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Under the EU Spanish Presidency, Spain organised a conference on ‘Space and Security’ on 10-11 March 2010 in Madrid, gathering policy makers from different organisations such as ESA Member States, the EU and the European Defence Agency (EDA).

The aim of this conference was to facilitate a structured dialogue amongst all actors involved in Security-related Space matters embedded in two main space programmes: GMES and ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Preparatory Programme. The contribution of these two programmes to the Europe’s future by helping guarantee the availability of economically vital services delivered from space was highlighted at the conference.

As regards GMES, building upon the status of prior discussions in EU Institutions, the conference contributed to move forward on key issues, namely those about national dual missions relevant to GMES and GMES Security Service.

The Madrid event was part of the continuing ‘Structured Dialogue’ on space and security called for by the European Space Policy. This Dialogue is bringing together the relevant European Commission services, the Secretariat-General of the Council including the European Satellite Centre (EUSC), EDA as well as ESA, and is an increasingly effective instrument for exploiting inter-institutional synergies.

More information on:
ESA
GMES.INFO

Marking another significant step in the GMES initiative, ESA and Thales Alenia Space recently signed a contract worth €270 million to build the second Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 satellites.

Led by the European Commission in partnership with ESA, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme will provide a unique tool to monitor the environment. This initiative will fulfil policy-makers’ growing needs to access accurate and timely information to manage the environment better, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure civil security.

GMES combines data from satellites and information gathered on the ground to form an integrated environmental service facility for the benefit Europe and the international community.

The success of GMES will be achieved largely through its operational ‘Space Component’, which ESA is in the process of realising. This includes the development of five satellite families called Sentinels. Each Sentinel mission is based on a constellation of two satellites to fulfil the revisit and coverage requirements for the wide range of environmental services that will be made available through GMES.

The first three satellites are under construction, with the launch of the first Sentinel-1 expected to take place in 2012. The contract signed recently between ESA and Thales Alenia Space ensures the procurement of the second Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 satellites – or ‘B units’.

A reception, attended by Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Luigi Pasquali, CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italia and Enrico Saggese, President of the Italian space agency (ASI), was held today at the ASI’s facilities in Rome, Italy, to mark this important milestone in the GMES programme.

GMES represents a €2.2 billion investment in key space infrastructure. This is not only an extraordinary undertaking, but also an extraordinary responsibility,” said Mr Liebig at the ceremony. “The contracts for the B units for Sentinel-1 and -3 will ensure the operational services of GMES for the next 10 years at least.”

As prime contractor for the Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 constellations, Thales Alenia Space is responsible for the design, development, construction and testing of these satellites. The A and B satellites in each constellation will be identical, and when both are launched each constellation will achieve its full coverage potential.

Sentinel-1 is a C-band imaging radar mission to provide all-weather, day and night imagery for the benefit of GMES services. It will provide information for monitoring of Arctic sea-ice extent, routine sea-ice mapping, surveillance of the marine environment including oil-spill monitoring, mapping of land for motion risks, forest, water and soil management and mapping in support of humanitarian aid.

Sentinel-3 carries several instruments primarily to support GMES services relating to the marine environment. These services include maritime safety services that need ocean-surface wave information, surface temperature and data to improve ocean current forecasting systems, sea-water quality and pollution monitoring requiring advanced ocean colour products and services to monitor land-use change, forest cover, photosynthetic activity, soil quality and fire detection.

With the benefit of Europe’s technological excellence, the Sentinel satellites promise to take Earth observation to the next level of operational monitoring to help preserve our environment. With Europe setting the standards, GMES will be the first system to provide the infrastructure and services required to benefit the environment and society on such a large scale. While GMES is still a huge undertaking, the contracts for Sentinel-1B and Sentinel-3B mark a significant step towards realising this European initiative.

Source ESA

More info
Spacedaily
Spacedaily

Whatever the weather in Europe, come rain, storms, snow, sleet or sun, the meteorological satellite, Meteosat-9, will be observing it. Meteosat-9 is in orbit 36,000 km above the equator from where it gets a space-eye view of weather systems as they develop.

The images it transmits down to ground stations every 15 minutes – in the visible light and infrared wavelengths – are used by meteorologists to help produce weather forecasts. While Meteosat-9 stays in one place in relation to the Earth – i.e. it is geostationary – it is complemented by another meteorological satellite, Metop-A, which circles closer to the Earth in a polar orbit at 817 km and collects images and more detailed vertical profiles of atmospheric conditions.

Both satellites provide images and atmospheric data that are used by meteorologists to make weather forecasts, and over the longer term they help to monitor changes in the Earth’s climate. The good news for researchers, climate modelers, amateur meteorologists, and anyone else wanting to see what Meteosat-9 and Metop-A are observing, is that the data they produce are freely available for non-commercial or research purposes. One option is to access the data via the Internet or, for a relatively small cost, you can even set up your own satellite dish and beam the data collected from Meteosat-9 and other satellites onto the PC in your office or home in near-real time. […]

For more information click here

Source: earthzine and Eoportal

On 31 March 2010 ESA launched a call for Mission Advisory Group members for the Sentinel-2 mission. The role of the Mission Advisory Group is to provide advice to ESA during development and implementation of the mission. The deadline for submission is 26 April 2010.

Within the framework of the GMES initiative, ESA is developing a series of ‘Sentinel’ satellites. As part of this development process, the Agency has released a call for Mission Advisory Group members for the Sentinel-2 mission.

Applications can be made via the following website: http://missionadvice.esa.int. Please note that the deadline for submission is 26 April 2010 (12:00 CEST).

Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) has been established to fulfil the growing need amongst European policy-makers to access accurate and timely information services to better manage the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.

Under the leadership of the European Commission, GMES relies largely on data from satellites observing Earth. Hence, ESA – in accordance with the European Space Policy – is developing and managing the Space Component for the initiative.

To ensure the operational provision of Earth-observation data, the Space Component includes the series of five Sentinels missions being developed by ESA specifically for GMES.

The Sentinel-2 mission will fly as a pair of satellites, with the first planned to launch in 2013. Each Sentinel-2 satellite carries a Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) with a swath of 290 km. It provides a versatile set of 13 spectral bands spanning from the visible and near infrared (VNIR) to the shortwave infrared (SWIR), featuring 4 spectral bands at 10m, 6 bands at 20m and 3 bands at 60m spatial resolution.

In full operational phase, the pair of Sentinel-2 satellites will deliver imagery on all land surfaces and coastal zones every five days under cloud-free conditions, and typically every 15-30 days considering the presence of clouds.

In general, the role of the Mission Advisory Group is to provide advice to ESA during development and implementation of the mission. For more information about the Mission Advisory Group application procedure please visit the website noted above and also linked from the right-hand bar.

The Sentinel-2 mission is part of the series of five Sentinels missions being developed by ESA specifically for GMES to ensure the operational provision of Earth Observation data. Sentinel-2 will fly as a pair of satellites (each of them will carry a Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) with a swath of 290 km), from which the first is planned to launch in 2013. When it will become fully operational, the Sentinel-2 mission will deliver imagery on all land surfaces and coastal zones every five days under cloud-free conditions, and typically every 15-30 days under presence of clouds.

More information at:
http://www.esa.int/esaLP/SEMF1FIK97G_LPgmes_0.htmlwww.esa.int/esaLP/SEMF1FIK97G_LPgmes_0.html

The 2998th Council of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) met in Brussels on 25-26 February 2010.

The Council adopted conclusions on “29 measures for reinforcing the protection of the external borders and combating illegal immigration”.

Among the five measures that concern the development of the European Surveillance System – EUROSUR, one measure specifically refers to GMES: the Council has agreed “[…]To invite the Commission to report before the end of 2010 on how the conclusions of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) border surveillance group on common application of surveillance tools, such as satellites, could be implemented in the EU land and sea borders”.

The press release presenting the Council Conclusions is available on the Council of the European Union website

Source GMES.Info

On 12 January 2010, the Development Committee of the European Parliament organized the hearing of Mrs Rumania Jeleva, the Bulgarian Commissioner-designate for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. The aim of this proceeding was to ask her various questions related to humanitarian aid and crises response.

Crisis response

Charles Goerens (ALDE, LU) asked whether the EU’s capacity to respond to natural disasters is sufficient and how to deal with the deficits in this area. Ms Jeleva said: “Now we have civil protection and humanitarian aid in the same portfolio and I will do my best to have better prepared responses and to use all the capacities given by the portfolio to better urge Member States to be more active in preparing themselves and to contribute at European level.”
The voting in plenary, where the Parliament approves or rejects the whole Commission as a body, is scheduled on 26 January 2010.
More information at:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/008-67128-011-01-03-901-20100111IPR67127-11-01-2010-2010-false/default_en.htm

Source GMES.Info

Provisional agendas for Council meetings prepared by Coreper I during the SP presidency

Note, hereunder, some issues which might be relevant for the space sector.

1-2 March: Competitiveness Council (p.9)
· Internal market/Industry – Industrial policy
§ Adoption of Council conclusions
§ Exchange of views

· Research – Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Earth Observation Programme (GMES) and its initial operations (2011-2013)
§ Progress report / (poss.) General approach

- Commission Communication on the EU 2020 Strategy (as regards research and innovation)
§ Presentation by the Commission
§ Exchange of views

- Results of the Copenhagen Conference. Implications for European industry
§ Information from the Commission

- High-Level Event on Information and Communication Technologies for Energy Efficiency (ICT4EE): towards a sustainable society (Brussels, 23 and 24 February 2010)
§ Information from the Presidency

15 March: Environment Council (p. 30)

- Climate change
§ (poss.) Adoption of Council conclusions/ Exchange of views

25-26 May: Competitiveness Council (p.12)

· Internal market/Industry – European Innovation Plan
§ Presentation by the Commission / Exchange of views / Adoption of Council conclusions

· Research – Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Earth Observation Programme (GMES) and its initial operations(2011-2013)
§ General approach / (poss.) Political agreement

- European Innovation Plan
§ Presentation by the Commission / Exchange of views / Adoption of Council conclusions

- Commission Communication on simplifying participation in Research Framework Programmes
§ Adoption of Council conclusions

- Future development of the ERA:
§ a) Progress with joint programming of research
§ b) Research infrastructures of pan-European interest
§ c) Synergies between cohesion funds for research and innovation and Framework Programmes for Research and for Competitiveness and Innovation
§ d) Public-Private Partnerships for research and innovation
§ e) European Institute of Innovation and Technology: the first Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs)
· Adoption of Council conclusions

31 May: Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (p. 18)

· Telecommunications and Information society – Communication from the Commission on the European broadband strategy: next generation networks
§ Presentation by the Commission / Exchange of views / Adoption of Council conclusions

21 June: Environment Council (p. 32)

- Climate change
§ (poss.) Adoption of Council conclusions/ Exchange of views

- Challenges for a good environmental status of the marine environment
§ Presentation by the Presidency / Exchange of views

24 June: Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (p. 21)

· Transport – (poss.) Galileo: Proposal for a Regulation on Public Regulated Services
§ Presentation by the Commission / Policy debate

- Communication on the mid-term review of the Galileo programme
§ Presentation by the Commission

provisional agenda.pdf

(Source Eurospace)

Call launched in the framework the project “ARCH”, funded through the Regional Development Fund (INTERREG IVA), involving the French region of Nord Pas de Calais and the British region of Kent.

The project aims at developing a common methodology and tools to monitor natural habitats.

The project contains 3 key activities, which involve: – mapping and reporting on natural habitats in the two regions – data interpretation, establishment of a regional GIS – feasibility study on the use of satellite technology to monitor biodiversity (not only in terms of technology, but also of costs and work processes for the final user). A test of the recommended technologies is also envisaged.

This call is an opportunity not only for individual service providers from the EO community, but also for the community in general, to formalise the added value of satellite information for biodiversity monitoring by regions, and to diffuse this information through the user networks.

Call documents can be downloaded from: http://marches.nordpasdecalais.fr/

- the official tenders’ website of the French region. All documents are in French

The deadline for answering is 1 February.

Within the framework of the GMES initiative, ESA is developing a series of ‘Sentinel’ satellites. As part of this development process, the Agency has released a call for Mission Advisory Group members for the Sentinel-4/-5 missions.


Applications can be made via the following website: http://missionadvice.esa.int.
Please note that the deadline for submission is 15 February 2010 (12:00 CET).

Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) has been established to fulfil the growing need amongst European policy-makers to access accurate and timely information services to better manage the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.

Under the leadership of the European Commission, GMES relies largely on data from satellites observing Earth. Hence, ESA – in accordance with the European Space Policy – is developing and managing the Space Component for the initiative.

To ensure the operational provision of Earth-observation data, the Space Component includes the series of five Sentinels missions being developed by ESA specifically for GMES.

Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 will provide data for atmospheric composition monitoring: Sentinel-4 from geostationary orbit and Sentinel-5 from polar orbit. It is envisaged that Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 requirements will be met by instruments embarked on the next generation of EUMETSAT meteorological satellites – Meteosat Third Generation and post-EPS (EUMETSAT Polar System), respectively.

In general, the role of the Mission Advisory Group is to provide technical advice to ESA during development and implementation of the mission. For more information about the Mission Advisory Group application procedure please visit the website

Source ESA

Information the Communication from the EC “A European Security Research and Innovation Agenda – Commission’s initial position on ESRIF’s key findings and recommendations” as well as the ESRIF Final report.

Note in the Communication that the EC welcomes the “comprehensive approach to security research and innovation approach” of ESRIF, which has identified the role of space as “vital in different security-related technological domains” and pointed out the importance of GMES and Galileo in providing “a wide range of added value services in support of security”, referring the need to protect space assets.

Note, among other issues in the Communication, that the EC considers appropriate to deepen the reflection on broadening security R&D programmes to such areas as civil protection (incl. need for improving disaster prevention, mitigation, the European civil protection response capacity…) and conflict prevention and post crisis stabilisation (incl. building capacity to address global and trans-regional threats).

EU sec research and innov agenda_EC pos on ESRIF.pdf

esrif_final_report.pdf

Source Eurospace