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BRUSSELS -The European Space Agency (ESA), the European Union and EU member states must work more closely, a top European Commission official said to Defense News Oct. 4.

That’s because member states have the civilian and military assets that neither the commission nor ESA have, said Paul Weissenberg, the European Commission’s director for space, security and global monitoring for environment and security (GMES).

Discussions are heating up over what the EU will do with its new competence in space policy, given to it by Article 189 of the Lisbon Treaty. The article allows the EU “promote joint initiatives, support research and technological development and coordinate the efforts needed for the exploration and exploitation of space.”

The EU needs to build on the European Space Agency’s research and development efforts, Weissenberg said at a conference on Europe and space security organized by the French think tank Ifri, or Institut Francais des Relations Internationales.

EU members “need space to achieve the EU’s political objectives – security, defense, environment, climate change – are all areas where space can helps us,” he said.

Weissenberg outlined the EU’s top space priorities: the Galileo navigation system, which he described as “a credibility test”; GMES; an autonomous space situational awareness system; space and climate change research; and exploration.

Asked about EU-NATO cooperation, Claude-France Arnould, the EUs deputy director-general from the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate, said, “Space has not been identified as a short-term deliverable between the EU and NATO.”

Source

-Name: FP7-SPACE-2011-1
-Application deadline: 25/11/10
-General description:
FP7 Space objective is to support a European Space Policy focusing on applications such as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), with benefits for citizens, but also other space foundation areas for the competitiveness of the European space industry. This will contribute to fulfil the overall objectives of the European Space Policy, complementing efforts of Member States and of other key players, including the European Space Agency.

-Project Type: Collaborative Project

-call topics:
Space-based applications at the service of European Society
Strengthening of Space foundations
Cross-cutting activities

-“Read More”:http://www2.technion.ac.il/~liaison/mails/calls/FP7Calls200710/space.pdf

-Indicative Budget: 99 M €

-Further Information:
-“Official Call Documents”:http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.CooperationDetailsCallPage&call_id=334
-“Detailed Work Program”:http://www2.technion.ac.il/%7Eliaison/fp7/work-programs/space2011.pdf
Source: European union
-“related funds”:http://www.trdf.co.il/eng/fundinfo.php?id=105

A unique partnership between NASA and agencies in Africa and Europe is sending more than 30 terabytes of free Earth science satellite data to South African researchers to support sustainable development and environmental applications in Africa.

A NASA statement says the data from one of the instruments on NASA’s Terra satellite provide observations of Africa’s surface and atmosphere, including vegetation structure, airborne pollution particles, cloud heights and winds.

Transfer of these data to a distribution centre in Africa will make it broadly accessible to African users who have not been able to remotely download the large data files because of limitations in the continent’s Internet infrastructure.

NASA is committed to helping governments, organizations and researchers around the world make effective use of Earth observation data to aid in environmental decision making,” said Hal Maring, a program manager in the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

“These efforts support the goals of the Group on Earth Observations, a partnership of international agencies that promotes collaborative use of Earth science data.”
South Africa’s CSIR helping to distribute the information
South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria will distribute the data at no charge to the research community in the region. The CSIR will facilitate access to the large volume of MISR data as part of its broad strategy of educating, training and transferring knowledge to the southern African research community.

“The data transfer can be seen as a birthday present from NASA to the newly-formed South African National Space Agency,” said Bob Scholes, CSIR research group leader for ecosystem processes and dynamics. “It will kick-start a new generation of high-quality land surface products, with applications in climate change and avoiding desertification.” Desertification is the gradual transformation of habitable land into desert due to climate change or destructive land use practices.

The partnership began in 2008, when MISR science team member Michel Verstraete of the European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability (JRC-IES) in Ispra, Italy, participated in an intensive CSIR field campaign to study the environment around Kruger National Park, a major wildlife reserve in South Africa.

The researchers studied the area using direct, airborne and space-based measurements. During the campaign, Verstraete learned of the widespread interest by the South African research community in remote-sensing techniques and applications.

“This multi-party collaboration will significantly strengthen academic and research institutions in southern Africa and support sustainable development of the entire subcontinent,” said Verstraete, who will spend six months in southern Africa next year to help the regional remote-sensing community use the data.
In response, JRC-IES and CSIR signed an agreement in July 2008 to facilitate the interaction and exchange of people, knowledge, data and software.

Where the data comes from

NASA became involved in the collaboration in 2009 after a training workshop for MISR users in Cape Town, South Africa, organized by JPL and Langley Research Center. Although the workshop sparked interest in the potential use of MISR data, it soon became apparent that accessing a large volume of data was a major hurdle for research and applications in developing countries in general and Africa in particular.

While Internet connectivity in Africa has improved greatly in recent years, access and bandwidth remain too limited to support downloading vast data files. This led the CSIR to host the data directly.

The data originate from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on the Terra satellite. MISR has been making continuous measurements of Earth’s surface and atmosphere for more than a decade and observes the sunlit portion of Earth continuously, viewing the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude every nine days. Instead of viewing Earth from a single perspective, the instrument collects images from nine widely spaced view angles

For more information on MISR, click here

Source

INSPIRE Conference 2010 ends with an agreed Declaration to Member State Governments

The European Commission (EC) Joint research Centre INSPIRE information platform has published the Krakow INSPIRE Declaration

The declaration states

“Krakow Declaration on INSPIRE approved at the Closing Session of the Conference “INSPIRE as a framework for cooperation”, 23-25 June, 2010

In total 670 scientists, engineers, educators, entrepreneurs, managers, administrators, and representatives of civil societies from 50 countries have assembled here, in the historic city of Krakow, to attend the INSPIRE Conference 2010, organized by the European Commission and the Polish Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography.”

“We therefore recommend our governments and organisations to

  • maintain their efforts and investments needed for reaping the societal benefits that INSPIRE provides;
  • increase their international collaboration efforts to create an INSPIREd information society without obstacles or borders;
  • support the implementation of INSPIREd spatial data infrastructures in non-EU countries in Europe and beyond.”

Related news topics

INSPIRE: Commission refers Germany to court

INSPIRE 2010 Conference: proceedings published

“Source”:

Consultation: Questionnaire

Policy field(s)
Research and Technology

Target group(s)
Member of an FP7 Programme Committee, Member of an FP7 Advisory Group, National Contact Point, Evaluator of proposals (peer reviewer), Involved (now or earlier) in a project of the Framework Programme, Other (individual or organisation).

Period of consultation
From 02/07/2010 to 27/08/2010

Objective of the consultation

This survey addresses the Interim Evaluation of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7)
The Interim Evaluation of FP7 is being carried out by a group of independent experts, supported by an extensive base of evidence. In order to provide the experts with a range of opinions and views about the functioning and achievements of FP7, this interactive consultation has been set up to allow for contributions both from those with direct experience of the FP, as well as any groups or individuals who wish to give their views. The survey addresses stakeholders including major users of FP7, research organisations and firms.

More info at

“management plan 2010” of DG ENTR of the EC

Please find here in attachement the “management plan 2010” of DG ENTR of the EC.

See, in particular, chapters on “Space and Security” (p. 26) and “EU Satellite Navigation programmes” (p. 30)

entr_mp.pdf

Souce Eurospace

Outcome of the European parliament’s first reading (17 June) on the Proposal for a Regulation on GMES/GIO.

The amendments adopted correspond to what was agreed between the three institutions and ought therefore to be acceptable to the Council. Consequently, once the legal linguists have scrutinized the text, the Council should be in a position to adopt the legislative act (the text of the amendment adopted and the European Parliament’s legislative resolution are set out in the Annex).

st10980.en10.pdf

ESA and the European Maritime Safety Agency have signed a further Agreement to ensure that satellite data are available to enhance maritime safety and help combat pollution from shipping.

The Agreement was signed at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 2 July by ESA’s Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain, and the Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), Willem de Ruiter. This Agreement, which covers cooperation between the two agencies for the use of space-based systems and data in support of maritime activities, follows an earlier Agreement that expired in March this year.

The signing of the new Agreement further strengthens collaboration between ESA and EMSA for the development and use of space-based technologies with respect to keeping European seas safe.

The role of EMSA is to contribute to the enhancement of the overall maritime safety system within the European Union and support the implementation of European policy in the field of maritime safety and security. As such, one of its goals is to reduce the risk of marine pollution and to assist Member States in tracing illegal discharges at sea using satellite monitoring.

As EMSA is a key user of satellite data, ESA takes into account their requirements, both in establishing mission requirements for future operational satellite missions and instruments such as those being developed for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, and in establishing exploitation plans for data of current and future missions.

ESA is also responsible for advising EMSA as to data available from its missions and from satellites operated by third parties for which ESA is granted rights of distribution.

While maritime transport is of fundamental importance to the world’s economy, the devastation that can result from oil spills at sea is all too obvious – as the spill in the Gulf of Mexico currently demonstrates.

The availability of satellite data in near-real time, particularly from radar such as the Advance Synthetic Aperture Radar on Envisat and in the future from the GMES Sentinel-1, is an essential way of monitoring such events. They provide wide area coverage and have the capability to detect oil slicks on the sea surface both in daylight and darkness, and through clouds.

This Agreement between ESA and EMSA and the resulting services takes significant steps in keeping European seas clean and safe.

Source EMSA

Eurospace is pleased to announce the first release of Eurospace facts & figures 2010 survey results (with data relevant to 2009).

You can download from Eurospace internet site the complete presentation, either in PPTX format) either in PDF format

- Eurospace facts and figures complete presentation Issue 2 (expanded with methodological notes, definitions and an overview of the SME situation).

- Eurospace facts and figures, long series (1991-2009) in Constant Million Euro.

- Eurospace facts and figures questionnaire and guidelines (for reference).

- An information note explaining what is in our figures and how to understand them.

The print report is being prepared and will be released during the summer.

Eurospace would like to warmly thank all the companies in Europe that support our effort in the data collection phase.

Source

Within the execution of its functions, ESA regularly monitors and analyses the European space industry. Those studies are intended to provide information in support of ESA’s industrial, procurement and programmatic policies.

The Industrial Policy Division (Procurement Department, Directorate of Resources Management) intends to issue around October 2010 an Invitation To Tender in Open Competition, having as subject EUROPEAN SPACE INDUSTRY: ACTIVITY FORECAST.

The price range for the envisaged study is 200-300Keuro and the study should be completed by September 2011.

Companies from all ESA Member States may submit a bid.

The main objective is to study the evolution and perspectives of the European space industry and its main activity domains.

The starting point will be individual questionnaires completed by space companies, the analysis performed in the context of a parallel study, and the data and analysis from previous surveys of the European Space Industry, the latest covering 2003-2007.

The study activities will include the analysis, modeling of scenarios and estimation of the future evolution (range 10-15 years) of markets, funding, capacity, workload, industrial organization… affecting the situation of the European space industry and the national situation of each ESA Member State.

Forecasts, together with their respective assumptions and confidence, shall be produced on trends and their evolution, markets (accessible and total), workload (recurring, development, other activities), structural evolution and reorganizations.

The estimation should be made for the whole space sector, for each of its activity domains and address each of ESA’s member states.

The likely constraints under which the space industry will have to conduct its activities in the near-mid term shall be considered. The study shall conclude with reasoned recommendations on industrial, procurements and programmatic measures having as objective the improvement of the European Industry situation and a better balance of returns.

Source EMITS