The Future of European Space Activities
Jean-Jacques Dordain Dire cto r General European Space Agency
20th anniversary of Austrian ESA membership 24 October 2007, Vienna
In tro d u ction
This year 2007 marks a milestone for Europe and for space:
50 years of Europe (Treaty of Rome)
50 years of space (since launch of Sputnik)
In addition, today we celebrate the first 20 years of Austria’s membership in ESA, with a look at the past, the present and the future of European space activities.
Austria, depicted in true colour by a mosaic of Envisat MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) imagery.
1 Outline 1. Austria’s way to ESA - Austria joins ESA
2. Status and achievements of European space activities today - ESA science missions -Meteorology - Envisat observing the Earth - Earth Explorers - Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - The International Space Station - Launchers - Technology - ESA-EU space policy cooperation - Raised awareness about space
3. Perspectives for European space activities - Enabling conditions for the Ministerial Council 2008 - Topics of Ministerial Council 2008
4. Conclusions 1.
Austria’s way to ESA
Pioneering phase of space research and spaceflight: Austrians who played a prominent role include Viktor Franz Hess, Eugen Sänger, Hermann Potocnik, Max Valier and Hermann Bondi.
1961 Austria joins COPERS (European Preparatory Commission for Space Research)
1972 Creation of Austrian Space Agency
1976 Austria participates in Spacelab Programme
1981 Austria becomes an associate Member of ESA
1985 12 December: Austria and Norway sign accession agreements with ESA in Paris
1987 1 January: Austria and Norway become the 12th and 13th Member States of ESA
3-4 March: ESA Council meeting in Vienna 2.
2 Austria joins ESA
Dr Heinz Fischer (left, standing) signs Austria’s accession agreement to the ESA Convention with ESA Director General Reimar Lüst, on 12 December 1985 at ESA HQ, Paris. 3.
Status and achievem ents of European space activities today ESA science missions Austria stands for important contributions to the exploration of our Solar System
Cassini-Huygens Mars Express Aerosol Collector High-Resolution Stereo and Pyrolyser Camera (the topographic (ACP), Huygens information system) Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI)
Venus Express Rosetta Herschel Fluxgate magnetometer Inter alia two dust Photodetector Array Camera instruments on orbiter, and Spectrometer, Instrument experiments on lander Control Center 4.
3 Status and achievem ents of European space activities today Meteorology MSG-2 and MetOp To date, nine Meteosat satellites have been successfully launched into geostationary orbit.
The most recent, Meteosat Second Generation 2 (MSG- 2), has been in orbit since its launch in December 2005.
The first weather satellite to operate in polar orbit, MetOp, was launched in October 2006.
The Earth (image by Eumetsat). 5.
Status and achievem ents of European space activities today Envisat observing the Earth Ozone hole 2003 The biggest satellite dedicated to the environment.
5 years of successful operations. 9 instruments. 280 GB of data products per day. A lot of scientific progress in different domains:
Chlorophyll - Climate change: global sea level rise of ~3mm/year and sea surface concentration temperature increase of ~0.1 deg. C since 1992 (Envisat + ERS). - Atmosphere: worldwide monitoring of air pollution, with evidence of fast growing air pollution since 1995 (Envisat + ERS-2). - Polar areas: daily monitoring of sea-ice motion and observation of Antarctica ice-shelves collapse. - Oceanography: quantification of global chlorophyll concentration, an index of the oceanic phytoplankton biomass. - Tectonics: identification of the blind tectonic fault at the origin of the Bam earthquake (Iran) in December 2003. Hurricane Katrina
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4 Status and achievem ents of European space activities today Envisat observing the Earth Austria has contributed to the Envisat mission with mission control software, electronics unit, GOMOS structure and thermal protection. Envisat: NO2 concentration:
Courtesy of Steffen Beirle, Univ. Heidelberg, D
1e15 molec/cm2 18 months: January 2003 – June 2004 7.
Status and achievem ents of European space activities today Earth Explorers – one to be launched every six months from Spring 2008
GOCE will study the Earth’s gravity field. SMOS will study the ADM-Aeolus will study the Austria contributes with the Gravity Field Earth’s water cycle. Earth’s atmosphere (wind Processing Facility and the Data profiles). Austria contributes Archiving and Processing Center. with low-voltage converter board.
Cryosat 2 will study the SWARM: three satellites to study the EarthCare (ESA/JAXA) will study Earth’s ice cover Earth’s magnetic field (Austrian the Earth’s clouds, aerosols and contributions to space segment). radiation. 8.
5 Status and achievem ents of European space activities today Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
GMES is the response to Europe’s need for geo- spatial information services.
ESA will implement the space component.
The European Commission will identify and develop services relying both on in-situ and space remote sensing data.
Also national and Eumetsat missions will contribute to GMES.
The Austrian Settlement and Alpine Environment Cluster for GMES comprises the leading Austrian Earth Observation application organisations and is a milestone in the Austrian contribution to GMES. The Sentinel-1 satellite (artist’s impression) 9.
Status and achievem ents of European space activities today GMES: the Sentinels
Sentinel 1 – SAR imaging All weather, day/night applications, interferometry
Sentinel 2 – Multispectral imaging Land applications: urban, forest, agriculture, etc Continuity of Landsat, SPOT data
Sentinel 3 – Ocean and global land monitoring Wide-swath ocean colour, vegetation, sea/land surface temperature, altimetry
Sentinel 4 – Geostationary atmospheric Atmospheric composition monitoring, trans-boundary pollution
Sentinel 5 – Low-orbit atmospheric Atmospheric composition monitoring
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6 Status and achievem ents of European space activities today GMES Space Component: a joint infrastructure National, Eumetsat and Third Party Missions for GMES (not exhaustive):
Cosmo-Skymed SPOT Pleiades Jason Radarsat
TopSat TerraSAR-X Rapideye UK-DMC METOP 11.
Status and achievem ents of European space activities today
The International Space Station
Europe’s participation in the ISS programme offers unique opportunities for research in microgravity, adding value to science on Earth – as an extended part of ground-based research and industry infrastructures.
In addition, human spaceflight increases the interest of students in science and high technology.
For the ESA Matroshka experiment in radiation measurements, Austria has provided more than 1000 dosimeter crystals. ISS seen from the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis (September 2006, image: ESA/NASA) 12.
7 Status and achievem ents of European space activities today ISS: Columbus and ATV In the framework of the ISS programme several key elements are being launched:
¾ Mission STS-120 with delivery of Node-2
¾ ESA’s main contribution to the ISS, the Columbus laboratory, to be launched in December.
¾ Launch of the first ATV from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou in January 2008.
Columbus at the Space Station Processing Facility, Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
ATV docked to the ISS (artist’s impression) 13.
Status and achievem ents of European space activities today
Launchers Ariane stands out as perhaps the most successful launcher programme in the world.
Austria has brought precious expertise to the Ariane programme in Fuel Feed lines, TPS materials, upgrades to the cryogenic upper stage ...
Today ESA is expanding its launcher fleet through the development of the small launcher Vega, while adapting Europe’s spaceport in Kourou for launching the middle-class Soyuz.
Ariane 5 launch. 14.
8 Status and achievem ents of European space activities today
Technology
The development of technology belongs to the enabling activities of ESA.
Technology development is required not only for the space systems, but also for the ground segments, for the operation of the satellites and for the exploitation of the missions.
The technology development of ESA supports the competitiveness of industry in the European institutional market and in global commercial markets. It fosters technology transfer from space to non-space applications (spin-off), and brings innovations outside the space sector to use in designing new space systems (spin-in). It fosters innovation and enhances European technological independence and the availability of European sources for critical technologies.
15.
Status and achievem ents of European space activities today ESA-EU space policy cooperation Key milestones
• European Strategy for Space (November 2000)
• Green Paper on European space policy (January 2003)
• White Paper on European space policy (November 2003)
• ESA-EC Framework Agreement (entered into force in May 2004)
• First meeting of the Space Council (November 2004) ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain with Commissioner Günter • European Commission Communication / ESA Verheugen, November 2004. Director General Proposal on the European Space Policy (April 2007)
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9 Status and achievem ents of European space activities today Adoption of the European Space Policy
At the fourth meeting of the Space Council on 22 May 2007, European Ministers unanimously adopted the Resolution on the European Space Policy, based on the joint document on the European Space Policy, and the associated Preliminary elements of the European Space Programme.
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Status and achievem ents of European space activities today Raised awareness about space Location of SMART-1 Space is currently enjoying a raised level of impact on the Moon awareness in Europe.
In the political sphere, space is receiving the attention of the high-level European decision- makers (Heads of State/Government, EU Council, interest to join ESA expressed by several European States). Crater ice on Mars photographed by Mars Express (image: ESA/DLR/FU Among the European public, space missions Berlin (G. Neukum) exploring our Solar system and European astronauts visiting the ISS have earned a previously unknown level of interest: Huygens landing on Titan, Mars Express’ discoveries on ESA astronaut Mars, SMART-1 investigating the Moon, Thomas Reiter, Thomas Reiter and other ESA astronauts doing a space walk working on the ISS … during the Astrolab mission
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10 Perspectives fo r European space activities Enabling conditions for the Ministerial Council 2008 • Galileo decision
• Success of upcoming missions: launches of Columbus, ATV, GIOVE-B, GOCE, SMOS, Proba-2, Herschel-Planck.
• Progress on the financial reform – recharges and Level of Resources
• Budget planning – budget constraints
• Industrial and procurement issues
• Geo-return balance
19.
Perspectives fo r European space activities Topics of Ministerial Council 2008
Based on the European Space Policy and consistent with the preparation of the upcoming Space Council, the ESA Council at ministerial level (to take place on 25-26 November 2008 in the Netherlands) may address these points:
Political: enlargement of ESA, international relations, European global leadership (e.g. on environment including climate change, and on Mars exploration).
Programmatic:
1. Reinforcing MC 2005 decisions: GMES segment 2, Exploration (robotic and human), telecom (Data Relay Satellite), technology. 2. Consolidating infrastructure and investments: launchers, ISS, MTG, Level of Resources (Scientific Programme). 3. New avenues: Integrated applications, Space Situational Awareness …
Evolution of ESA: Decision-making process, Industrial procurement policy.
20.
11 Conclusions
• 50 years of space and of Europe have profoundly changed the life on Earth. • 30 years of ESA has put Europe in a leading position in space science, Earth science, environment monitoring and commercial launch services and telecom operations. • ESA is also a reliable partner for all space powers which are looking for partnership with ESA (success of the Cosmic Vision call for proposals). • Austria is bringing to ESA, since 20 years, its political support, its expertise (industrial and scientific), its culture. • Space and international cooperation represent the future of humanity. Europe can play a stronger role thanks to its achievements, its expertise and its culture. The European Space Policy adopted in 2007 sets these ambitions. The ESA MC 2008 provides the next opportunity to start and implement such ambitions. • The continuous support of Austria, being one of the 15 countries member of both the EU and ESA, is an important asset for space and ESA.
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Thank you for your attention
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