is designed to provide high-resolution radar images to NATO military commanders in Europe. It offers spatial resolution of less than 1 meter, and allows imaging at night and through clouds.
Source: RIA Novosti/Spacewar

GEONETCast is a near real time, global network of satellite-based data dissemination systems designed to distribute space-based, air-borne and in situ data, metadata about disease, agriculture, biodiversity, natural disasters, air and water quality, ocean conditions, and ecosystems to decision-makers around the globe.

Introduced during the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Conference in Bonn, Germany, GEONETcast is the outcome of a cooperative effort being organised by EUMETSAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), the United States, China and the World Meteorological Organisation.
GEONETcast, in which GMES will contribute through the space priority contained in the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7), will be one of the key data dissemination systems within GEOSS (the Global Earth Observation System of Systems) aimed at developing a global monitoring network.
More information at:
(Source GMES)

Longmont CO (SPX) Jan 04, 2007
DigitalGlobe has announced that Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation is building WorldView 2. WorldView 2, the third satellite in DigitalGlobe‘s constellation of spacecraft, offers the highest collection capacity of Earth imagery, and is the only next generation system to be built independent of U.S. Government financing.

The WorldView 2 satellite is scheduled to launch in late 2008; work on the satellite sensor is nearing completion at ITT and work on long lead items on the satellite bus has been underway since early 2006. WorldView 2 is the third remote-sensing satellite built by Ball Aerospace for DigitalGlobe, and will contribute to the company‘s already successful high resolution imaging capabilities.
“We have seen significant growth in demand for the use of content-rich geographic applications on the Internet and within the enterprise applications that have ignited the demand for digital satellite imagery in the commercial and government markets. WorldView 2 will enable DigitalGlobe to collect almost five times the imagery of any current commercial system, and is a significant step in our strategic plan to meet increased market demand for geospatial data,” said Jill Smith, DigitalGlobe president and CEO.
“The addition of WorldView 2 will provide DigitalGlobe, with higher collection capabilities, more frequent revisit and refresh, more spectral information and greater imaging flexibility.”
Ball Aerospace previously partnered with DigitalGlobe to build its existing QuickBird satellite and is currently completing the construction of WorldView 1, scheduled to be on-orbit in mid-2007. WorldView 2 will operate at an altitude in excess of 800 kilometers and offer target selection flexibility and increased spectral capabilities.
Its agility, larger on-board storage and greater communication downlink capabilities will provide DigitalGlobe with significantly more imaging capacity, enabling it to collect up to 950,000 square kilometers of world class half-meter imagery daily, and allow direct tasking and downlinking of imagery to customer locations. Additionally WorldView 2 provides eight bands of multi-spectral for life-like true color imagery and greater spectral applications in the mapping and monitoring markets.
“We have been working with DigitalGlobe on two of its current satellites and are happy our technology is contributing to such a successful application of satellite imagery,” said Ball Aerospace President and CEO, David L. Taylor. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with DigitalGlobe in the construction and launch of WorldView 2, providing its wide range of customers with the most comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date imagery available.”
(Source Spacemart)

China will launch another 22 meteorological satellites by 2020 after successfully putting Fengyun-2D (FY-2D), its second geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, into orbit.

The 22 satellites include four more from the Fengyun-2 series, 12 from the Fengyun-3 series and six Fengyun-4 series, according to sources with the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).
Fengyun-2E, Fengyun-2F, Fengyun-2G and Fengyun-2H are scheduled to be launched in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 respectively, said a CMA official.
The first two experimental models in the Fengyun-3 series, a new generation of polar-orbiting satellites, will be launched in 2007 and 2009. The other 10 will go into orbit from 2011 to 2018, the official said.
China will launch two experimental geostationary orbit Fengyun-4 models followed by four Fengyun-4 satellites from 2012 to 2019, he said.
The FY-2D is expected to provide accurate and timely information about weather changes for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, especially the opening and closing ceremony and important contests.
The FY-2D, developed and manufactured by the Shanghai Academy of Space flight Technology affiliated to China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp., is capable of carrying out infrared nephanalysis of the form and structure of clouds and can also an alyse data about visible daytime light.
It will form a twin-star observation system with Fengyun-2C, China‘s first professional geostationary orbit weather satellite which went into orbit on Oct. 19, 2004, according to CMA.
The two satellites have their own observation tasks, but can also replace each other if one of them malfunctions, the CMA said.
Related report
Backgrounder: the history of China‘s Fengyun weather sat
Beijing (XNA) Dec 11, 2006 – China on Friday successfully launched its second professional geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, Fengyun-2D (FY-2D), to provide better weather forecast services for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Fengyun-2D is the eighth meteorological satellite launched in China. The first seven include four Fengyun-1 polar orbit meteorological satellites and three Fengyun-2 series geostationary orbit meteorological satellites.
The launch dates and sites are as follows:
— Fengyun-1A, launched 7 September 1988, in Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, north China‘s Shanxi Province.
— Fengyun-1B, launched 3 September 1990, in Taiyuan.
— Fengyun-2A, launched 10 June 1997, in Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China‘s Sichuan Province.
— Fengyun-1C, launched 10 May 1999, in Taiyuan.
— Fengyun-2B, launched 25 June 2000, in Xichang.
— Fengyun-1D, launched 15 May 2002, in Taiyuan.
— Fengyun-2C, launched 19 October 2004, in Xichang.
Fengyun-2D is a backup satellite for Fengyun-2C, the first professional geostationary orbit weather satellite in China. They can operate together on an enlarged monitoring areas in order to minimize potential losses from very severe weather.
(Source: Spacemart and Xinhua News Agency)

Eurisy is carrying out a three-year programme aiming at providing a forum to representatives from Regions and Cities throughout Europe, to assess new services based on space applications and their implications, share on their practices, challenges and issues, meet with service providers and institutions, and propose evolution for the future services, based on their own requirements.

A cycle of Conferences and Workshops throughout Europe will allow those users to debate both the general implementation issues and the specific needs of different geographical local authorities. The overall programme will enable a feed back to European decision makers on the reality of the implementation of the services by Local and Regional users.
The cycle will be opened by the next Eurisy conference, in Barcelona
Future Challenges for Local and Regional Authorities: How can Space Technology help?
Barcelona, Spain – 29/30 May 2007
It will bring to Barcelona numerous professionals from regions and cities and from the space technology and service sectors. The two-day programme is designed to encourage discussion and effective information exchange on the challenges ahead from the user perspective, and also to present possible solutions provided by existing and planned space applications in the areas of earth observation, positioning navigation and timing and telecommunications.
In particular, Users from Local and Regional authorities will address the following items:
- Common challenges faced by service users from Local and Regional Authorities
- Good practices in the utilisation of Space Application based services by Local and Regional Authorities
- Space Applications based services as a leverage for improved governance and economical development
- Current limitations and difficulties
– Requirements for future Services.
A parallel Service Expo will be open to participants.
The first follow up event will be the Workshop for coastal regions in Tallinn, Estonia, on 17/18 September 2007. Additional Follow up Workshop organised around issues of interest to Local and Regional Authorities will be organised in early and mid 2008. A final, conclusive Conference, will be organised mid 2008 in Brussels to present the result to European decision makers.
For further information : www.eurisy.org
(Source EURISY)