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PARIS — The European Space Agency and European Commission say their relationship is closer than ever as they embark on a new satellite program, although some members have raised questions about that program.
At a joint press conference during the Paris Air Show June 18, Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, and Andrius Kubilius, the EU’s commissioner for defense and space, so they were working well together as they prepare to move ahead with a satellite program that will provide imagery with high spatial and temporal resolution.
“I consider the current relations are perfect,” Kubilius said when asked to assess the current state of the relationship between ESA and the European Commission. “We’re working very closely to show all the member states that what we are proposing to our joint understanding and joint development is very important.”
“The cooperation is extremely strong, maybe as strong as ever before,” Aschbacher added.
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.
“It is not so complicated. Sometimes people make it more complicated than it is,” he said of the ESA-EU relationship. He argued that the commission has a clear political mandate while ESA has technical expertise. “I think these roles are so complementary and so easy to implement.”
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 “enabling resolution” 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.
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.
“It will be a stepwise implementation,” Aschbacher said of ERS to Kubilius, citing the initial ESA funding and future EU funding. “Of course, decisions have yet to be made, but on our side we would like to make sure that we are preparing our ministerial conference — this is something my member states asked me to do — very closely with you to make sure our activities are well-aligned.”
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. “We now have capabilities on the European level for once a day,” he said. “I see the difference.”
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.
“Space is more and more needed for security and defense, so I think it’s normal that the European Commission, European Union, is working on that,” he said of the system. “The question is how to involve ESA in that.”
His concern was about a lack of a detailed plan for ERS. “We don’t begin by doing satellites and billions of euros,” he said. He called for a “phase zero” for the program to determine user needs and requirements, followed by studies and risk-reduction efforts. “But not to build the constellation by itself.”
Only once that phase zero study period was done, he said later, “we will have the decision at the EU to develop the constellation.”
Kubilius said at his briefing with Aschbacher that he understood some countries had concerns about how imagery from the planned constellation will be used. “That is what we are doing,” he said, but didn’t elaborate on those efforts.
He emphasized, though, the need to quickly develop ERS, which could start by combining European commercial and government imaging satellite systems in some way. “Speed for us here is very important,” he said, noting the role imagery plays in the war in Ukraine. “I hope that we shall find the best solution on how to move ahead.”
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