Europe and Russia Confirm Closer Space Cooperation
MOSCOW, Russia, March 22, 2007 - Satnews Daily - Leaders of Europe and Russia’s space programs have met in Moscow to strengthen their cooperation in space and address a range of shared issues, including interoperability between their satellite navigation systems.
The Head of the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (Roscosmos), Anatoly Perminov, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and European Commission (EC) Director General Heinz Zourek met at Roscosmos in Moscow to establish work plans under the framework of the Tripartite Space Dialogue between the EC, European Space Agency and Roscosmos.
The work plans from this meeting highlight actions in the area of Earth observation, satellite navigation and space communication. In Earth observation, the parties engaged in setting up a specific data exchange mechanism. Compatibility and interoperability between Russian and European systems will be addressed and, concerning space communications, the parties agreed to promote applications reaching out to other entities that are not necessarily involved in space.
Set up in March 2006 in Brussels, the Space Dialogue initiative encompasses space applications (satellite navigation, Earth observation and satellite communications), access to space (launchers and future space transportation systems), space science and space technology development.
Dordain said space cooperation is an important element in overall Europe-Russia cooperation. The Moscow meeting has proved very useful as concrete work plans have been established, he noted.
He added that the cooperation between Europe and Russia in the area of launchers should serve as a model for cooperation in other areas such as exploration, space science and space applications. “If the two sides pool their resources, the result will be even more outstanding than it is today”.
The leaders said cooperation in space science is advancing satisfactorily. Russia will provide a gamma ray and neutron spectrometer instrument to ESA's BepiColombo satellite. Russian scientists have also been invited to respond together with European scientists to the call for proposals for the first planning cycle of the new Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 recently issued by ESA.
Cooperation in technology will see the parties assessing potential domains of common interest and identifying concrete opportunities.
Cooperation in the launchers domain will see the two sides concentrate on the implementation of Soyuz launches from the Guiana Space Center, as well as looking into technologies for future launchers. Europe and Russia are also involved in discussions related to the next generation of crew vehicles with possible ESA involvement in the development of an Advanced Crew Transportation Vehicle to be tabled for decision at the ESA Council at ministerial level in 2008.
To facilitate the implementation of cooperation, the EC, in the context of the launch of the EU’s 7th Research Framework Program, will offer to provide targeted information on space-related program topics to interested Russian space experts.
The Tripartite Space Dialogue was set up at the St Petersburg Summit in May 2003, when the EU and Russia decided to create four "common spaces" in the framework of the EU/Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement: common economic space; freedom, security and justice; cooperation in the field of external security; as well as research and education. The agreement was subsequently signed at the Moscow summit in May 2005. Within the Common Economic Space, cooperation in space was identified as a priority sector.
