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ESA and the European Commission have signed a €48 million grant that will allow the space agency to ensure the coordinated and timely supply of satellite-based Earth Observation data for the preoperational phase of GMES from 2008 to 2010.

The signing of the grant marks the first real cooperation between the two in the GMES framework.

The GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme is a European Union-led initiative in partnership with ESA to combine ground- and space-based observations to develop an integrated environmental monitoring capability.

ESA’s role within GMES is to coordinate and implement the dedicated GMES Space Component, which involves developing the five Sentinel satellites, and Ground Segment and to coordinate data access to the Sentinels and to other missions mainly from ESA Member States which contribute to fulfilling of the GMES requirements.

Following the signing of the GMES Space Component Data Access (GSC-DA) grant, European Commission (EC) Vice-President Günter Verheugen, who is responsible for enterprise and industry policy, said: “Globally, changes in environmental conditions lead to increased risks for economical, social and political stability, which further affect European security.”

“Coordinated, comprehensive and sustained global monitoring of the Earth system is one of the key factors to respond to this challenge. GMES is the European solution for the needs of citizens in Europe to access reliable information on the status of their environment.”

Dr Volker Liebig, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programme, signed the agreement on behalf of ESA. “The data access grant is the first step of a wider GMES cooperation with the EC, using ESA’s 30 years of experience in collecting and distributing necessary Earth Observation data to users,” Liebig said.

The data access grant will support the GMES services, which today include three fast-track services focusing on land, marine and emergency, two pilot service projects focusing on security and atmospheric composition, as well as downstream and other public GMES-related services.

The data access grant considers the EO data needs from the GMES services and covers the analysis of the services requirements, the negotiation of data access agreements with contributing missions, as well as the development and pre-operations of coordinating functions linking EO data providers with service providers.

Under the grant, ESA will coordinate the data provision activities from the EO contributing missions and will act as Data Provider for its own missions as well as its Third Party Missions.

Source ESA

Natural and manmade catastrophes in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, coupled with increased security needs, have further reinforced the need for earth observation systems. The GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) ensures that crisis situations like floods, forest fires or earthquakes can be better anticipated and managed through monitoring the state of our environment.

Natural and manmade catastrophes in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, coupled with increased security needs, have further reinforced the need for earth observation systems. The GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) ensures that crisis situations like floods, forest fires or earthquakes can be better anticipated and managed through monitoring the state of our environment. To supply space data in a seamless, integrated, timely and secure way to the GMES users the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a 48 million € grant for a coordinated provision of space-based observation data for GMES for its pre-operational phase 2008-2010. This new coherent and cost-efficient approach prefigures an operational service that will offer a comprehensive and sustained supply of space-based earth observation data.

Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise and industry policy said: “Coordinated, comprehensive and sustained global monitoring of the earth system is one of the key factors to respond to the new economic, social, security and environmental challenges. GMES is the European solution for the needs of citizens in Europe to access reliable information on the status of their environment”.

GMES is a European initiative for the implementation of information services dealing with environment and security. Its observations support decision-making by both institutional and private actors. Decisions could concern either new regulations to preserve our environment or urgent measures in case of natural or man–made catastrophes, such as floods, forest fires, water pollution. Some concrete examples include:

* Monitoring the state of the ocean, the land and the atmosphere on a permanent basis, in support to the actions on Climate Change
* 24/7 service for European civil protections delivering routine and on-demand cartographic maps, maps of population and rural and urban habitat as well as post crisis assessment maps;
* Support for sustainable management and development of Africa through monitoring systems which can identify, forecast and support land cover and land use change, irrigation properties and cattle breeding;
* More specific services such as:
* Detection of oil spills and their discharge in the seas;
* Services for European farmers which can help optimise the fertilizers or pesticides input and contribute to a better overall land management;
* Ozone monitoring and UV exposure.

GMES will be based on observation data received from Earth observation satellites and ground based information. This information will be supplied by two types of services: the Core Services providing data and information common to a broad range of policy-relevant application areas and the Downstream Services tailored to specific applications at global or local levels.

GMES is being built up gradually and will start with the implementation of three pre-operational services in the domain of Emergency Response, Land Monitoring and Marine (the Fast Track Services). The validation of these services will be carried out in the frame of the 7th Framework Programme for research. Other pilot actions will also be initiated in the domain of security and atmosphere monitoring.

Through the grant signed today, the GMES services will benefit free of charge from the required space data. The data will be obtained in priority from existing European Earth observation satellites. In the future, the space based infrastructure will include satellites dedicated to GMES. The data access grant covers the development and the pre-operation of coordinated functions linking earth observation data providers with service providers, as well as the negotiation of data access agreements with the Contributing Missions. An example is the ESA coordination in support to emergency services, with the implementation of procedures such as 24/7 on-call desk for satellite tasking and the building up of reference archives on risk areas, in order to be able to deliver very fast information to end users, in case of emergency.

The success of this grant is a key to the success of the pre-operational services and as such will demonstrate the European capacity to deliver to the end user the reliable, timely and sustainable information. It is a major step forward in establishing an operational GMES infrastructure which, once working, will have important geostrategic implications for Europe.

More information on GMES.info

More information on the European Space Policy

Initial results from an ESA field campaign carried out in support of the development of two Earth-observation missions prove encouraging and potentially pave the way for future monitoring of the Earth’s surface.

Within a multi-objective campaign, field data is being gathered in three separate periods this year from sites across France and Spain. The campaign is in support of preparation for the Sentinel-2 mission, being developed by ESA as part of the space segment for the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme, and the FLEX mission, which was selected in 2006 for assessment as the result of ESA’s Call for Core Earth Explorer Mission Ideas.


Sentinel-2 is a multi-spectral imaging mission for high-resolution observation of land surfaces and will provide an enhanced continuity of the French SPOT (Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre) missions and the US Landsat missions. As part of GMES, Sentinel-2 will provide information for land monitoring and emergency services.

The main aim of the FLEX mission concept is to quantify the photosynthetic efficiency of terrestrial ecosystems at a global scale through the measurement of chlorophyll-fluorescence. Chlorophyll-fluorescence radiation is emitted from vegetation in the visible and infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum and provides unique information about the photosynthetic activity of plants. Photosynthetic efficiency estimates will lead to a better knowledge of the role vegetation plays in the carbon and water cycles, and ultimately contribute to an improved understanding of climate.

So far the campaign is proving very successful. Scientists are looking forward to the third part of the campaign in September, after which the results can be fully analyzed. These results will further the development of the Sentinel-2 mission and the assessment studies for the candidate FLEX mission.

More information

The Eighth Continent Project, a program to integrate space technology and resources into the global economy was launched at the Colorado School of Mines Center for Space Resources

For the first time, government, industry and academia have joined forces with entrepreneurs and businesses to forge the next frontier in commercializing space technology and resources.

The immediate terrestrial application of space technologies and their longer-term space applications within the project are the avant-garde and great example for cooperation between the public authorities, businesses and scientific institutions.

More information

The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers approved a new space program for 2008-2012.

Under the program, investments for innovative activity are to increase up considerably and the initiative is expected to be a major step forward, although it is yet to pass hearings in the new parliament.

Foreseen activities will yield practical outputs, provide solutions to concrete tasks of space monitoring, and ensure Ukraine’s participation in international projects. Ukrainian spacecraft will be launched at least once in two years. Further, Ukrainian space research will be elevated to a new qualitative level through provision of competitive equipment and machinery, data capacities, and surface facilities.

In addition, a group of satellites for surveillance and geophysical monitoring of the Earth will be deployed (Sich-2 and Sich-2M spacecrafts) and a geo-data support system is to be created as a part of the GMES and the GEOSS initiatives.

More information

World Space Week: Space tours for children, special exhibition on 50 years of the space age and a forum “Civil Society and Outer Space”

The central topic of World Space Week this year is the 50th anniversary of the space age. To commemorate this, the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) will issue a series of space stamps.

World Space Week celebrates the contribution of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition. Endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1999, it marks the anniversary of two milestones in the human exploration and use of outer space: the launch of the first artificial satellite, SPUTNIK I, on 4 October 1957, and the entry into force of the Treaty Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, which took place on 10 October 1967. World Space Week is an ideal opportunity to learn about space and science, which is exciting especially for young people. It gives also the opportunity for all countries, space-faring and non-space-faring, to organize interesting and educational events. World Space Week International Association, a non-governmental, educational organization is coordinating worldwide events scheduled for World Space Week.

Children and Space

As part of the activities for World Space Week 2007, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna, in cooperation with the Austrian Space Forum have invited school classes aged from 6 to 10 to participate in a “space tour” that includes Multimedia Presentation on Mars exploration and the AustroMars Expedition, an experiment with the Dignity Rover and demonstration of a spacesuit glove.

Civil Society And Space

“Where do we stand on using outer space for peaceful purposes” will be the central topic of a Civil Society and Outer Space Forum that will take place during World Space Week, from 8 to 9 October, in the Vienna International Centre. The Forum is organized by the Vienna CONGO office (Conference of Non-governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations), in cooperation with UNOOSA, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, the European Space Policy Institute, the Space Generation Advisory Council and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency. The Forum will provide an overview of the current use of outer space, in particular those space applications responding to a large variety of societal needs as well as explore further possibilities of the use of space technology and its applications in the non-governmental sector.

Space Exhibition

A special exhibition on 50 years of the space age will be displaced in the Vienna International Centre, Rotunda, for the whole month of October, consisting of satellite and rocket models, special photo exhibition on the United Nations and Outer Space, including a historic overview of the meetings of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Space Stamps and Posters

The United Nations Postal Administration will issue two sets of space stamps on 25 October 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Space Age. With a central theme “Space for Humanity”, the first set consists of six stamps and an overprint with the illustration of a space-shuttle and the text “World Space Week, 4-10 October 2007” below the design. A second sheet includes various images from space, including the International Space Station and the Shuttle-Mir and the Apollo Moon missions. A limited quantity of overprinted New York value souvenir sheets will be available at UNPA offices in New York and Vienna.
A poster based on artwork for the stamps has been produced jointly by UNOOSA and UNPA. To obtain a copy of the poster, please contact UNOOSA.

For more information on the World Space Week activities, visit the site on UNOOSA homepage. Resources to help teachers conduct activities for World Space Week are available online.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) implements the decisions of the General Assembly and of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and its two Subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee. The Office is responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, and assisting developing countries in using space science and technology. Located in Vienna, Austria, UNOOSA maintains a website at HYPERLINK “http://www.unoosa.org” http://www.unoosa.org.

For information contact:
Romana Kofler
Associate Programme Officer, OOSA
Telephone: (+43-1) 260 60 4962
E-mail: romana.kofler@unvienna.org

Source: Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

Planning to make its first space launch in the coming years, Turkey has signed a new treaty with Ukraine for the collaborative production of spacecraft; the treaty covers a shared work area relating to the production of the spacecraft and nuclear energy.

According to the “Space Research and Usage” treaty, the two countries are going to collaborate in programs including enhancement and production of space rocket systems; observation and evaluation of lunar devices; ground-deployed observations; space-related research using plants; student and scientist exchange programs; and educational facilities.

The two countries’ foundations in the field of astronautics will have joint attempts not only to launch funds to support joint research, scientific and technological programs, associated scientific and technological centers, labs and joint activities, but also to actualize joint projects.

In compliance with the verdict given by the Higher Commission of Science and Technology in Ankara on March 11, 2005, the Ministry of Transportation and the Turkish Air Force are to spend YTL 1.25 billion on the 2005-2014 National Space Research Project, undertaken by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). The money is to be spent on training astronauts by 2008 and establishing a national launchpad system and infrastructure for the national space system by 2009.
Turkey has devoted YTL 80 million to work on the project in 2008; this figure will not be less than YTL 120 million in 2009 and YTL 150 million each year between 2010 and 2014. According to the program, YTL 73 million is for scientific studies, YTL 946 million for technology, YTL 30 million for application, YTL 45 million for people and information, YTL 30 million for international collaboration and just YTL 1 million for supervision and coordination.

TÜBİTAK will collaborate closely with the European Space Agency and NASA. The earliest Turkish mission control is expected to be built in 2012. Ankara is considered more likely in terms of hosting the base while other candidates (Mersin, Antalya and İzmit) are also being considered. Turkey has already started investigating the Houston base in the US and the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan, leading to cooperation with both the US and Russia in this project.
Turkey’s plan of action for 2010 within the National Outer Space Program is also ready. Turkey, upon completing its astrophysical research and studies of gyroscope technology enhancement in 2007, will establish the National Space (system) infrastructure in 2008. Turkey will then develop the Earth Observation Research Satellite (BILSAT), designing and developing low-cost satellite types (micro and nano) and data harmonization. Turkey, aiming to start astronaut education programs in 2010, is also planning to begin the national launch system and low-cost rocket production experiments during the same year. Turkey is expected to send six astronauts into space in the first leg of the project. Plans for 2011 include solar system and planetary investigations; magnetic field research and establishing a space base; by 2013 the project will develop the ability to scan comets. Finally a space shuttle built in Turkey will be launched in 2014.

ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA

The White House plans to deepen its commitment to the nation’s space-based land-imaging program, it said in a report last month.

The report, titled “A Plan for a U.S. National Land Imaging Program,” makes recommendations for the continuation of Landsat, the satellite-based Earth-imaging program that has provided millions of moderate-resolution images since 1972. The report was issued by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the arm of the White House that advises the president on matters of science and technology. OSTP is also responsible for articulating the president’s science and technology programs.

Leadership role

The plan reflects the White House commitment to take more of a leadership role in understanding the changes in the land surface observed worldwide, said John Marburger, science adviser to the president and director of OSTP.

“The land surface, polar regions and coastal zones are undergoing significant changes under the pressures of population growth, development and climate change, and we must carefully monitor these changes in order to manage them,” he said. “The importance of this imagery to the nation requires a more sustainable effort to ensure that land-imaging data are available far into the future.”

The report made three main recommendations. The United States should:

  • Commit to continue the collection of moderate-resolution land imagery.
  • Establish and maintain a core operational capability to collect moderate-resolution land imagery through the procurement and launch of a series of U.S.-owned satellites.
  • Establish the National Land Imaging Program, hosted and managed by the Interior Department, to meet its civil land imaging needs.

Landsat’s moderate-resolution imagery data is used by the Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Interior, Justice, State, and Transportation departments; NASA; and the National Science Foundation in addition to other nations including China, India, Japan and Russia.

Landsat data has been used as an early-warning system to detect famine in Africa, for land-use planning and water management, and for national security operations. Moderate-resolution satellite imagery is used to get images of larger areas of land, said Ray Byrnes, liaison for satellite missions at the U.S. Geological Survey and one of the authors of the report.

High-resolution satellite imagery can take a shot of Washington, D.C., and show all the buildings on the Mall.

But to get a snapshot of the entire Chesapeake Bay would require the use of Landsat, which would take several days to get high-resolution images of the bay. Landsat’s moderate-resolution imagery can take photos of the whole globe several times a year. “High-resolution satellites aren’t designed to do that,” Byrnes said.

Despite Landsat’s long history and usefulness, the United States has never established it as an operational program as it has other space-based observation programs, such as weather forecasting.

NASA has handled Landsat’s research and development side, Byrnes said. Landsat’s management is shared by several agencies, including USGS and NASA. “But no has been able to take ownership of it and make it operational. No one agency has championed the cause.”

The federal government has twice tried to commercialize the program, but neither attempt succeeded.

With one agency, the Interior Department, at the helm of Landsat, the program stands a better chance of continuing into the future, the report stated. The moderate-resolution imaging program should be treated more like weather or navigation satellite programs, Byrnes said.

“It would be awfully troubling if the National Weather Service said, ‘Our satellites are coming down, and it will be two or three more years until we have a weather satellite,’ ” he added.

But that’s what is happening with Landsat.

Both Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 are aging and not necessarily gracefully. Landsat 5 was launched in 1984 and Landsat 7 in 1999, and both have overstayed their welcome in the starry skies above.

On borrowed time

“Landsat 5 is way beyond its design life,” Byrnes said. It carried an extra-large fuel tank, which has allowed engineers to keep repositioning it.

Although satellites seem to whirl magically through space in their orbits around the Earth, they all carry fuel and small thrusters, Byrnes said. “As the orbit degrades a little bit over the years, you’re constantly readjusting it.”

If the satellites’ sensors and key subsystems hold up, they could last a few more years.

“But once you’re out of fuel, you can’t maintain your orbit position. You need enough fuel to bring them down for a gradual re-entry,” he said.

Neither satellite is expected to operate beyond 2010.

A successor, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, is scheduled for launch in 2011. But even if the government does take immediate action, the program will suffer a gap in data.

The country still has no national program that includes plans for a successor to LDCM or deployment of a replacement satellite if LDCM should fail at launch or early in its design life.

The European polar satellite MetOp-A, launched last year, is already improving weather predictions and will soon help global environmental and security monitoring.

Scientists from Europe and the United States met in Amsterdam for a joint conference of the European meteorological satellites EUMETSAT and the American Meteorological Society, to discuss their experiences.

Even though the MetOp-A satellite, which orbits the poles, only took up regular service in May this year, it is already improving the way weather is predicted because of its “unprecedented accuracy and resolution of different variables such as temperature and humidity, wind speed (and) ozone,” EUMETSAT’s director general Lars Prahm told a news conference.
Garry Davis, of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who works together with EUMETSAT, said the MetOp-A satellite provided the “biggest step forward in 30 years.”

The high resolution images of the satellite down to one kilometre (0.6 miles) have helped NOAA predict and track storms and wildfires better, he said.

“In 2006 the US suffered through its worst wildfire season, with more than 10 million acres being burned and more than 96,000 wildfires and we are on track for another rough year,” Davis said.
“Working with EUMETSAT we have been able to bring out new data to help minimize the damage of these wildfires.”

In the coming years EUMETSAT and the European Space Agency (ESA) are predicting the polar satellite will also play a key role in the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative lead by the European Commission.

Data from the satellite will be used for rapid mapping after disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis to help organize aid.
“They can answer questions of aid agencies like: are the roads passable and is there drinking water available in the area?” Volker Liebig, ESA’s director of earth observation programmes, explained.

The EUMETSAT data will be used to provide regular independent satellite coverage of Europe which will help to provide better maps and also to monitor the state of the ocean including the rate of the rise of sea levels, he added.

China: share information, technology and expertise to forecast natural disasters

China will share its information, technology and expertise to forecast natural disasters and manage disaster response in other developing nations, a Chinese minister revealed.

Li Xueju, minister of civil affairs, made the remark this week (24 September) at a developing nations’ ministerial meeting on disaster response management, according to Xinhua news agency.

Li said China is looking to establish an Asian research centre for major disasters, which will study the scientific causes of the region’s natural disasters, policies for disaster prevention and mechanisms for international cooperation to reduce post-disaster impacts.

He added that China will share data obtained from its Fengyun-II weather satellite, remote sensing information from its environment-monitoring mini-satellites, and the observations of its seismological stations with other developing countries.

Existing international organisations, like the Asia-Europe Meeting, the China-Africa Forum and the UN could provide a good platform for international cooperation on disaster control, said Li. He proposed that such cooperation should become a major subject for international dialogue.

China has already cooperated with the UN secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction to establish an international drought relief centre, which opened in Beijing in April, according to Li.

China will also fund a training workshop on disaster response management for member countries of the International Civil Defence Organisation in October, along with another post-disaster reconstruction training course for developing countries in November.

More than 50 government officials from developing countries attended the ministerial conference, held by the ministries of civil affairs and commerce in Beijing.

Preceding the ministerial meeting, an academic conference, the 2007 International Workshop on Natural Disasters and Emergency Management, also took place in Beijing (22–24 September).
Qu Guosheng, workshop chair and chief engineer of China’s National Earthquake Response Support Service, says the successful experience of Chinese scientists and rescue teams during the earthquakes in Indonesia and Pakistan in 2005 show that China has already developed good infrastructure and skills in helping other nations in disaster prevention and management.
“Compared with rich nations, China has a similar development stage and closer social situation to other developing countries, which enable us to offer much more efficient assistance to them,” Qu told SciDev.Net.

Source: SciDev.Net