Tag Archives: Copernicus

Marc Serres, CEO of the Luxembourg Space Agency, announced the establishment of the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) Data Centre at the Space Forum in Luxembourg on 22 May 2019.

With space nations such as China and the United States forging ahead with ambitious plans, where does Europe stand in the global space community? Can Europe successfully compete and is there a willingness to collaborate with other nations? Torsten Kriening sat down with Jean-Jacques Tortora, Director of the European Space Policy Institute, to pose some key questions.

The EDRS-C satellite, the second node of the SpaceDataHighway network (also known as the European Data Relay System - EDRS), will be launched into geostationary orbit at 31° East on 24 July 2019 by an Ariane 5 launcher.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gave a remarkable “Kennedy” style speech on 26 March 2019 in Huntsville, Alabama, where he stated that the United States will put Americans on the Moon again - in as soon as five years. China demonstrated, with Chang'e 4, their capability to land on the far side of the Moon. Israeli NGO SpaceIL’s Beresheet spacecraft, though ultimately unsuccessful in its soft landing, did reach the Moon’s surface on 11 April 2019. This has all happened without Europe. SpaceWatch.Global Chairman, Dr. John B. Sheldon, shares his thoughts on Europe's ability to carry out Moonshots in the 21st century.

Airbus and Japanese telecommunications satellite operator SKY Perfect JSAT have signed a cooperation agreement for the design preparation of the EDRS-D node.

Some unnamed European Union member states are discussing the possibility of creating a European space force according to Elzbieta Bienkowska, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, and Entrepreneurship and who is also in charge of EU space policy.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Political Affairs Office plays an integral and varied role in the organisation. Torsten Kriening was lucky enough to spend some time with Christina Giannopapa, Head of Political Affairs Office, Office Strategy Department, Director General’s Services, ESA, to find out more about her role and the intersection of political affairs and space.

Britain has officially withdrawn from the European Union’s (EU) Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) because of fears that the UK will have no influence over the technological and policy direction of the satellite project after the country leaves the EU early in 2019.

Arianespace has successfully launched the MOHAMMED VI-B Earth observation satellite, developed for the Kingdom of Morocco by a consortium comprising Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime. Arianespace’s ninth launch of the year, and the second using Vega in 2018, took place on Tuesday, November 20, …

The European Union and India signed a cooperation arrangement agreement Monday forging significant earth observation links to combat climate change and provide environmental security. "The European Commission and India's Department of Space (DoS), have decided to sign an arrangement with the aim to strengthen and stimulate cooperation on Earth observation and mutual access to the data from the EU's sentinel series of satellites and from the Indian earth observation satellites," the statement said.