The latest meeting of the European Space Council, which was attended by the EUMETSAT Director-General, Dr. Lars Prahm, recognized the importance space makes to innovation and competitiveness in the context of the European Plan for Innovation and the European Economic Recovery Plan.
This includes the EU’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program, in which EUMETSAT is playing an increasingly important role. Acknowledging the contribution of space to the overall competitiveness and innovation potential of the European economy, the Space Council called for space activities and their applications to be considered for inclusion in funds allocated to economic recovery. It called on the European Commission and European Space Agency (ESA) to elaborate, in consultation with EU and ESA Member States, a funding strategy for the remaining elements of the initial GMES Space Component (GSC) build-up.
Concerning observations related to operational oceanography and atmospheric composition monitoring, the Space Council invited the European Commission and ESA to lead a dialogue with EU and ESA Member States and with EUMETSAT and its Member States to explore options for the role of EUMETSAT to coordinate the user requirements for space observations. It set a deadline of the end of 2009 for ESA to consolidate its analysis of the evolution and costs of the GMES Space Component through further consultation with EUMETSAT and Member States owning infrastructure. EUMETSAT is already providing its data and products, including real-time data, free of charge to the five GMES Core Services (three fast-track and two pilot services). The three fast track services are the Land Core Service, Marine Core Service, Emergency Response Support Service, and the two pilot services cover Security and Atmosphere monitoring. EUMETSAT is, therefore, providing a large part of the space data needed by GMES Core Services on Marine and Atmosphere monitoring.