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On 30 March 2011, the INSPIRE Initial Operating capability Task Force (IOC TF) updated the Technical Guidelines for Discovery and View Services and approved version 3.0 as a stable version of these documents (which contains significant changes with regard to the previous ones).

This Task Force was set up in May 2009 to help and support the implementation in Member States of the Directive 2007/2/EC establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE). The scope of the IOC TF includes architectural aspects and implementation of Network Services to ensure interoperability with the INSPIRE geoportal among Member States. The IOC TF initially focuses on the implementation of the INSPIRE Discovery and View Services.

More information is available at INSPIRE

(Source GMES.Info)

The Sentinel satellites that are being developed to yield data for information services through Europe’s GMES program also have great potential to advance our understanding of Earth. Scientists gathered recently to discuss how to get the most out of these missions.

The Sentinels for Science workshop, held at ESA’s Centre for Earth Observation in Italy, set the stage for more than 200 scientists to analyze and prioritize how the various data products from Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 could be put to scientific use.

Headed by the European Commission, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program will provide accurate, timely and easily accessible information to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and help ensure civil security.

Within the framework of this ambitious Earth observation initiative, ESA has been tasked with developing the five new Sentinel missions specifically for the operational needs of the program.

While the aim is to deliver data to feed into GMES information services, the Sentinels could also be of great benefit to science.

Volker Liebig, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programs said, “The range of sensors carried on the different Sentinels, their ability to provide global coverage and rapid revist times coupled with our commitment to providing long-term data, make these missions highly relevant to gaining a deeper insight into the processes and interactions that make up the Earth system and its changes.

“In order to exploit GMES fully, we need constant feedback of science. This will lead to many new applications, as we have seen with Envisat and other satellites.”

The first Sentinel is planned to launch in 2013. It is a C-band imaging radar mission to provide an all-weather day-and-night supply of imagery of land and ocean surfaces. Sentinel-1 will be followed by Sentinel-2, which carries a multispectral high-resolution optical instrument to monitor vegetation changes. Sentinel-3 carries a multiple instrument package to measure different ocean variables and monitor land.

All three missions will be made up of two identical satellites orbiting as pairs.

Josef Aschbacher, Head ESA’s GMES Space Office noted, “The sentinel data contain crucial information for all Earth sciences, especially climate-change related questions that need long time series.”

Workshop participants also talked about the complementary and synergistic retrieval of data from the Sentinels with that acquired by other Earth observation missions.

The success of the workshop has clearly paved the way for further investigation into how the Sentinels can be of maximum benefit to all users.

The workshop forms part of ESA’s study on Sentinels for Science, or ‘SEN4SCI’, managed by the Remote Sensing Laboratories at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Source RedOrbit

Improving the safety and daily lives of European citizens thanks to radio navigation, guiding tractors by satellite for high-yield crops, optimizing response to humanitarian crisis… This is not science fiction but just a few examples of innovations related to space technologies developed today.

This crucial role of space is reflected in the European Commission communication presented today as a first step of an integrated Space Policy to be developed with the new legal basis provided by the Lisbon Treaty.

The new Communication aims at reinforcing Europe’s space infrastructure and calls for increasing support for research to increase European technological non-dependence, foster cross-fertilisation between the space sector and other industry sectors, and boost innovation as a driver of European competitiveness.

Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: “Space is strategic for Europe’s independence, job creation and competitiveness. Space activities create high-skilled jobs, innovation, new commercial opportunities, and improve citizens’ well-being and security. This is why we need to reinforce European space policy to best exploit its social and economic opportunities for industry and SMEs. In order to achieve our goals, Europe needs to keep an independent access to space.”

Faced with important economic, societal and strategic challenges, today’s communication sets out priorities for the future EU space policy:

  • Pursue the achievement of the European navigation satellite programmes Galileo and EGNOS. For example, a service that was recently introduced under EGNOS enables precision approaches and renders air navigation safer (IP/11/247).
  • Implement with Member States the European Earth Monitoring Programme (GMES) which is designed for land, ocean, atmosphere, air quality and climate change monitoring, as well as emergency response and security, with the objective to become fully operational from 2014;
  • Protect space infrastructures against space debris, solar radiation and asteroids by setting-up a European Space Situation Awareness (SSA) system;
  • Identify and support actions at EU level in the field of Space exploration. The Union could notably explore options to work with the ISS ensuring that all Member States participate in it;
  • Pursue a Space Industrial policy developed in close collaboration with the European Space Agency and Member States;
  • Support research and development to increase European technological non dependence and ensure that innovation in this field will be of benefit to non-space sectors and citizens. Communication satellites play a key role in this context;
  • Strengthen the partnerships with EU Member States and the European Space Agency (ESA) and implement improved management schemes.

The Commission will pursue the dialogue with its key partners United States and Russia and will initiate discussion with other space faring nations such as China in order to develop more synergies. Space should become an integral part of the EU’s external policy in particular to the benefit of Africa.

Finally, the Commission is looking into the possibility of presenting a proposal for a European space programme in 2011. Taking responses to this communication into account, it will decide on its approach as part of its June proposal on the next multi-annual financial framework.

The economic importance of European space manufacturing industry

European space manufacturing industry represents a consolidated turnover of 5.4 B€ and a highly qualified workforce of over 31,000. The 11 major satellite operators in Europe operate 153 communication satellites and represent 6000 employees and have a 6 billion euro per year turnover, with a downstream effect on 30,000 employees. It is estimated that, already, 6-7% of GDP in Western countries, i.e. € 800 billion in the EU, is dependent on satellite radio navigation.

The space service markets are growing rapidly. For instance, GNSS applications markets annual turnover worldwide is expected to reach around € 240 billion by 2020. Moreover, as a result of the advantages of Galileo and EGNOS compared with the other competing systems, they are expected to generate economic and social benefits worth around € 60-90 billion over the next 20 years.

According to OECD, the world market for Earth Observation commercial data which was $ 735 millions in 2007 has the potential to raise to around $ 3 billions in 2017.

SSA (Space Situational Awareness System) would help reduce the quantifiable estimated loss for European assets due to collision with debris and space weather, which, on the basis of available data, amount to ~€332million on a yearly basis on average.

These costs are almost certainly a small fraction of possible non-quantified consequences and costs that may result from the absence of a European Space Situational Awareness System. For example the loss of a satellite may result in the loss of critical satellite communication capacity in an emergency situation resulting in loss of life. Destruction or complete failure of a satellite can result in serious disruption of economic activity (banking relies increasingly on satellite communications) and could have an impact on client business through loss of service. At present there are no reliable figures for estimating the value of such loses. Similarly, it is impossible to quantify the consequences of Near Earth Objects impacting on the Earth.

Background

Article 189 of the Lisbon Treaty gives the European Union an explicit role in designing a policy for the exploration and exploitation of space in order to promote scientific and technical progress, industrial competitiveness and the implementation of its policies. Space policy is a key element of Europe 2020 strategy and an integral part of the industrial policy flagship initiative (IP/10/1434). It supports the objectives of a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy by creating high-skilled jobs, commercial opportunities, boosting innovation and improving citizens’ well-being and security.

For more information:

Communication “EU Space Strategy at the service of the citizen” (COM/2011/152)

DG Enterprise and Industry: Space policy

European Commission GMES website

DG Enterprise and Industry: Satellite navigation

SOURCE EUROPA

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(4 April 2011) A new space policy for Europe: Independence, competitiveness and citizen’s quality of life

Improving the safety and daily lives of European citizens thanks to radio navigation, guiding tractors by satellite for high-yield crops, optimizing response to humanitarian crisis… This is not science fiction but just a few examples of innovations related to space technologies developed today. This crucial role of space is reflected in the European Commission communication presented today as a first step of an integrated Space Policy to be developed with the new legal basis provided by the Lisbon Treaty. The new Communication aims at reinforcing Europe’s space infrastructure and calls for increasing support for research to increase European technological non-dependence, foster cross-fertilisation between the space sector and other industry sectors, and boost innovation as a driver of European competitiveness.

The full press release can be seen here

The Communication from the Commission is available here

(Source GMES.Info)

ESA PR 2010-26 Ministers in charge of space activities representing the Member States of the European Space Agency and the European Union met in Brussels ending November for the Seventh Space Council.

Today’s Council was jointly chaired by Sabine Laruelle, the Belgian Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, the Self-employed, Agriculture and Science Policy, on behalf of the EU Competitive-ness Council, and Giuseppe Pizza, Italian State Secretary in the Ministry of Education, University and Research, on behalf of the ESA Council at Ministerial Level.

Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Enterprise & Industry, and Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, also took part.

The Space Council unanimously endorsed a resolution that called for the necessary actions to deliver a space strategy that would enable economic growth, respond to public policy objectives and develop the vocations of science and technology in Europe.

Ministers emphasised that the flagship programmes Galileo and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) remain the priorities for the EU in space and identified the key decisions to be taken in these areas over the coming months.

In the areas of Global Climate Change and Security, the ministers asked the European Commission and the Director General of ESA to collaborate with the Member States and other relevant actors in Europe to identify how to fill gaps in existing space capabilities.

Ministers also recognised the need to move towards establishing a Space Situational Awareness capability for the protection of Europe’s space assets. They stressed the need for Europe to voice a single European position in international discussions on space exploration.

Following on from the 16 September conference ‘Space for the African Citizen’ and taking account of the expected inclusion of space in the communication for the EU-Africa Summit, to be held in Libya on 29 and 30 November, the Space Council called for expanded partnerships with the African Union, the Regional Economic Groupings and African nations to build capacities for acquiring and exploiting space systems.

Aware that the EU-ESA Framework Agreement, under which the Space Council was established, has been extended until May 2012, ministers of the EU and ESA invited the European Commission and the Director General of ESA respectively to conduct an evaluation by May 2011 of the experience gained under that agreement.

ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain emphasised the progress that had been achieved in space missions since the previous Space Council meeting in May 2009, adding:

“The entry into force of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, with a specific space competence, is good news for space, good news for Europe and good news for ESA. It allows us not to do the same thing differently but to do more, together.”

The full Resolution text can be found at: http://consilium.europa.eu/

Source

Articles related
Spacepolicy

On 25 November 2010, Ministers in charge of space activities representing the Member States of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union participated in the 7th Space Council meeting, under the co-presidency of Belgium (EU) and Italy (ESA). Items on the agenda included climate monitoring, governance of space activities in Europe and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES).
Ministers emphasised that the flagship programmes Galileo and GMES remain the priorities for the EU in space and identified the key decisions to be taken in these areas over the coming months. In this regard, it was reaffirmed that the priority for the EU is now to:

  • Finalise in 2011 the decisions on GMES governance including a sustained scheme for the operations of the GMES space, in-situ and services components;
  • Devise a scheme that addresses the ownership and liability of the Sentinel infrastructure;
  • Ensure an active programme of engagement with potential users of GMES services, including through swift implementation of the GMES user forum.
    In addition, the Space Council asked the European Commission and the Director General of ESA to collaborate with the Member States and other relevant actors in Europe to identify how to fill gaps in existing space capabilities.
    More detailed information on this document will be available in the next SWIFT Newsletter.

The full version of the 7th Space Council resolution is available at

According to the agenda of the Hungarian Presidency, the EU has to maintain its leading role in the global fight against climate change.

Thus, the Presidency finds necessary to give a response at Union level to changing climate conditions and extreme water-related events.

Following the conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol held in December 2010, the Hungarian Presidency is committed to ensuring the implementation of the Cancún decisions within the EU and to discussing further steps needed. It will also start EU preparations for the South Africa climate summit in November/ December 2011, the objective of which is to set up a new global, comprehensive and legally binding framework on climate change, following the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Presidency will also advance tasks derived from the implementation of the EU’s Climate and Energy Package adopted in 2008 and in the Europe 2020 Strategy.

More information is available at

Source GMES.Info

On 12 January 2011, European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani (Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship) published an article dedicated to the GMES programme on the Europa portal.

The Commissioner points out at recent examples of GMES in action including an earthquake in Haiti, forest fires in the Mediterranean and devastating flooding in Central Europe. He highlights the fact that the GMES initiative was activated for each of these situations in order to assist relief efforts on the ground.

Furthermore, while emphasizing its various advantages, Mr Tajani explains that GMES does not replace existing European capacities, but rather complements them with a view to fulfilling user needs and guaranteeing sustainability and European autonomy in the long term.

The whole article is available at

Source GMES.Info

During 2010, the GMES emergency management service developed by the SAFER project has been activated 50 times in response to natural disasters (e.g. earthquake in Haiti, floods in Pakistan and Central Europe) and to industrial accidents (e.g. toxic mud spill in Hungary).

On these different occasions, SAFER provided civil protection authorities and rescue teams with rapid mapping products and thematic products supporting the emergency phase as well as the preparedness / prevention and recovery phases.

Concrete examples of the SAFER’s products are provided in the Flash Info produced by the project as well as on this website (visit the page dedicated to SAFER for more details).

Source GMES.Info

The recent Space Council again demonstrated the will of Europe to boost space policies. The member states praised ESA’s good work over many decades, and reiterated the need to support the Agency as a source of Europe’s excellence and leadership in space.

Space policy is moving up on the political agenda in Europe. European space policy rests on three pillars: the member states, the EU and ESA. To reflect this, the EU’s Lisbon Treaty for the first time includes competence for the EU in the space domain.

The Space Council is the joint and concomitant meeting of the EU Council and the ESA Council at ministerial level. The 7th Space Council was held on 25 November in Brussels, under the co-presidency of Belgium (EU) and Italy (ESA). This was the first Space Council after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009.

The introduction of a specific EU competence in space is positive for Europe and ESA. ESA focuses on research and development of space systems and in their applications, while the EU brings a clear picture of how space can best serve Europe’s citizens European policies and provides additional financial resources to the space programmes that implement these policies.

Minister Giuseppe Pizza of the Italian ESA Presidency emphasised this point: “The European Union is crucial for the promotion and financing of operations which will provide benefits for the citizens.

“I also want to emphasise that Europe’s excellent capacity expressed so far in the area of space policy is the result of the build-up of 30 years of experience with ESA where member states invested financial, scientific and human resources.

“Therefore, I look forward to a very fruitful role to be played by ESA in the promotion of research programmes; the development of advanced technology; innovative space systems; the development of launchers, as well as the implementation of the flagship Galileo and GMES programmes of the European Union.” GMES is Europe’s initiative for Global Monitoring for Environment and Security.

The German delegation continued on the same positive note, and also emphasised the need for continuity and the need to avoid duplication between the three pillars: “We have in ESA a wonderful, world-renowned space agency with a high level of skills, and we have some member states that are very involved in space policy,” said Peter Hintze, Parliamentary State Secretary from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

“We have to ensure that each player, each stakeholder plays their role and avoids duplication…we should not reinvent the wheel. ESA is strong and we should keep it that way,” Mr Hintze continued.

Other delegations also reflected the need for a strong ESA. Teresa Santero Quintilla, Secretary General of Industry from the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, emphasised the achievements of ESA and its precursor organisations over the last four decades to develop a competitive European space industry through a successful industrial policy: “We think it’s vital that ESA continues to be an independent, intergovernmental body subject to its own rules and in particular in terms of its industrial policy.”

Minister Pizza also touched upon the need for wider international cooperation and announced that in the wake of two previous ESA-EU space exploration conferences, held in Prague in October 2009 and Brussels in October 2010, the first high-level international platform on space exploration will be hosted in Italy next year: “Our intention is to work towards a common, long-term European vision in synergy with international partners… we are looking forward to hosting this expanded first international conference on exploration.”

The event will build upon the recent European conference on exploration to promote a united, global vision of space. All states involved in space exploration will be invited to the meeting, to be held in autumn 2011. The meeting will be in the town of Lucca, in Tuscany, an important crossroad for Italian culture and science.

Source

Article related at ESA

Preparation for the future of space research in Europe begins

With the current FP7 space research programme coming to an end in 2013 the European Commission is preparing the future of EU space research. Space research is expected to contribute significantly to the Europe 2020 priorities, especially with regard to Smart and Sustainable Growth and it is important that Europe continues its research in this domain.

Such research is expected to play an important role in maintaining the security of citizens through monitoring of space weather but also increasing Europe’s competitiveness and reducing its dependency on imported space technology. In this context the European Commission organised a hearing on 8 December 2010 which brought together more than 150 experts in space research. The Commission was advised to support topics in areas such as robotic and human space exploration, space science, and emerging space applications to address societal challenges on and around Earth.

Please find the agenda of the event below. The speakers’ Power Point presentations will be published next to their name. In response to the very high interest from stakeholders to give feedback on the possible content of future space research priorities, the period during which it is possible to submit written contributions has been extended until 1 February 2011.

Moreover, background documents and written contributions from stakeholders are available here:

Downloads:
Invitation letter pdf – 334 KB [334 KB]
Agenda pdf – 21 KB [21 KB]
Stakeholder feedback msw8 – 32 KB [32 KB]
Written contributions pdf – 357 KB [357 KB]

Welcome

Mr. Reinhard Schulte-Braucks (European Commission, Head of Space Research and Development Unit)

Key note address

Space exploration as an essential human endeavour – 4 MB [4 MB] Gerhard Thiele, ESA astronaut (European Space Policy Institute, Vienna)

Report from the Space Advisory Group

Preparing for FP8 Space pdf – 22 KB [22 KB]
Jean-Pierre Swings (Honorary Professor, University of Liege, Space Advisory Group rapporteur on FP8)

Invited speaker

Space Research needs for Europe pdf – 464 KB [464 KB]
Jean-Claude Worms (Head of Space Sciences Unit, European Science Foundation)

ESA activities and the 8th Framework Programme- 397 KB [397 KB]
Alan Cooper (European Space Agency, Head of Brussels Office)

Session 1: Space exploration: research needs

* Europe and the Exploration of Space: Role of the EU and FP8 pdf – 2 MB [2 MB] (Giovanni Bignami – COSPAR president)
* Development concepts and technologies for re-supply/maintenance platforms to provide a step forward for space exploration pdf – 195 KB [195 KB] (Enrico Gaia – Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.A.)
* Space nuclear reactors: a necessary breakthrough for space exploration pdf – 118 KB [118 KB] (Jean-Pierre Roux – AREVA, France)
* High-efficiency space transportation system based on nuclear power and propulsion pdf – 61 KB [61 KB] (Oleg Gorshkov – Keldysh Research Center, Russia)
* Development of electric solar wind sail propellantless propulsion for solar system access pdf – 161 KB [161 KB] (Eija Tanskanen – Finnish Meteorological Institute)
* Deep-space/planetary navigation and communications pdf – 2 MB [2 MB] (Christoph Guenther – DLR, Institute for Communications and Navigation)

Session 2: Space exploration: humans in space

* Tools and concepts for astronaut support on long-duration space missions pdf – 595 KB [595 KB] (health, training, habitat, ISRU) (Richard Aked – Space Applications, Belgium)
* Habitat Research and Technologies for Improving Life Support Cycles pdf – 391 KB [391 KB] (Juergen Schlutz – DLR, Human Spaceflight, ISS and Exploration)
* Research, development and validation for advanced dual integrated countermeasures for space exploration and human public health on Earth pdf – 323 KB [323 KB] (Audrey Berthier – MEDES-IMPS, France)
* Enabling technologies for human exploration: Opportunities for international cooperation pdf – 182 KB [182 KB] (Gennady Raykunov – Central Research Institute for Machine Building (TsNIIMash), Roscosmos, Russia)
* European technology research and application development for routine low cost sub-orbital space launch services pdf – 225 KB [225 KB] (John Lewis – VEGA Deutschland)
* Utilizing augmented reality and virtual reality in order to enhance human performance in space exploration pdf – 218 KB [218 KB] (Joern Rittweger – DLR, Aerospace medicine)

Session 3: Space science

* Microgravity related research within Europe pdf – 338 KB [338 KB] (Jack van Loon – ELGRA president)
* Gravitational Biology 2020: Study biology in space for life on Earth – from molecules to organisms pdf – 135 KB [135 KB] (Michael Lebert – University of Erlangen)
* Astrobiology: The search for life beyond the Earth pdf – 146 KB [146 KB] (Charles Cockell – Open University)
* The Impact and Opportunity of Small Satellites for Space Research pdf – 311 KB [311 KB] (Vaios Lappas – Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey)
* Synergies between ground-based telescopes and space missions, and novel instrumentation for astrophysics space missions pdf – 3 MB [3 MB] (Jesús Burgos Martin – Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias)
* Development of structured data and knowledge management/operation system pdf – 355 KB [355 KB] (Maxim Khodachenko – Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
* Exploring results from European space missions pdf – 188 KB [188 KB] (Eigil Friis-Christensen – Technical University of Denmark)

Session 4: Emerging space applications to address challenges on and around Earth

* Sustainable Space: debris removal, space asset protection, green manufacturing, space-based solar power pdf – 288 KB [288 KB] (Brigitte Serreault – EADS Astrium, France)
* From research to operations: Quantification of the physics of the Sun-Earth system towards operational space weather forecasts pdf – 547 KB [547 KB] (Volker Bothmer – University of Goettingen, Institute for Astrophysics)
* Taking European space technology to next stage; A programme to bring European space technologies to the appropriate maturity level for implementation in European systems for dependence reduction and risk mitigation pdf – 137 KB [137 KB] (Pierre Lionnet – EUROSPACE)
* Development of future multiple-species space borne LIDARS for the global monitoring of the atmosphere composition pdf – 188 KB [188 KB] (Jean-Pierre Marque – ONERA, France)
* Space Infrastructure for UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) operations pdf – 476 KB [476 KB] (Bas van der Peet – National Aerospace Laboratory NLR)
* Innovative research to combine space technologies (geopositioning and data collection, earth observation, space oceanography) for improved monitoring of marine and coastal habitats and its impact on wildlife pdf – 2 MB [2 MB] (Aline Duplaa – Collecte Localisation Satellites)
* Increasing European security in addressing International human risks by combining remote sensing data with socio-economical information pdf – 835 KB [835 KB] (Nathalie Stephenne – Eurosense Belfotop N.V.)

In response to the very high interest from stakeholders to give feedback on the possible content of future space research priorities, the period during which it is possible to submit written contributions has been extended until 1 February 2011

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