a satellite program that will provide imagery with high spatial and temporal resolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cI consider the current relations are perfect,\u201d Kubilius said when asked to assess the current state of the relationship between ESA and the European Commission. \u201cWe\u2019re working very closely to show all the member states that what we are proposing to our joint understanding and joint development is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cooperation is extremely strong, maybe as strong as ever before,\u201d Aschbacher added.<\/p>\n
He argued that ESA and the European Commission have long worked well together, citing the long-running cooperation on the Galileo navigation satellite system and Copernicus line of Earth science satellites. There have been tensions over the years, though, as the agencies tried to determine their roles and responsibilities, including concerns by some at ESA that the EU was intruding on its turf.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not so complicated. Sometimes people make it more complicated than it is,\u201d he said of the ESA-EU relationship. He argued that the commission has a clear political mandate while ESA has technical expertise. \u201cI think these roles are so complementary and so easy to implement.\u201d<\/p>\n
That current cooperation is important as ESA and the EU embark on a new satellite effort focused on security. At a June 12 briefing after an ESA Council meeting, the agency said member states formally approved an \u201cenabling resolution\u201d to direct ESA to proceed with planning for the European Resilience from Space (ERS) satellite program. ESA plans to seek about one billion euros ($1.15 billion) from member states at the ESA ministerial conference in late November to begin the first phase of the program.<\/p>\n
ERS will feature a constellation of radar and optical imaging satellites able to provide high resolution imagery with revisit times of about 30 minutes. The funding ESA seeks in November would cover the first phase of the program, while the European Commission will request funding for a later phase in its next seven-year multiannual financial framework that starts in 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a stepwise implementation,\u201d Aschbacher said of ERS to Kubilius, citing the initial ESA funding and future EU funding. \u201cOf course, decisions have yet to be made, but on our side we would like to make sure that we are preparing our ministerial conference \u2014 this is something my member states asked me to do \u2014 very closely with you to make sure our activities are well-aligned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kubilius said it was vital to get started on EGS, or what the commission calls Earth Observation Government Service, because of the growing capabilities in other nations, such as an unnamed Chinese system that he said will be able to observe the same area every six minutes. \u201cWe now have capabilities on the European level for once a day,\u201d he said. \u201cI see the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rush to develop ERS, though, has raised concerns among some ESA members. At a separate event at the Paris Air Show June 16, Lionel Suchet, deputy chief executive of the French space agency CNES, broadly endorsed the concept but wanted more details about the implementation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace is more and more needed for security and defense, so I think it\u2019s normal that the European Commission, European Union, is working on that,\u201d he said of the system. \u201cThe question is how to involve ESA in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
His concern was about a lack of a detailed plan for ERS. \u201cWe don\u2019t begin by doing satellites and billions of euros,\u201d he said. He called for a \u201cphase zero\u201d for the program to determine user needs and requirements, followed by studies and risk-reduction efforts. \u201cBut not to build the constellation by itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only once that phase zero study period was done, he said later, \u201cwe will have the decision at the EU to develop the constellation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kubilius said at his briefing with Aschbacher that he understood some countries had concerns about how imagery from the planned constellation will be used. \u201cThat is what we are doing,\u201d he said, but didn\u2019t elaborate on those efforts.<\/p>\n
He emphasized, though, the need to quickly develop ERS, which could start by combining European commercial and government imaging satellite systems in some way. \u201cSpeed for us here is very important,\u201d he said, noting the role imagery plays in the war in Ukraine. \u201cI hope that we shall find the best solution on how to move ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014 The European Space Agency and European Commission say their relationship is closer than ever as they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[1159,2000,299,5187,2557,80752,1699,77498],"class_list":{"0":"post-199475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-esa","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-european-commission","13":"tag-european-resilience-from-space","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-paris-air-show"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114714928941183557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}