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A cooperative agreement was signed today between EUMETSAT, the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the USA, to secure the Jason-2 Programme, a new Earth observation mission dedicated to Ocean Surface Topography planned for launch in 2008.

Under the agreement the four partners will design, develop, launch and operate a second generation altimetry satellite, Jason-2. The Jason mission is built around a series of satellites that will collect global ocean surface data on a continuous basis for several decades, extending sea level measurements gathered by TOPEX/Poseidon since 1992, and continued by Jason-1 since 2001.
Jason-2 is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, flying at an altitude of around 1300 km. The main instruments on board are a radar altimeter, a microwave radiometer, and several precise orbit determination systems. The aim is to measure the global sea surface height to an accuracy of a few cm every 10 days, to determine ocean circulation and sea level rise and its correlation with climate change.
Applications of the data collected by Jason-2 are in the areas marine meteorology, operational oceanography, climate monitoring and seasonal forecasting. The information on sea surface height can be assimilated into numerical ocean circulation and wave models, and in combination with in-situ measurements, provide vastly improved ocean and atmospheric forecasts, both for shorter and longer time-scales.
Acting as an interface for near-real time product distribution to European users, EUMETSAT will provide data processing and the necessary infrastructure for archiving and data distribution. The radome, the antenna and the electronic equipment constitute the Jason-2 Earth Terminal and have been successfully installed and tested in Usingen, Germany beginning of 2006.
EUMETSAT
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, is an intergovernmental organisation that establishes and maintains operational meteorological satellites for 19 European States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom). EUMETSAT has signed 11 Cooperating State Agreements. Those with Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have entered into force whereas the Agreements with Serbia and Montenegro and Iceland are to be ratified in the near future.
EUMETSAT is currently operating Meteosat-6, -7 and -8 over Europe and Africa, and Meteosat-5 over the Indian Ocean.
The data, product and services from EUMETSAT’s satellites make a significant contribution to weather forecasting and to the monitoring of the global climate.
(Credits Eumetsat)

On 24 March 2006, European and American officials met in Brussels to discuss co-operation in space.

It was the first meeting of the ‘EU-US Dialogue on Civil Space Co-operation’, announced at the June 2005 US-EU Summit. On the agenda were a broad range of activities and key policy issues spanning both sides of the Atlantic, including space applications such as Earth Observation (EO), satellite navigation and communications, space transport systems, space science and exploration, and regulatory issues.
“Europe is moving forward,” said Paul Weissenberg, Director of Aerospace, Security, Defence and Equipment at the Commission’s Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General. Speaking directly to his American guests, he said, “Space is now an EU matter. We are making significant progress on our GALILEO satellite navigation initiative, but also on GMES and in many other areas, and we feel it is important that we meet with our American partners now to discuss our common interests and areas where we can work together. We therefore welcome this occasion to discuss and exchange information on concrete space applications for the benefit of our citizens.”
Speaking on behalf of the American delegation, Ralph Braibanti, Director of the Office of Space and Advanced Technology at the US State Department, said, “This is a very interesting moment and we hope that this first meeting and our new relationship will evolve and grow over time. We in the United States are currently working in co-operation with many nations, but we always look to Europe first and we are very enthusiastic about today’s meeting.”
A broad spectrum
Some indication of the breadth of the discussions is given by the variety of participants. Officials on the European side represented the Commission’s Directorates-General of Research, Enterprise and Industry, Information Society, Transport and Energy, External Relations, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC), as well as the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUMETSAT. The US side was represented by officials from the US State Department, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Geological Survey and the US Mission to the EU.
Luc Tytgat, Head of the EU’s Space Policy Unit, started the programme with a comprehensive outline of what the EU is doing in space, emphasising the EU policy areas. This was followed by a similar review of US space activities presented by the American side, with special attention paid to the fields of remote sensing, space transportation, Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), and space exploration.
Later in the day, discussions focused on specific areas and applications where joint efforts might prove fruitful. Earth Observation was identified as a field where the potential for co-operation is high, especially within the GMES initiative (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), the European Commission’s flagship space programme. The two sides agreed to explore the potential for co-operation, taking account of political aspects.
This first meeting went a long way towards improving mutual insight into the two sides’ space policies and planned space programmes. The talks took place under a climate of confidence and EU officials say they are looking forward now to facing common EU-US challenges constructively, with a particular view to solving critical future path issues. The two sides have now agreed to continue the dialogue through regular meetings on an annual base. Officials on both sides were positive that this could pave the way for more concrete exchanges in the very near future.
(Credits Europa)
More information at:
- US Dept.of State- Space & Advanced Technologies

Some 50 scientists and engineers gathered at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation headquarters in Rome, Italy, on 27 April for a workshop to discuss the use of gathering, cataloguing and sharing satellite imagery, spatial databases and interactive maps.

The amount of data acquired by satellites is increasing at an exponential rate, with many images able to be used for numerous applications. Sharing and reusing these data are beneficial for organisations as it allows them to gain access to more information and to decrease costs. In order to share, the data must be collected and catalogued and users must know such collections exist and how to search for them.
The Catalogue/Discovery Services Standardisation workshop – organised jointly by ESA, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) – highlighted current and future standardisation efforts of each agency that is making Earth observation (EO) data available to users together with the relevant geospatial data.
Opening the workshop, FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Julius Müller said: “Whereas FAO has a record of longstanding and productive cooperation with both the European Space Agency as well as the EU-Joint Research Centre, this is the first time the three agencies meet in one room for a full day to review and discuss common experiences and ways forward to use standardized approaches for locating and using geospatial data.”
Maps derived from satellite imagery play an important role in the work of decision makers, sustainable development planners and humanitarian and emergency managers in need of quick, reliable and up-to-date user-friendly cartographic products as a basis for planning and monitoring their activities.
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), a joint initiative of the European Commission and ESA, will harmonise in-situ and space-based data to provide timely and quality data at global, regional and local levels. GMES will join all available scientific data on environmental and security issues and customise it to users’ specific needs.
GMES will be of great value throughout the developing world because it is able to provide infrastructure information which may not otherwise exist. For instance, by providing and disseminating high-quality data sets of road networks, ports and airstrips, agencies will be able to better deliver food aid.
JCR’s Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE), expected to be released later this year, will deliver integrated spatial information services to the largest possible number of users, including policy-makers, planners and managers at national and local levels and citizens. Such services include visualisation of information layers, overlay of information from different sources, spatial and temporal analysis, among others. JRC’s INSPIRE team and ESA are working together to ensure coherence of INSPIRE and GMES developments.
In September 2005, the ESA launched the “Heterogeneous Mission Accessibility -Interoperability (HMA-I) Project”. HMA-I will define the necessary interfaces and a generic, service-oriented architecture to ensure interoperability within the GMES Space component comprising a constellation of satellites together with its Ground Segment and the interfaces to the other components of GMES.
Thanks to the HMA project, the interoperability of ESA’s Envisat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites’ (EUMETSAT) meteorological missions, the French Space Agency’s (CNES) Pleiades, the Canadian Space Agencies Radardsat-2 and the German Space Agency’s (DLR) Terrasar-x will be ensured to provide the EO data necessary to allow an operational rollout of the GMES services starting in 2008.
(Credits ESA)

Department of Geomatic Engineering at University College London (UCL) have been funded by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) to develop a web GIS service to serve global geographic data derived from remote sensing datasets.

Funding was provided as part of the BNSC International Cooperation Programme 2 (ICP-2). ICEDS was inspired in particular by the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites (CEOS) CEOS Landsat and SRTM Project (CLASP) proposal. An express intention of ICEDS (aim 4 in the list above) was therefore that the solution developed by ESYS and UCL should be redistributable, for example, to other CEOS members. After an initial survey of the Web GIS packages available at the time , the ICEDS team decided initially to use the Deegree package, a free software initiative founded by the GIS and Remote Sensing unit of the Department of Geography, University of Bonn , and lat/lon. The Red Spider web mapping software suite was also provided by IONIC Software. The final map server package adopted by the project was the University of Minnesota Map Server.
(Credits geoconnexion)

The first MetOp meteorological satellite arrived at its launch site, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, following shipment from the industrial prime contractor, EADS Astrium in Toulouse, on board an Antonov-124 transport plane.

MetOp-A is the first in a series of three EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. After undergoing a mechanical and environmental test campaign, the spacecraft passed the acceptance review last year and the recent compatibility test between satellite and ground segment cleared the way for shipment of the satellite to Baikonur.

This shipment comprises a service module, a payload module and the solar array, including the electrical and mechanical ground support equipment needed for the launch campaign. The mission includes a total of 12 instruments developed in cooperation with French Space Agency, CNES, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

MetOp is scheduled for launch on 17 July 2006 at 22.28 Baikonur time (18.28 CEST) with the latest Soyuz ST Fregat launcher operated by Starsem.

MetOp is the first polar orbiting satellite dedicated to operational meteorology. The MetOp satellite services have been designed to provide global weather data until 2020. MetOp, which will fly at a height of about 837 km, promises, with its 12 sophisticated instruments, to provide data of unprecedented accuracy, thus improving global weather forecasting and providing enhanced climate monitoring capabilities.

For further information, please contact:

ESA Media Relations Division

Tel.: + 33(0)1.53.69.7155

Fax: + 33(0)1.53.69.7690

(Credits ESA)

EADS Fleximage (Paris, France) has released a software platform incorporating geographical information, embedded modules broadcasting of sensors data, and communications networks used for positioning and transmitting positioning information

This solution allows Hub télécom to offer its customers two dedicated services:
* Assist solution, which is dedicated to Ground Support Equipment (GSE) tracking system management of airport assistance vehicles in order to optimize the processes, improve coordination amongst on-site team members, adapt operations in real time, and manage assistance vehicles.
* Fleet solution for airport vehicles, among others, which is especially adapted for monitoring and managing a fleet of light, commercial or heavy goods vehicles.
(Credits geoconnexion)
More info at www.hubtelecom.com

The practice of States and international organizations in registering space objects was a key item on the agenda of the 45th session of the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), held in Vienna, Austria from 3 to 13 April.

Source UN-OOSA. April 2006.

Other topics of discussion included the status and application of the five United Nations treaties on outer space, the definition and delimitation of outer space, the draft protocol on matters specific to space assets to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, review and possible revision of the Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space and matters relating to the character and use of the geostationary orbit. As in previous sessions of the Subcommittee, international organizations were invited to report on their activities relating to space law.

A symposium, which was held following the conclusion of the first day of the session, examined the legal aspects of space-system-based disaster management.

Practice of States and international organizations in registering space objects A key item on the agenda was the practice of States and international organizations in registering space objects. The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (the Registration Convention) requires States parties launching objects such as satellites, to provide information on the launched object to the United Nations. Based on this information, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) maintains, on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General, the United Nations Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space, for which it also provides an online searchable index.

The Subcommittee agreed that it was important to further promote greater adherence to the Registration Convention, which would lead to more States registering space objects, and also to encourage international organizations to declare their acceptance of the rights and obligations under the Convention.

The Working Group under this agenda item agreed on the elements that could constitute the basis for consensus on specific recommendations and conclusions to be included in the report of the Legal Subcommittee at its next session in 2007. These elements relate to: (a) the benefits of becoming a party to the Registration Convention; (b) adherence to and implementation of the Registration Convention; and © registration practice.

Status and application of the five United Nations treaties on outer space The Subcommittee endorsed the recommendation of the Working Group under this agenda item that member States of COPUOS provide information on any action that might have been taken at the national level as a result of receiving the letter from the UN Secretary-General encouraging participation in the outer space treaties.

The Subcommittee also endorsed the recommendation that the Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) send a letter transmitting information on advantages of adherence to the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (the Liability Convention), to all States that had not yet become parties to that Convention.

Definition and delimitation of outer space

The Working Group under this item agreed to continue to invite Member States to reply to the questionnaire on aerospace objects until a consensus on criteria for analyzing the replies could be reached by the Subcommittee. The Working Group also agreed to invite member States of COPUOS to submit information on national legislation or any national practices that might exist or were being developed, relating directly or indirectly to the definition and/or delimitation of outer space, taking into account the current and foreseeable level of the development of space and aviation technologies.

Registering property interests in space assets

Another item on the agenda of the Subcommittee were the developments concerning the draft protocol on matters specific to space assets to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment. The Convention was developed by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (Unidroit), an intergovernmental organization not affiliated to the United Nations. The Convention establishes a general legal framework for registering interests in mobile high-value equipment that move across national boundaries, such as aeroplanes and trains, and would result in lower costs of securing funding for the equipment. The protocol on matters specific to space assets is aimed at establishing an international system for registering property interests in space assets, such as satellites.

Symposium

The symposium examined the legal aspects of disaster management and the contribution of the law of outer space.

The symposium was jointly organized by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) of the International Astronautical Federation and the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) and was held in the afternoon of the first day of the Subcommittee session. The programme included presentations by leading experts on topics such as the challenges of access to Earth observation data for disaster management, the initial legal issues and experiences related to the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” and the legal and policy aspects of disaster management support from space in Asia.

The Subcommittee agreed to invite IISL and ECSL to organize a one-day symposium during the forty-sixth session of the Subcommittee, in 2007, that would include presentations by national and international space law institutions with emphasis on their capacity-building activities.

Membership

The Legal Subcommittee, like COPUOS, its parent committee, has the following 67 Member States: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Viet Nam.

The following inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations have permanent observer status with COPUOS: Association of Space Explorers, Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, Committee on Space Research, Regional Centre for Remote Sensing of the North African States, Eurisy, European Space Agency, European Space Policy Institute, International Academy of Astronautics, International Astronautical Federation, International Astronomical Union, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, International Law Association, International Mobile Satellite Organization, Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications, International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, International Space University, National Space Society, Space Generation Advisory Council, Spaceweek International Association and The Planetary Society.

The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was set up by the General Assembly in 1959 to review the scope of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, to devise programmes in this field to be undertaken under United Nations auspices, to encourage continued research and the dissemination of information on outer space matters and to study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space. COPUOS and its two Subcommittees each meet annually to consider questions put before them by the General Assembly, reports submitted to them and issues raised by the Member States. The Committee and the Subcommittees, working on the basis of consensus, make recommendations to the General Assembly.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) implements the decisions of the General Assembly and of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and its two Subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee. The Office is responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, and assisting developing countries in using space science and technology. Located in Vienna, Austria, OOSA maintains a website at http://www.unoosa.org/.

For information contact:

Qais Sultan

Associate Programme Officer

Telephone: +43 1 26060-4962

E-mail: qais.sultan@unvienna.org

United Nations Information Service Vienna (UNIS)

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2008 as the UN
International Year of Planet Earth, the biggest ever international
effort to promote the Earth sciences.

The aims of the initiative include reducing health problems
through an improved understanding of the medical aspects of Earth
science, enhancing understanding of the occurrence of natural resources
in order to reduce political tension, improving understanding of the
evolution of life, increasing interest in Earth sciences within society
at large, and encouraging more young people to study Earth science at
university.
According to a statement by the
organisers, the International Year of Planet Earth ‘aims to raise 20
million USD from industry and governments and will spend half on
co-funding research, and half on outreach activities’.
Ted Nield, chairman of the outreach
programme committee, told CORDIS News that the 20 million USD figure
was ‘plucked out of the air’ when the idea was first conceived in 2001.
‘Now we would be hoping for more than 20 million, as inflation has
caught up with us since then,’ he said.
‘Of course, 10 million dollars is a lot
of money for outreach activities,’ stressed Dr Nield. ‘It‘s not such a
huge amount for science perhaps, but it will operate as a co-financing
scheme, so we‘re looking for proposals from researchers that have
already secured some funding. The system is modelled on the
international geoscience programme, which has proved very effective.’
Indeed, expressions of interest from researchers are already being
sought under ten separate research themes, chosen for their societal
relevance and outreach potential and set out in ten science
prospectuses. These are: groundwater, hazards, Earth and health,
climate change, resources, megacities, deep Earth, ocean, soil, and
Earth and life.
However, Dr Nield believes that whilst
the science component will be very important, the wider and more
fundamental objectives of the International Year of Planet Earth are
achieving the public outreach and political impact needed in order to
raise the global profile of Earth sciences. ‘Although I am saying this
as the chair of the outreach programme, you understand!’ he joked.
Dr Nield adds that the public outreach
element of the initiative will play the key role in attracting the
desired corporate investment, ‘because that‘s where companies will see
the benefit of investing their PR dollars’. He also believes that
achieving endorsement from the UN, as well as the backing of 97
countries representing 87 per cent of the world‘s population, will open
many doors. ‘We felt UN backing was important – and it has been a four
year task to achieve it – because we want to attract new money from
industry, and for this we thought we would need the endorsement of the
UN,’ Dr Nield told CORDIS News.
The initiative was originally launched
jointly by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and
UNESCO, and was promoted politically within the UN by the People‘s
Republic of Tanzania. Eduardo de Mulder, former president of IUGS and
project leader of the initiative, said: ‘The International Year of
Planet Earth aims to contribute to the improvement of everyday life,
especially in the less developed countries, by promoting the societal
potential of the world‘s Earth scientists.’
Professor de Mulder concluded: ‘Around
the shores of the Indian Ocean, some 230,000 people are dead because
the world‘s governments have not yet grasped the need to use
geoscientists’ knowledge and understanding of the Earth more
effectively. Yet that knowledge is readily available in the practical
experience and publications of some half a million Earth scientists all
over the world, a professional community that is ready and willing to
contribute to a safer, healthier and wealthier society if called upon
by politicians and decision makers.’
For more information click here
(Credits Cordis)

Today, EUMETSAT will take over control of the second of the new
generation of weather satellites, Meteosat Second Generation (MSG-2)
from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) and immediately start
commissioning operations.

ESOC was responsible for the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP)
after the launch of the satellite on 21 December and ensured that the
satellite arrived safely on station at 6.5° West longitude in
geostationary orbit at 36,000 km above the Earth.
From its Control Center in Darmstadt,
EUMETSAT will now activate the onboard instruments, SEVIRI and GERB,
and will verify that all electronic components are performing well. The
first MSG-2 signal was already received by the EUMETSAT commissioning
team on 28 December 2005 from the MSG ground station in Usingen.
During the commissioning period, which
will last until Summer 2006, the satellite and ground systems will be
carefully tested and tuned to prepare it for routine operations.
The first image from MSG-2 is foreseen for
end of January 2006 and dissemination of imagery to the meteorological
user communities for evaluation purposes is expected for spring.
The Meteosat Second Generation satellites
provide improved information and imagery for weather forecasting as
well as other applications such as hydrology, agriculture and
environmental studies. The data collected are routinely used for the
study of weather and climate change and have proven to be vital in the
context of severe weather situations were they help to reduce losses of
human life and property.
Please also view Mikael Rattenborg’s
interview (EUMETSAT Director Operations) on the following webpage:
http://www.eumetsat.int/

EUMETSAT
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of
Meteorological Satellites, is an intergovernmental organisation that
establishes and maintains operational meteorological satellites for 18
European States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom). EUMETSAT
has signed 12 Cooperating State Agreements. Those with Bulgaria,
Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia and the Czech Republic have entered into force whereas the
Agreement with Serbia and Montenegro and Iceland are to be ratified in
the near future.
EUMETSAT is currently operating Meteosat-6, -7 and -8 over Europe and Africa, and Meteosat-5 over the Indian Ocean.
The data, product and services from
EUMETSAT’s satellites make a significant contribution to weather
forecasting and to the monitoring of the global climate.
More info at press@eumetsat.int
(Credits Eumetsat)

The Warsaw Conference on “Integration of the new EU Member Countries
into the GMES Programme” was attended by around 160 experts from space
and user institutions, infrastructure and service industry, research
centers and academia. More than 40% of the audience was from outside
the space sector, and about half of the participants came from new
Member Countries.

Conclusions
The Conference focused on active
participation of the New EU Members States (NMS) in the future
development and application of GMES. It is the second in a series of
GMES-related conferences following the Berlin event and preceding the
Toulouse and Budapest ones, concluding with the Graz Conference to be
held in April 2006.
The participants acknowledged with
satisfaction the outcome of the European Union Space Council (Nov 28
2005) and the ESA Council meeting at ministerial level (Dec 5/6 2005)
at which a GMES programme was presented to Member States. In
particular, the decision of the ESA Council to launch the first phase
of the optional GMES programme with an over subscribed budget was
welcomed by the participants who saw it as a strong encouragement of
their effort toward building and integrating operational services. The
formal invitation by the ESA Council meeting at ministerial level to
countries from new EU member states to join the programme as fully
participating states was received with great enthusiasm and underlined
the relevance of the Conference. However, the participants expressed
their wish to see a greater commitment of the EU Member States,
supporting the swift implementation of GMES through the European
Commission.
During the discussion, the participants
agreed that the involvement of user organisations, research
institutions and industry from the New EU Member States in GMES is
essential for ensuring the success of this programme in the enlarged
Europe. A number of stake holders from the NMS, most notably user
organizations and service industries, already participate in both the
ESA and EC GMES projects. Their involvement is presently limited to
land and ocean GMES projects, but must be extended to the GMES security
projects such as RISK-EOS, LIMES and PREVIEW. Participants were
convinced that industries in the New Member States have all the
required skills to participate as active players within GMES. In
particular, Industrial leaders already active in GMES welcomed the
participation of NMS industry in all roles within GMES, including space
and ground hardware, distribution/ processing / calibration, validation
and service provision. However, the potential of New Member States in
GMES is still not fully exploited, and there is a pressing need to
increase the involvement of New Member States actors in GMES.
For this purpose, a resources and
dedicated framework need to be made available and accessed within the
institutional set-up. The key GMES European-level stakeholders
including EC and the JRC, ESA, EUMETSAT, EUSC and EEA are all
developing new links and enlarging their respective membership and
cooperation with NMS national organizations. This clearly sets the
long-term institutional and programmatic framework for GMES.
Priority should be given to making full use of existing programmatic
and funding mechanisms to achieve this, including national funding from
the New Member States, activation of the ESA PECS (Plan for European
Cooperating States) mechanism, access to funds available through EC
Programmes, and involvement of NMS organizations in GMES.
Recommendations
The following specific recommendations emerged from the discussions that took place during the meeting:
1) The formal integration of the New EU
Member States to the GMES programme needs to be accelerated in order to
set-up the mechanisms facilitating collaboration at all levels. In
particular, ESA and officials from the New EU Member States are invited
to accelerate their efforts toward reaching agreements, either via the
PECS mechanism or the “Programme participation” mechanism of ESA.
2) The legal framework related to Earth
Observation applications, either at National or EU level, does not
support the development of services. The European Commission and
National Legislators are invited to undertake a careful screening of
existing legislation and required adaptations, following for example
the case of the water framework regulations.
3) In particular, the timely availability, the pricing and licensing
of data, services and products are critical for the deployment of GMES,
and need to be foreseen in the respective legal instruments.
4) Partnerships are seen as a key factor
for the development of the GMES Programme in general and the
integration of the new EU Member States in particular. It was
recognised that in addition to national and EU levels, the regional
(sub-national) level and cross borders (adjacent) coordination and
applications are essential and need to be supported. The GMES
institutional actors, in particular the EC and ESA, are invited to
foster the development of specific downstream services through
bilateral partnerships of new Member States’ and old Member States’
institutions.
(Credits Eurisy)