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Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Italy and Spain agreed here March 5 to work together within the European Defence Agency (EDA) to develop the next generation of European military Earth-observation satellites. The six European Union members have together launched the Multinational Space-based Imaging System (MUSIS) project.

MUSIS aims to establish a system for surveillance, reconnaissance and observation to take over from the current French Helios II, German SAR LUPE and Italian Cosmo-Skymed and Pléiades systems from 2015-17. The EDA’s Capability Development Plan considers space-based imaging capacities to be essential for European Security and Defence Policy.

EDA officials declined to provide more details, including cost.

One of EDA’s roles will be to seek synergies with Earth-observation programs on the civilian side, in particular with the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security program of the European Commission.

“We will liaise with the Commission and the European Space Agency to ensure complementarity of research and technology, and to seek other synergies,” said Alexander Weis, the EDA’s chief executive.

The project is open to other EDA countries wanting to join later, provided that their contribution is acceptable to the existing consortium. The United Kingdom, for example, is not part of the program, but the U.K. Ministry of Defence said that it had not ruled out taking part at a later date.

Source

More info at EDA

GMES Info

The “GMES and Africa” process was launched by the Maputo Declaration, signed on 15 October 2006. The initiative aims to strengthen and further develop infrastructure for a more coherent exploitation of Earth Observation data (space and in-situ), technologies and services in support of the environmental policies for sustainable development in Africa and ACP countries.

In response to the Maputo Declaration, a large event dedicated to “GMES and Africa” was set up in December 2007 in Lisbon, which resulted in the adoption of “The Lisbon Process on GMES and Africa”, requiring an Action Plan in 2010.

On 9-12 March 2009, the GMES and Africa Coordination Group (composed of 14 members, seven from Europe and seven from Africa) met at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy. Representatives from DG JRC, DG Development, DG Enterprise and Industry, EU Member States, ESA and EUMETSAT composed the European side of the Coordination Group.

The aim of this meeting was to start drafting the Action Plan on “GMES and Africa” for submission to the next EU-Africa Summit in 2010.

EUMETSAT has a long experience cooperating with Africa on the operational use of Earth Observation, the organisation should therefore play an important role in the GMES and Africa” initiative. EUMETSAT will ensure that that the expected Action Plan builds on existing Earth Observation capacities in Africa.

More information on Eumetsat website

Source GMES.Info

VAE is an element of the ESA Earth Observation Envelope Program (EOEP-3).

More than 140 proposals were received in response to the first three Invitations To Tender issued in 2008 under the new program VAE (Value Adding Element). This confirms that issues of high interest for the EO service industry are being addressed in VAE.

VAE is an element of the ESA Earth Observation Envelope Program (EOEP-3). It follows on from its predecessor (EOMD) and maintains focus on the needs of the EO service industry. VAE is starting now its new activities over the financing period of the next 5 years (2008-12).

Out of the total pool of proposals, more than 40 have been evaluated as above good in quality and meriting contracts. This exceeds (by a factor 2) the level of activities originally foreseen in the 2008 work-plan for VAE. Currently, a first batch (BATCH1) of 22 contracts are in the negotiation and placing phase for a total value of 4 MEuros. In order to fully cover the most promising ideas submitted by industry, a second batch (BATCH2) of about 20 contracts is going to be started before summer for the remaining positively evaluated proposals.

The list of activities to be started now (BATCH1) is provided below.

AO5828 – INTEGRATE NEW TECHNIQUES/TECHNOLOGIES INTO CURRENT EO SERVICES

Ten contracts have been selected (note the prime contractor is indicated in brackets):

  • PolSAR mapping services for Forestry (Dendron Resource Surveys)
  • New polarimetric Detection for Marine applications (eOsphere)
  • EO Jelly (starlab)
  • Integration of ground photos and EO for risk reduction, disasters and climate change (AnsuR Technologies AS)
  • EO services for CO2 Capture and Storage Facilities (SciSys)
  • Renewable Energy Potential Mapping (Geoville)
  • CO2 Capture and Storage for the Energy Industry using high-resolution SAR (InfoTerra Gmbh)
  • EO for Legal Use (University College London)
  • MERIS-based Chlorophyll and LAI products (InfoTerra Ltd)
  • De-Forestation monitoring services (DMCii)

Companies have been contacted to provide a full proposal. The second batch will include 10-12 contracts.

AO5825 – ADDRESSING NEW AND EVOLVING INDUSTRY OPPORTUNITIES FOR EO BASED INFORMATION SERVICES

The first group of eight contracts to be started in first quarter of 2009 includes:

  • Geo-Marketing (TeleAtlas)
  • Geo-Marketing (GIM)
  • Climate Change & Industry (Civil Engineering) (COWI)
  • Climate Change & Industry (Carbon Trading) (Hatfield)
  • Waste Management (Environmental)(ERA-MapTec)
  • Waste Management (Mining) (ViaSat Geotechnologies)
  • Insurance (Logica)
  • Agro-Chemical (Spatial Business International)

8-10 contracts will be started in the second batch.

AO 5870 – GEOGRAPHIC EXPANSION FOR EUROPEAN AND CANADIAN EO SERVICES

The four selected contracts will all be starting in the first quarter of 2009:

  • Persian Gulf States / Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. (Vega Group plc)
  • South-East Asia / Indonesia and Vietnam (C-CORE)
  • North-East Asia / China (InfoTerra Gmbh)
  • North-Africa Mediterranean Coast / Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt(Indra)

There are no further contracts to be started for this ITT.

When all of these BATCH1 contracts have been successfully negotiated and started, summary information will be posted on the website.
Information on the contracts selected under BATCH2 (a further 20 contracts) will be posted here in May.
Information on the new opportunities for 2009 within the VAE program will be posted during April.

SOURCE

A Eurisy-SME Union Working Breakfast in the European Parliament

Eurisy is enlarging its User Programme to encompass small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as users of satellite based services.

Eurisy’s on-going User Programme has already achieved a high degree of success in raising the awareness of local and regional authorities of the benefits of Satellite Information and Services (SIS). In the process, Eurisy has set close partnerships with user organisations such as the Assembly of the European Regions, the Committee of Regions and others.

As more and more regions and cities gain an interest in how to use SIS, and ask our advice in implementing them, Eurisy moves towards including user SMEs in our programme of raising awareness and anchoring space in society.

The move was kicked-off during a Working Breakfast in the European Parliament, which was co-organised by the SME Union of the EPP and Eurisy. Several MEPs, representatives from the European Commission and industry welcomed the proposal by Eurisy that support mechanisms, including financing, should be implemented so that more and more SMEs can invest in and use satellite-based services.

The benefits SMEs can draw from using satellite applications were eloquently illustrated by Mr Seppo Hovi, representing Hyotypaperi, a Finnish company which recycles and sells forest residues to energy power plants. Mr Hovi highlighted how using a satellite based service (combining satellite maps and GPS) has helped improve all levels of the supply chain. Mr Hovi pointed out the considerable economic advantages obtained through the use of these innovative satellite tools.

Eurisy’s initiative for supporting users of Satellite Information and Services – be they local or regional authorities or SMEs – continues through a series of events throughout the year, the next one being an information session on EU’s broadband initiative, to be hosted by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions during their General Assembly in Malmö, this April.

We invite all satellite service providers interested in collaborating on Eurisy’s activities of promoting satellite applications to contact Teodora Secara at Teodora.Secara(at)eurisy.org

“Working Breakfast at European Parliament. L-R: Jean Bruston, Eurisy Secretary General; Seppo Hovi, Hyötypaperi; Malcolm HARBOUR, MEP; Stefan NONNEMAN, Head of Unit, Space policy and coordination, EC; Christian ROVSING, MEP”

Source EURISY

Multilingual practical information and online government services for companies looking for business in another EU country. Provided jointly by the European Commission and national authorities.

The new ‘Your Europe – Business’ portal gives entrepreneurs easy access to information on doing business in other EU Member States. It has been established in close cooperation with Member States and is part of the implementation of the Small Business Act. Re-launched by European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen at the European Business Summit today, the site helps SMEs to take advantage of opportunities to trade and offer their services in the Single Market.

SOURCE

With three Earth Explorer satellites set to launch this year, another three under construction and up to three more about to be selected for feasibility study, 2009 promises to be a significant year for ESA’s contribution to Earth science – paving the way to a clearer understanding of how our planet works.

Understanding how the Earth works and the way in which natural processes respond to global climate change is a major challenge facing science today. Encompassing a new approach to observing the Earth from space, ESA’s Earth Explorer missions are developed in direct response to a range of Earth-science challenges identified by the scientific community.

The fundamental principle of defining, developing and operating missions in close cooperation with the scientific community aims to provide an efficient tool with which to address pressing Earth-science questions as effectively as possible. In addition, the scientific issues addressed also form the basis for the development of new applications for Earth observation data.

This user-driven approach has so far realised six Earth Explorers, three of which planned for launch this year, as well as another six concepts for new missions that are being presented to the scientific community next week in Lisbon, Portugal. The six candidate missions will subsequently undergo a selection process to enter the next phase of development.

The first Earth Explorer to launch is ESA’s gravity mission GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer), which although delayed last year due to a problem with the Russian launcher, is scheduled to lift-off in March. GOCE will map global variations in the gravity field with extreme detail and accuracy. This is crucial for deriving accurate measurements of ocean circulation and sea-level rise, both of which are affected by climate change.

Next up is SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity), which is planned to launch in July. Currently, the satellite is in storage at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France. Once launched, SMOS will deliver data to address the current lack of global observations of soil moisture and ocean salinity. These data are needed to further our knowledge of the water cycle and contribute to weather, extreme-event forecasting and seasonal-climate forecasting.

Towards the end of 2009, ESA’s ice mission CryoSat-2 will launch. With diminishing ice cover a reality, CryoSat-2 has been designed to measure the exact rate of change in the thickness of ice floating in the oceans and ice sheets on land. This will help explain the connection between the loss of polar ice, the rise in sea levels and climate change.

It is planned that the launches this year will be followed by the Atmospherics Dynamics Mission ADM-Aeolus and the magnetic field mission Swarm, both in the 2010 timeframe.

ADM-Aeolus will be the first space mission to measure wind profiles on a global scale. It will improve the accuracy of numerical weather forecasting and advance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and processes relevant to climate variability and climate modelling. Swarm will provide high-precision and high-resolution measurements of the strength and direction of the Earth’s magnetic field.

Then in the 2013 timeframe, the* EarthCARE mission (Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer)* is planned for launch. EarthCARE will address the need for a better understanding of the interactions between cloud, radiative and aerosol processes that play a role in climate regulation.

As part of the on-going user-driven approach to implementing new science and research Earth observation missions, six new concepts have just completed their two year-long assessment studies. On 20-21 January, over 250 leading members of the science community will gather in Lisbon, Portugal to attend the Earth Explorer User Consultation Meeting to review these six mission concepts, which comprise:

A-SCOPE – to observe atmospheric carbon dioxide for a better understanding of the carbon cycle
BIOMASS – to observe global forest biomass for a better understanding of the carbon cycle
CoReH2O – to observe snow and ice for a better understanding of the water cycle
FLEX – to observe photosynthesis for a better understanding of the carbon cycle
PREMIER – to observe atmospheric composition for a better understanding of chemistry-climate interactions
TRAQ – to observe tropospheric composition for a better understanding of air quality.

Following the meeting and taking into account opinion from the science community, ESA’s Programme Board for Earth Observation will select up to three missions for feasibility study – the next step of the implementation cycle. A further down-selection will lead to ESA’s seventh Earth Explorer mission – envisaged to launch around 2016.

In conclusion, the launch of three Earth Explorer satellites, the further selection of three missions to go to the next phase of implementation and the on-going development of three Earth Explorers means that 2009 is set to be a challenging year for the science and research element of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes.

SOURCE ESA

European cities and municipal authorities face significant new challenges for future urban planning in the coming years and this project provides a practical and cost-effective solution for their needs.


Through the use of European space technology we will open up possibilities for mutual learning from a land use perspective and help cities to make more informed investment decisions. The Urban Atlas demonstrates the benefit of an integrated European approach and is an excellent example of how space based applications contribute to local solutions across Europe.”

_
What do Prague, Leipzig, Cork, Ljepaja, Poznan, Nice, Glasgow, Venice or Gozo have in common? Whether big or small, European cities need reliable and comparable urban planning information for safe, sustainable and prosperous development. This year, for the first time, 185 cities from all 27 EU Member States, will benefit from the “Urban Atlas”, which has been produced by the European Commission and Member States with the support of European space technology. Compiled from thousands of satellite photographs, the Urban Atlas provides detailed and cost-effective digital mapping, ensuring that city planners have the most up-to-date and accurate data available on land use and land cover. The Urban Atlas will enable urban planners to better assess risks and opportunities, ranging from threat of flooding and impact of climate change, to identifying new infrastructure and public transport needs. All cities in the EU will be covered by the Urban Atlas by 2011._

Other links
GMES
European Space Policy

Source

COCOS
The project aims at making significant progress towards a global carbon observation system by linking the European observation research initiatives relevant to carbon-cycle assessment with similar existing initiatives in other continents/countries.

DAMOCLES
DAMOCLES is designing an integrated ice-atmosphere-ocean monitoring and forecasting system, for observing, understanding and quantifying climate changes in the Arctic.

DevCoCast
This project aims to involve developing countries in the GEONETCast initiative. It will disseminate existing environmental datasets from sources in Africa, South and Central America and Europe via GEONETCast to a range of user communities in developing countries.

ESONET
ESONET is an observatory network that investigates global processes, such as the dynamics of the oceanic lithosphere and thermohaline circulation in the ocean.

EBONE
EBONE is working to design and test a biodiversity observation system integrated in time and space.

e-SOTER
As the European contribution to a Global Soil Observing System, e-SOTER will create a web-based regional pilot platform to deliver soil information that can be used directly by policy makers and managers; it will also make available the methods and techniques that have been used to create the information.

GEOBENE
This project is developing methodologies and analytical tools to assess societal benefits of GEO in the domains of: disasters, health, energy, climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture and biodiversity.

TENATSO
TENATSO will support pre-operational atmosphere and ocean observation capability in the tropical Eastern North Atlantic Ocean. This region has little data but plays a key role in air-sea interaction.

YEOS
Its aim is to strengthen the GEOSS cooperation between EU and other key GEOSS players by jointly building up a prototype Yellow Sea observation, forecasting and information system.

From Blog Ralf Grahn: Earlier we noted that the Lisbon Treaty added ’space’ to the Title on research and technological development. Now we turn to the new provision on European space policy.


TEC
The current Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) has no separate Article on space policy, which is included in the research and technological development policy. Cf. the latest consolidated version of the treaties, OJEU 29.12.2006 C 321 E.

European Convention

The European Convention proposed a new provision on space policy in Article III-155 of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (OJEU 18.7.2003 C 169/57):

Article III-155 Draft Constitution
1. To promote scientific and technical progress, industrial competitiveness and the implementation of its policies, the Union shall draw up a European space policy. To this end, it may promote joint initiatives, support research and technological development and coordinate the efforts needed for the exploration and exploitation of space.
2. To contribute to attaining the objectives referred to in paragraph 1, European laws or framework laws shall establish the necessary measures, which may take the form of a European space programme.

Constitutional Treaty

The intergovernmental conference took over the Convention’s proposal and added a third paragraph on the relations with the European Space Agency (ESA), OJEU 16.12.2004 C 310:

Article III-254 Constitution
1. To promote scientific and technical progress, industrial competitiveness and the implementation of its policies, the Union shall draw up a European space policy. To this end, it may promote joint initiatives, support research and technological development and coordinate the efforts needed for the exploration and exploitation of space.
2. To contribute to attaining the objectives referred to in paragraph 1, European laws or framework laws shall establish the necessary measures, which may take the form of a European space programme.
3. The Union shall establish any appropriate relations with the European Space Agency.

Original Lisbon Treaty (ToL)

Article 2, point 142 inserted a new Article 172a (OJEU 17.12.2007 C 306/86).

SPACE

142) The following new Article 172a shall be inserted:

‘Article 172a
1. To promote scientific and technical progress, industrial competitiveness and the implementation of its policies, the Union shall draw up a European space policy. To this end, it may promote joint initiatives, support research and technological development and coordinate the efforts needed for the exploration and exploitation of space.
2. To contribute to attaining the objectives referred to in paragraph 1, the European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall establish the necessary measures, which may take the form of a European space programme, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States.
3. The Union shall establish any appropriate relations with the European Space Agency.
4. This Article shall be without prejudice to the other provisions of this Title.’.

Differences

In comparison with the Constitutional Treaty, the Treaty of Lisbon made the following changes:
Paragraph 2 added mentions on the ordinary legislative procedure and the exclusion of harmonisation of the member states’ laws and regulations.

Paragraph 4 was an addition.

Renumbering the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL)

As we have noted earlier, the Table of equivalences of the original Treaty of Lisbon tells us that Title XVIII first became Title XVIII with the addition of space in the TFEU (ToL), and later renumbered Title XIX Research and technological development and space in the consolidated version.

The new Article 172a or Article 172bis TFEU (ToL) was renumbered Article 189 TFEU in the consolidated version of the Lisbon Treaty (OJEU 17.12.2007 C 306/217–218).

Lisbon Treaty consolidated

Article 189 TFEU
The new Article was renumbered. Article 189 TFEU appears like this in the consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon (OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115/131–132):

_(TITLE XIX
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND SPACE)_

Article 189 TFEU
1. To promote scientific and technical progress, industrial competitiveness and the implementation of its policies, the Union shall draw up a European space policy. To this end, it may promote joint initiatives, support research and technological development and coordinate the efforts needed for the exploration and exploitation of space.
2. To contribute to attaining the objectives referred to in paragraph 1, the European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall establish the necessary measures, which may take the form of a European space programme, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States.
3. The Union shall establish any appropriate relations with the European Space Agency.
4. This Article shall be without prejudice to the other provisions of this Title.

Summary of legislation

The Commission’s Scadplus page with a summary European space policy (last update 17 July 2006) is available here

A European space policy is a more or less similar web page, with differences mainly in details, but it includes a link to the Resolution on the European space policy of 22 May 2007 (web page last updated 25 May 2007)

Commission space activities

News, activities and background on European space policy can be accessed through the Commission’s DG Enterprise and Industry web pages European Space Policy

There are links to information about GMES, Galileo, Sapce Research and Development (FP7), the European Space Agency ESA, Key documents, News. Events, Publications etc.

Council resolution

To know how far the member states are on board (the spacecraft), you can look at the latest Council Resolution.

The 5th Space Council or more ordinarily the Competitiveness Council Resolution ‘Taking forward the European Space Policy’ from 25 to 26 September 2008 (Council document 13569/08), is available here

European Space Agency

European space policy would be unthinkable without the European Space Agency. ESA has a portal with information about many aspects of its work

For the legally minded: The Convention for the establishment of a European Space Agency, signed 30 May 1975, entered into force on 30 October 1980. The ESA Convention is available here

SOURCE

ESA PR 47-2008. The Ministers in charge of space activities in the European Space Agency’s 18 Member States and Canada concluded a successful two-day Council meeting in The Hague, agreeing to undertake new initiatives in several fields and endorsing the next phases of a set of ongoing programmes.

Decisions are a further step towards giving Europe the means to respond to global challenges. In keeping with the European Space Policy, designed in cooperation with the European Commission, the measures will further strengthen Europe’s role in the development and exploitation of space applications serving public policy objectives and the needs of European citizens and enterprises.

ESA Council at Ministerial Level, The Hague, November 2008
These decisions have particular relevance at the present time, showing as they do Europe’s determination to invest in space as a key sector providing for innovation, economic growth, strategic independence and the preparation of the future.

Recognising that space is a strategic asset and that it is of fundamental importance for the independence, security and prosperity of Europe, the Ministers also adopted four Resolutions:

  • first, “The role of Space in delivering Europe’s global objectives”, covering the political and programmatic highlights of the Council;
  • second, a resolution establishing the Level of Resources for the Agency to cater for Space Science programmes and basic activities in the period 2009-2013;
  • third, the renewal of the contribution of ESA Member States to the running costs of the Guiana Space Centre – Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana (South America); and
  • fourth, a resolution outlining the future evolution of the Agency, spanning its financial management reform, decision-making processes, industrial and procurement policies and the further development of site infrastructures for ESA programmes.

Decisions on programmes/activities

On the programmatic side, the Ministers took decisions concerning the full range of the Agency’s mandatory and optional programmes:

The decisions taken concern the following:

a) The Agency’s mandatory activities:

  • Funding of the Level of Resources for 2009-2013 covering the Scientific Programme and basic activities.

b) Continuation of ongoing optional programmes and start of new programmes:

  • Subscriptions for the Launcher programmes, including funding of the Guiana Space Centre, Ariane 5 and Vega accompaniment technology programmes, Ariane 5 evolution and the future launchers preparatory programme.
  • Subscriptions for the Earth Observation activities, including the second segment of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Space Component programme, the Meteosat 3rd generation development programme and a novel Climate Change Initiative on the provision of essential climate variables.
  • Subscriptions for the human spaceflight, microgravity and human exploration programmes including exploitation and evolution of the International Space Station, on-board research in life and physical sciences and definition studies on the evolution of a returnable transfer vehicle.
  • Subscriptions to robotic exploration programmes (the ExoMars programme and preparatory activities on future Mars robotic exploration).
  • Subscriptions for Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES), focusing on technologies, applications and mission demonstrations and including preparatory work for a European Data Relay System (EDRS), an air traffic management satellite system (Iris) and Integrated Application Promotion combining usage of telecommunications, Earth observation and navigation satellite systems with terrestrial information and communications systems.
  • Subscriptions for the programme on the evolution of the European Global Navigation Satellite System, to continue the improvement of Galileo.
  • Subscription to the start of a Space Situational Awareness programme to provide the information to help protect European space systems against space debris and the influence of adverse space weather.
  • Subscription to the continuation of the General Support Technology programme to provide in a timely way technologies for a wide range of new space programmes.

Space is an enabling tool which gives European decision-makers the ability to respond to critical challenges such as global climate change and global security. It brings a significant contribution to Europe’s growth and employment; it provides indispensable enabling technologies and services for the knowledge society; it increases the understanding of our planet and Universe; and it contributes towards European identity, cohesion and security, providing inspiration for future human potential and bringing young people into scientific and technical education.

Through this meeting the ESA Ministers have seized the opportunity to capitalise on the recent successes and achievements of Europe in space and to translate the political impetus into new programmes able to deliver knowledge, services and competitiveness and to shape ESA to assert itself as a global space agency, indispensable to the world in contributing to global policies.

Note for editors

For further background information on the programmatic aspects, see ESA PR 44-2008

Or contact:

Franco Bonacina
ESA Spokesman and Head of Media Relations Office
Communications and Knowledge Department
Tel: + 33 (0)1 53 69 72 99
e-mail: franco.bonacina@esa.int

SOURCE ESA

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