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(Nov 2008) The Final Report on the Initial Period of the GMES Action Plan, which was presented on 26 November 2003, has recognised the European Civil Protection (ECP) as one of the GMES service categories and stressed the need to develop enabling e-infrastructures and virtual organisation services for specific GMES applications.

Indeed, the EU EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-Science in Europe) project provides a powerful GRID platform to implement services for specific application communities but focuses rather on technology than on services, while GMES is more user-oriented. In order to bring together these two important Communities: GMES and GRID, the CYCLOPS (CYber-Infrastructure for CiviL protection Operative ProcedureS) project focuses on the needs of ECP and thus aims at:

1. Disseminating EGEE results to the ECP Community, possibly in close relation with EGEE events, and promoting a close collaboration between the two communities;
2. Providing the EGEE Community with knowledge and requirements that characterise the ECP services;
3. Evaluating the possibility to use existing EGEE services for ECP applications;
4. Developing research strategies to enhance EGEE platform, especially for Earth sciences resources.

By establishing liaisons and synergies with other existing projects and initiatives dealing with GMES, GRID and complementary sectors, CYCLOPS will contribute to the EU policy developments.

In the framework of CYCLOPS, a workshop named ‘Towards a European e-Infrastructure for Civil Protections’ will take place on 5 December 2008 in Rome. The main objective of this workshop is to discuss the innovations necessary to build a unified e-Infrastructure for Civil Protection applications in Europe, whilst involving the Civil Protection, the Geospatial and the GRID communities. Amongst others, the current status of GMES and the applications of downstream services to fires and floods will be discussed.

More information at:
http://www.cyclops-project.eu/Default.aspx?id_menu=0

Source

(Dec 2008) ESA announced the launch of a new website through which data for GMES Services can be obtained.

The purpose of the new GMES Space Component Data Access web portal is to provide access and advertise datasets currently available or planned for GMES Service Projects. Many of the datasets disseminated rely on the organisations operating missions contributing to GMES.

The launch of this website marks the start of pre-operations for the GMES Space Component, through which Earth Observation data will be provided for services to manage the environment, mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.

In addition to the data from ESA, data from more than 25 other European and non-European satellites contributing to GMES will be made available in the coming months such as from the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the French Space Agency (CNES), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Spain’s Deimos Imaging, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Britain’s DMC International Imaging (DMCII), Italy’s e-GEOS, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Eurimage, Euromap/GAF, European Space Imaging, ImageSat International, InfoTerra, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), RapidEye, Spot Image and VITO.

Source GMES.Info

More information on ESA website and on the GMES Space Component Data Access web portal

Current and historical documentation and publications on the European Commission’s Space Policy at ec.europa.eu


Practical guide to EU funding opportunities for research and innovation

• Are you a researcher with an idea for a research or innovation project?
• Do you need to upgrade the skills or the capacity of your research organisation?
• Are you an entrepreneur who would like to undertake research and innovation activities?
• Are you already engaged in commercial innovation activities whether or not arising from
research and development?
• Are you a cluster manager who seeks to internationalise a cluster and make it more
innovative?
• Are you a regional innovation policy-maker, information officer or research programme
manager and want to exchange good practices with your peers from other EU Member
States?
There may well be funding opportunities available at EU level that can help you implement your plans. The objective of this guide is to explain how to get to relevant information on funding opportunities (“getting through the maze”) and make the best use of the possibilities offered by individual instruments or their combination.

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Council Resolution Taking forward the European Space Policy
2891st COMPETITIVENESS
(INTERNAL MARKET, INDUSTRY and RESEARCH) Council meeting
Brussels, 26 September 2008

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COMMISSION WORKING DOCUMENT EUROPEAN SPACE POLICY PROGRESS REPORT

Following the adoption of the Space Council Resolution in May 2007, this Report provides an overview on the main progress achieved in the first year of the implementation of the European Space Policy (ESP), as elaborated jointly by the European Commission and the Director General of the European Space Agency (COM212). The need to establish a European Space Policy has also been endorsed by EU Heads of State and Government. The Member States of the EU and ESA highlighted that the further implementation of the GALILEO and GMES programmes, the development of a Strategy on International Relations in Space and the need to develop adequate instruments and funding schemes for Community actions in the space domain should be first priorities, followed by improved coordination and synergies between defence and civilian space programmes and technologies, in a user-driven approach. This report describes both the important steps forward made since May 2007 and the further actions which are priorities in the coming period.

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EU-ESA Framework agreement

COUNCIL DECISION of on the signing of the Framework Agreement between the European Community and the European Space Agency

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL
AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

‘‘In the middle of the 20th century, we saw our planet from space for the first time. Historians may eventually find that this vision had a greater impact on thought than did the Copernican revolution of the 16th century, which upset the human self-image by revealing that the Earth is not the centre of the Universe. From Space, we see a small and fragile ball dominated not by human activity and edifice but by a pattern of clouds, oceans, greenery and soils’‘. Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, UN 1987

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EU Research for the Environment 2007-2013

This brochure summaries environmental research funded by the European Union and is divided in two parts. The first provides the context of environmental research – the historical roots and the political framework as well as an introduction to environmental research in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), under the theme “Environment (including climate change)”, an ambitious research programme. The second part gives an overview of the ten research priorities within the “Environment (including climate change)” research theme, and highlights some of the most successful projects in environmental research.

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The Role of Science and Technology in GEOSS

This document describes the role of science and technology in advancing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) through the Group on Earth Observations’ (GEO) 2007-2009 Work Plan. The Science and Technology Committee is working to strengthen this role by encouraging the wider scientific and technology community to participate as contributors to and benefactors of a sustained GEOSS.

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SMEs keep local -go international. Opportunities for transnational research

The first source of funding for transnational research projects is offered through the Community Seventh Framework Programme for research (FP7). New additional opportunities are now being developed through the coordination of national and regional funding programmes, with the support of FP7 funding. This will mutually reinforce these Programmes and help SMEs to access transnational research via their established national and regional partner agencies. Some of the most important initiatives are presented in this publication.

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Research for SMEs and Research for SME Associations at a glance

These are two dedicated initiatives to strengthen the innovation capacities of SMEs by providing the support they need to outsource research critical to their core business. This brochure conveniently spells out how these initiatives are designed and explains in plain terms how the funding model works in practice. If you are an SME, this publication will aid you in your proposal preparation as you submit your application for funding. In addition to this guide, the European Commission’s SME TechWeb hosts a user friendly spreadsheet that instantly calculates the EC’s estimated contribution to your project.

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SMEs in FP7: A Hands-on Guide

FP7 provides financial support for transnational research for and by SMEs wishing to innovate and improve their competitiveness, by enhancing their investment in research activities to acquire new knowledge for growth in Europe’s knowledge-based economy. Four specific Programmes comprise the major building blocks of FP7, three of which have direct relevance for SMEs. These are: the Cooperation Programme which will promote collaborative research; the People Programme which will develop human potential; and the Capacities Programme which will strengthen research capacity. This publication is designed as a step-by-step guide showing SMEs exactly where and how they can obtain funding to help their businesses grow.

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Supporting SME – Participation in Research Framework Programmes

While the architects of the EU´s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) were firmly committed to large-scale research collaboration as the means to achieve breakthrough results, they also retained a strong awareness of the need to support the involvement of SMEs. As well as allocating substantial funds for SME-specific measures, the European Commission made a considerable effort to encourage across-the-board participation of the smaller enterprises that are seen as dynamic drivers of competitiveness and job creation in Europe. Despite this, some problems still remained unresolved. These were addressed by special actions introduced during the lifetime of FP6, resulting in an increase in SME requests for funding. The experience gained offered some useful lessons, which have been applied to good effect in making FP7 even more SME friendly.

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Special FP7 edition

Special feature under Enterprise on SMEs in European funded projects see “Right on track” and “Oceans: the final frontier”

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SineQuaNet project

The SineQuaNet project, through the combined efforts of ESA (European Space Agency) and the European Commission, specifically addresses often prohibitive factors that discourage SMEs’ full participation in the space sector. It connects engineering firms with the necessary experts who can help them succeed in tapping the potential of the space sector.

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Research for SMEs scheme

FP7 provides financial support to innovative SMEs investing in the acquisition of new knowledge from RTD providers to improve their competitiveness.

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OTHER KEY DOCUMENTS

At the fifth Space Council (joint meeting of EU and ESA Ministers in charge of space activities) of 26 September 2008, new priorities were identified for the European Space Policy, including climate change, contributions of space to the Lisbon Strategy, security and space exploration. Moreover, the Ministers stressed the need to set out the requirements for an action plan on Kopernikus implementation.

On 26 September 2008, the 5th Space Council welcomed the progress made with the implementation of the European Space Policy and highlighted new priority areas in a Resolution. This Resolution was adopted both by the Council of the EU (Competitiveness) and by the Ministerial Council of the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Resolution recognises that the European Union, alongside the ESA and the Member States, is a major player in space. The EU is charged in particular with the strengthening of the coordination of resources and programmes with ESA and the Member States and the development of EU instruments and funding schemes to allow for a long-term Community investment in space.

It also takes stock of the progress made with the two European flagship programmes Galileo and Kopernikus (formerly called GMES), inviting the Commission to elaborate an action plan for the setting-up of a Kopernikus programme.

Four new priority areas are defined:
space and climate change
the contribution of space to the Lisbon strategy
space and security
space exploration

In the field of climate change, the Commission is invited to study the needs for full access to standardised data and for increased computing power. In the field of security, the Resolution underlines the need for Europe to equip itself with a capability to monitor and survey its space infrastructure and space debris, with the EU in liaison with the ESA and Member States taking an active role to define the governance of this capability. Finally, in the field of space exploration, the Commission is tasked with organising an international political conference to develop a common vision for Europe and its role in this global endeavour.

On 25-26 November in The Hague, the Ministers of ESA Member States will gather in a Council meeting. This meeting will permit to turn the resolution of 26 September into concrete programmes. On that time, the ESA Director General shall submit a proposal for the subscription of the second segment of the Kopernikus Space Component that will enable to complete the development of most of the initial series of Sentinel satellites

See also: Visit the European Space Policy website

ESA

Consilium

Source EC.EUROPA and GMES.Info

The Space Council is the joint and concomitant meeting of the EU and ESA Council of Ministers in charge of space activities. On 26 September 2008, the fifth Space Council, partly chaired by the French Minister of Higher Education and Research Valérie Pécresse and Maria Van Der Hoeven, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and current Chair of the ESA Council of Ministers, held in Brussels. The objective of this high-level meeting was to assess the progress made in the implementation of the European Space Policy over the last 16 months and identify further priorities. Focusing on the two European flagships, Galileo and Kopernikus, the Ministers adopted a resolution – “Taking forward the European Space Policy” – which highlights the significant advances in these programmes.
Establishing new priorities for the European Space Policy, this resolution identified four additional areas: space and climate change, contributions of space to the Lisbon Strategy, space and security and space exploration. In the field of climate, the Space Council supported the joint preparation by ESA and EUMESAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) of an innovative programme proposal for Meteosat Third Generation, which will also contribute to the climate change detection within Kopernikus.
With regard to the latter, the Ministers set out the requirements for an action plan on Kopernikus implementation, which should include operational service delivery mechanisms, an approach for the overall governance of the system and of all its components, and a comprehensive data policy. Moreover, the Ministers recognised the need to draw up a plan providing sustainable operational funding for Kopernikus and welcomed the proposal of the European Commission to start this with a new preparatory action in the preliminary budgets for 2009.

Website ec.europa.eu/kopernikus


Overview

What is Kopernikus ?

Kopernikus is a European initiative, formerly called Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (GMES), which uses satellites and other sensors on the ground, floating in the water or flying through the air to monitor our natural environment as well as keeping an eye on the security of every citizen.

The information provided by Kopernikus will help us understand better how and in what way our planet may be changing, why this is happening, and how this might influence our daily lives. In this way, Kopernikus will improve people’s safety in many ways, such as by providing early warnings on natural disasters such as forest fires or floods, thus helping prevent the loss of lives and large-scale damage to property.

Kopernikus also presents a clear potential for commercial applications in many different sectors by providing earth observation data for free to anybody who might have a use for them. Kopernikus will help us improve the management of our natural resources, monitor the quality of our waters and air, plan our cities and prevent urban sprawl, ease the flow of transportation, optimise our agricultural activities, promote renewable energy, etc. Clearly, Kopernikus has the potential to significantly improve the living conditions of our generation and the generation of our children.

Besides affecting our daily lives, Kopernikus will provide vital information to decision-makers and business operators that rely on strategic information with regard to environmental, e.g. climate change and adaptation, or security issues.

The infrastructures needed to collect the observations based on which Kopernikus services are produced are owned and operated either by international, European or national entities with their respective political and/or financial responsibilities. Kopernikus aims to coordinate all levels of these infrastructures relevant for delivery of such information at European level.

Kopernikus is an initiative driven by the needs of its users, and the information it provides is a public good. An indirect return of investment can be expected through the creation of a large downstream service market, which will grow and flourish provided that a long-term commitment to the Kopernikus programme is secured

Who was Kopernikus ?

Nikolaus Kopernikus was a famous astronomer born in the Hanseatic city of Thorn in the Kingdom of Poland (today Toruń), who greatly advanced the scientific understanding of his time by postulating that Earth revolves around the sun. “His works and the current initiative therefore have a fundamental thing in common: improving the knowledge about our planet,” says Vice-President Verheugen. “Kopernikus also was a true European: his family was partly German, partly Polish. He wrote in Latin and German and studied, lived and worked in several different countries in Europe.”

He observed the space from the Earth when articulating his heliocentric theory and laying down grounds of the modern cosmology. Today the initiative carrying his name uses satellites which observe the Earth from the space. We wish to honour the great European with our ambitious initiative.

What is the difference between Galileo and Kopernikus ?

Galileo and Kopernikus are complementary systems making use of satellite technologies. Both systems have their strategic value as each of them has its own mission, which do not overlap.

Galileo is essentially a ‘navigation’ system providing a permanent and more accurate than ever positioning and timing services worldwide. Kopernikus is an ‘Earth observation’ system providing information on the state of our environment and improving the security of our citizens.

There are other Earth-observation systems. What is the added value of Kopernikus ?

Earth-observation based services already exist in Europe, but they are dispersed at national or regional level, they are mostly not coordinated between each other and, except for weather services, they cannot guarantee the long-term service availability and sustainability that Kopernikus will provide. Further, in order to respond to ever growing challenges of global safety and to develop strategic policy options e.g. for climate change, Europe needs a well-coordinated, fully reliable Earth observation system of its own. Kopernikus is that system.

What is at stake with Kopernikus ?

Initially developed as a scientific project ten years ago, Kopernikus needs to evolve into a fully mature operational stage. This evolution has three requirements: a specific and sustainable operational funding programme, a robust governance structure and relevant data policies and legislation. Preventing the development of Kopernikus would undoubtedly cause a substantial opportunity cost for Europe, both in terms of money waste and loss of worldwide influence in such a strategic area.

Kopernikus Services

The Kopernikus initiative comprises a group of vertical services aimed at monitoring Earth sub-systems (land, ocean, and atmosphere) and horizontal services addressing emergency and security issues. See the general presentation of the available services or access by clicking the links below.

For an overview of Kopernikus services click here

For direct access to the services click on the links below
Land Monitoring Core Service
Marine Core Service
Atmosphere Core Service
Emergency Response Core Service
Security Service
More info on Kopernikus services

Observational Infrastructure

The Kopernikus initiative federates a wide range of observational networks and data providers, exploiting the most recent observation techniques and technologies, for developing edge-cutting information products to end-users. In principle, the Kopernikus observational infrastructure composes of two main components.

Space infrastructure
The space component shall ensure sustainable provision of satellite derived Earth observation data to all Kopernikus services. The architecture of the component is derived from service requirements provided by the user communities. ESA and EUMETSAT are two main European actors in this area who should play the major role in co-ordination, implementation and operational running of the infrastructure.

European Space Agency
EUMETSAT

In-situ infrastructure
The in situ component is based on an observation infrastructure owned and operated by the large number of stakeholders coordinated, in some cases, in the frame of European or international networks. In situ observation activities and associated infrastructure derive from a range of national, EU and international regulatory requirements and agreements or form part of research processes. None was created to meet the needs of Kopernikus, and they cover a much wider field than the Kopernikus services. By this reason European Environmental Agency was appointed to co-ordinate the consolidation of in-situ networks for Kopernikus purposes.

European Environmental Agency

Key Documents

-COM 565 Final – Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: GMES: From concept to reality PDF
-COM 65 Final – Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: Establishing a GMES capacity by 2008 – (Action plan 2004-2008) PDF
-COM 609 Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Outline GMES EC Action Plan (Initial period: 2001-2003) PDF
-DIRECTIVE 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007, establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) PDF
-COM 46 Final – Communication from the Commission: Towards a Shared Environmental Information System PDF

More reference documents to be found here

Funding opportunities

* FP7 call for proposals
* Regions for economic change

Space Research

In focus:
* Second FP7 Space Call
* Critical technologies

Research

Space Policy

Europe needs an effective space policy that will allow the EU to take global leadership in selected strategic policy areas. Space can provide the tools to address many of the global challenges that face 21st century society: challenges that Europe must take a leading role in addressing.

The adoption of the European Space Policy communication and its endorsement by the joint European Space Council in the Spring of 2007 gives Europe its first agreed space policy.

More info

SOURCE EC.EUROPA.EU/KOPERNIKUS

The objective of the FP7 space work programme 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.

In the context of the FP7 Space Work Programme, the European Commission published its “Space Call 2” on 3 September 2008, with an indicative budget of EUR 51.5 Million. The deadline for submitting proposal is 4 December 2008 at 17:00:00 (Brussels local time).

All the necessary information to submit proposals is available on Cordis

Source GMES.Info

Following the adoption of the Space Council Resolution in May 2007, this Report published on 11 September 2008 provides an overview on the main progress achieved in the first year of the implementation of the European Space Policy (ESP), as elaborated jointly by the European Commission and the
Director General of the European Space Agency (COM212).

The need to establish a European Space Policy has also been endorsed by EU Heads of State and Government. The Member States of the EU and ESA highlighted that the further implementation of the GALILEO and GMES programmes, the development of a Strategy on International Relations in Space and the need to develop adequate instruments and funding schemes for Community actions in the space domain should be first priorities, followed by improved coordination and synergies between defence and civilian space programmes and technologies, in a user-driven approach. This report describes both the important steps forward made since May 2007 and the further actions which are priorities in the coming period.

On its European Space Policy Progress Report, published on 11 September 2008, the European Commission stated that the three main GMES services (Ocean, Land and Emergency) will be pre-operational by the end of 2008. Moreover a new atmosphere service will be developed and user requirement for security services will be identified. A communication is expected before the end of 2008 on GMES governance and financing.

The European Space Policy Progress Report aims at providing an overview on the main progress achieved in the framework of the European Space Policy, initiated by the EU Member States. Given that one of the key objectives of the ESP is the further implementation of the GMES programme, the report describes the GMES priorities in the forthcoming months.

The Commission affirms that the GMES three main Services (Land, Ocean and Emergency) will be pre-operational by the end of 2008 and user requirements for security services should be identified. Moreover, an additional Atmosphere Pilot Service should be developed, as well as a potential contribution of GMES to addressing climate change.

Data provision on climate change is supported by relevant programmes of EUMESAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) and ESA. The latter is preparing a Climate Change Initiative to be tabled on the November 2008 ESA Ministerial Council. This initiative shall consolidate ESA’s archives after 30 years of Earth Observation data to support the re-analysis processes by climate research centres.

During the 2 years pre-operational phase (2008-2010), ESA will be responsible for the provision of coordinated data for GMES Services. At the same time, EUMESAT will make freely available to GMES Services data and products from its operational satellites.

GMES needs obviously an institutional framework in order to ensure its sustainability. Thus the Commissions will issue a proposal for appropriate governance and financial schemes in a Communication to the EU Council and Parliament due for the last quarter of 2008.

Key issue ahead is also an agreement between ESA Member States and the EU with regard to the funding of the GMES Space Component ‘Segment 2’. This agreement is expected to be decided during the November 2008 ESA Ministerial Council.

More information at:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0561:FIN:EN:PDF

Source GMES.Info

Kopernikus: Observing our planet for a safer world


The Kopernikus initiative has two main objectives:

  • the provision of sustainable, precise and reliable information concerning the environment and citizen’s security, produced under EU control and tailored to the needs of a wide range of users;
  • the creation of massive opportunities for European companies, in particular small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which will give a huge boost to innovation and employment in Europe.

Kopernikus services will allow us to monitor:

  • the greenhouse gases that warm our planet
  • the reactive gases that influence the quality of the air we breathe
  • the ozone layer and levels of solar UV radiation reaching the ground
  • the aerosols that affect temperature and air quality

Further, Kopernikus services will enable improved management of natural resources, including water, soil and forests, not only in Europe itself, but also in other continents, including Africa. Finally, Kopernikus services will help protect our citizens from harm, e.g. through the monitoring of forest fires and other natural and man-made disasters.

Why the name Kopernikus?

Nikolaus Kopernikus was a famous astronomer born in the Hanseatic city of Thorn, (today Toruń), who greatly advanced the science of astronomy in his time by postulating that the Earth revolves around the Sun. His works and the current initiative therefore have a fundamental objective in common: improving the knowledge about our planet. Moreover, Kopernikus was a true European. It is therefore appropriate to use his name for an initiative that will be implemented within a partnership which includes the EU, its Member States and others.

The Architecture of Kopernikus

The Kopernikus architecture comprises:

  • a Service component providing information for a broad range of environmental and security-related application areas and stimulating a downstream sector serving numerous applications on both a local and global scale.
  • an Observation Infrastructure component with two sub-components for space-based and airborne, seaborne and ground based (so-called ”in situ”) infrastructure.

Kopernikus offers business opportunities

Kopernikus services will deliver information to a chain of information re-processors and end-users on a sustained basis. The “Kopernikus economy” will grow by attracting increased investment in the value-adding market to provide innovative applications to meet increasing user demands and expectations.

The definition and implementation of services and related observation infrastructure is driven by user requirements. Kopernikus user communities include institutional users such as the EU institutions, European intergovernmental institutions, public-sector users within EU Member States, European public-sector users from non EU Member States, non-European public sector users, institutional research communities. Non-institutional users will consist primarily of downstream service providers.

Scope of the Kopernikus services

Through its service component, Kopernikus will ensure the regular observation and monitoring of Earth sub-systems, the atmosphere, oceans, and continental surfaces, and will provide reliable, validated and guaranteed information in support of a broad range of environmental and security applications and decisions.

Kopernikus will provide the following services:

  • a land monitoring service providing information in support of European policies, such as environmental policies (nature protection and biodiversity, natural resources, environmental hazards, environmental impact assessment, water framework directive), regional policies, territorial cohesion and spatial development, Common Transport Policy, policies relating to SMEs and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
  • a marine service providing information on the state of the oceans, including sea level, currents, salinity, oil slicks
  • an atmosphere service providing information concerning chemical composition of the atmosphere driving climate change, and air quality as well as information on solar radiation
  • a service in support of emergency response will address natural disasters e.g. weather-driven hazards (e.g. storms, fires, floods), geophysical hazards (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides and subsidence), man-made disasters and humanitarian and civil emergencies (such emergencies are complex and require multi-disciplinary response)
  • a service in support of security, e.g. in the field of maritime surveillance carried out by coast guards or critical infrastructure monitoring to reduce the number of terrorist attacks

Specific services targeting the issue of climate change will be developed transversely by integrating existing applications from specialized marine, land, and atmosphere services.

Kopernikus services should be fully and openly accessible within the restrictions imposed by the overall legal and policy framework (e.g. security issues). This is in line with the principles of the European Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS), and Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) initiatives to promote the widest possible sharing and use of Earth observation data and information.

Kopernikus infrastructure

In order to provide Kopernikus services, service providers will depend on input from space and in situ observation infrastructure. In many cases, observation infrastructure has already been developed and put into operation by Member States. This existing infrastructure should be reused as much as possible in order to avoid duplication. Only when – following a careful analysis of gaps in provision – existing capabilities are found to be inadequate in meeting user requirements, will new developments be launched and financed by the EU. This is the case, in particular, for the space infrastructure developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), the coordinator of the implementation of the Kopernikus space component. The provision of data from in situ infrastructure will be coordinated by the European Environmental Agency (EEA).

Kopernikus and Galileo

Galileo and Kopernikus are complementary systems making use of satellite technologies. Both systems have their strategic value as each of them has its own mission, which do not overlap.

Galileo is essentially a ‘navigation’ system providing a permanent and more accurate than ever positioning and timing services worldwide.

Kopernikus is an ‘earth observation’ system providing information on the state of our environment and improving the security of our citizens.

Success stories thus far

Even before the launching of the fast track and pilot services this year, the EC and ESA have carried out successful research projects in order to prepare operational Kopernikus services. Examples of successful applications include:

  • an atmosphere service that provides information on long-range transport of air pollutants, including objective measurements of particulate matter that can be used to justify car traffic limitations;
  • a service providing information of Tsunami affected areas in Indonesia for preparedness and reconstruction support;
  • Space observation to improve risk management of landslides, avalanches and floods in Alpine regions (see IP/05/756).

SOURCE EUROPA

On 26 September, the Competitiveness Council adopted a resolution to advance Europe’s Space Policy. The resolution sets out four priority areas: space and climate change; space and security; space exploration; and the contribution of space to the Lisbon Strategy. The Member States highlighted in particular the importance of the rapid and successful implementation both of Galileo, the EU’s satellite navigation system, and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security).


With the adoption in 2006 of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and its new thematic chapter Space, space has been recognised by the EU as one of the key building blocks of the European knowledge-based society. In May 2004 the framework agreement between the European Community (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) entered into force, and in May 2007 the Space Council adopted a resolution that established the policy base for space in Europe. The EC, ESA Director General and European Union and ESA Member States together monitor and evaluate the implementation of the policy.

Friday’s resolution comes after the successful launch and in-orbit validation of the GIOVE-B satellite, which has demonstrated critical new technologies by the Galileo system; the demonstration at the Lille GMES Forum of pre-operational GMES services; and the adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of the Regulation on the further implementation of the European GNSS programmes that clarify the public governance of Galileo deployment.

Implementing both Galileo and GMES rapidly remains a high priority. Galileo is a satellite system built along the lines of the US’s global positioning system. GMES is a user-driven initiative designed to maximise the use of existing space and non-space Earth Observation centres, capacities and services in Europe.

The global observation capacity and long-term coverage that characterise space programmes make them ideally suited for providing key scientific data to the climate-change research community. As the challenges posed by climate change are of global concern, the Council emphasised the need to continue and expand European space programmes so that they may ‘provide the evidence base for key decisions to be taken in environment policy’.

While the contributions of the ESA Living Planet Programme, the national Earth science space missions, EUMETSAT and the GMES Space Component to this endeavour were acknowledged, the Council called for the scientific community, EC, ESA and EUMETSAT to pool GMES and European space observation data relating to climate change more effectively. Furthermore, it invited the Commission to assess the research community’s need (and provide the means) for full access to standardised data and for increased computing power.

The Council’s recent resolution highlighted the need to ensure the security of Europe’s space assets, which have become indispensable to the economy, and underlined the importance of developing European capability ‘for the monitoring and surveillance of its space infrastructure and of space debris’. It highlighted the need to ‘define the way and means to improve the coordination between civilian and defence space programmes in long-term arrangements’ and to ‘recognise Europe’s dependence on overseas suppliers for selected critical space technologies and components, establish mitigation strategies to ensure guaranteed European access, and take practical steps to pursue reduction of Europe’s dependence’.

The Council believes that Europe should undertake space exploration ‘within a worldwide programme, without any monopoly or appropriation by one country’, and highlighted Europe’s need for long-term strategic planning for exploration. The Council welcomed the launch of the ESA Columbus laboratory and the successful demonstrations of the Automated Transfer Vehicle ‘Jules Verne’, describing them as ‘truly European technology development projects and crucial elements for ensuring European access to the International Space Station ISS’. It acknowledged that establishing Europe as a leader in space exploration can be achieved only through sustained investment, and underlined ‘the value of space exploration for inspiring young Europeans to choose a career in science and technology’.

Regarding the contribution of space to the Lisbon strategy, the Council emphasised that exploiting the results of high-tech space research can contribute to reaching the Lisbon goals, insomuch as it will provide new business opportunities and innovative solutions for various services throughout Europe. This will in turn contribute to fulfilling the ‘economic, educational, social and environmental ambitions of the EU and the expectations of its citizens’.

The resolution explains that space applications such as satellite telecommunications, the EGNOS and Galileo systems and GMES ‘are expected to create substantial global market opportunities, especially for SMEs, through the development of value-added downstream services’. To maximise the value EU Member States can secure from these space assets, an ‘appropriate regulatory framework, sustained access to radio-spectrum for space applications, and development of standards in relevant areas’ are required, the resolution states.

According to the resolution, major issues that remain to be addressed include promoting a coherent approach to international cooperation in space programmes; ensuring open and equitable access to the benefits of space activities in terms of public policies, scientific data, technological development, industrial activities and services; guaranteeing the continuity of autonomous, reliable and cost-efficient access to space at affordable conditions; promoting the development of an appropriate regulatory framework to ease the swift emergence of innovative and competitive downstream services; and organising the governance of space in line with the Resolution of the Fourth Space Council and with the political ambitions of the EU and ESA. The resolution emphasised the need to develop ‘adequate EU instruments and funding schemes, taking into account the specificities of the space sector, the need to strengthen its […]competitiveness and the necessity of a balanced industrial structure’.

Additionally, strengthening cooperation with developing countries was seen as a priority action area.

The European Union and ESA are key space actors, and they intend to develop Europe as a leading space power on the international scene. The resolution adopted on Friday by the Council emphasised that all of Europe’s space activities contribute to the use of outer space for exclusively peaceful purposes, and to ‘the promotion of international cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space’. European space programmes were acknowledged as supporting the ‘ongoing efforts of the United Nations’ Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) on the mitigation and prevention of space debris’.

For more information, please visit:

European Space Agency:
http://www.esa.int

Council of the European Union:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu

Category: General policy
Data Source Provider: Council of the European Union
Document Reference: Based on a press release from the Council of the European Union, “Council resolution taking forward the European Space Policy – 2891st COMPETITIVENESS (Internal market, Industry and Research) Council meeting – Brussels, 26 September 2008’.
Subject Index: Climate change & Carbon cycle research; Coordination, Cooperation; Earth Sciences; Meteorology; Policies; Security; Space & satellite research; Standards
RCN: 29916

Source Cordis

In a resolution adopted on 26 September, European ministers responsible for space underlined the strategic importance of guaranteeing the continent’s political and technological independence on space and unveiled their ambition to make Europe one of the world’s leading space powers.

The joint resolution, adopted by EU competitiveness ministers and representatives of the European Space Agency (ESA) in the European Space Council on 26 September, sets out the broad lines and priorities for European space policy in the years to come.

The four main priorities identified for future EU space activites are:
monitoring climate change
Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs
improving security
space exploration

But ministers also particularly urged the bloc to focus on the implementation of the EU’s two flagship programmes for satellite radio navigation (Galileo) and global monitoring for environment and security (GMES).

While their resolution reiterates the fact that GMES and Galileo are civilian systems under civilian control, it nevertheless says synergies between civilian and defence space programmes must be improved.

It further stresses that the overall aim of Europe should be to become one of the world’s main space powers. It also repeatedly inisists on the importance of guaranteeing Europe’s strategic independence in this field, be it political or technological.

Meanwhile, the ministers recognised that Europe is currently dependent on overseas suppliers “for selected critical space technologies and components”. Therefore, they called on the EU to design “mitigation strategies” and to take “practical steps” to put an end to this dependency.

A European Space Agency ministerial council on 25-26 November is expected to turn today’s resolution into concrete programmes.

Links

- Council Resolution: Taking forward the European Space Policy (26 September 2008) – Commission working document: European space policy progress reportexternal (11 September 2008) – EU 27 eye increased EU action on space2008 budget deal heralds shift in EU policy

Source EUractiv