The big news for the day is coming from the recently concluded Paris Air & Space Show.
The European Space Agency ESA and Australia’s national research organisation, CSIRO, have signed an agreement for increased collaboration in earth observation.
The agreement gives Australia better access to information from Europe’s Earth-observing satellites. The ESA, meanwhile, gets Australia’s help in developing new applications and space technologies.
CSIRO’s Executive Director of National Facilities and Collections, Dr David Williams, reveals that, at present, there are over 100 Australian government programmes relying on data from foreign satellites.
Volker Liebig, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes feels that the increased cooperation will stimulate industrial opportunities.
It should be noted that Australia and ESA have been collaborating in earth observation for many years. ESA also operates a facility in Western Australia. It is used to track the organisation’s various space science missions, including the Rosetta mission to Comet 67P.
Let us take you to the signing ceremony now…
It’s time to have a look at some of the reactions coming in for this news.
Australian Ambassador to the European Union, Dr Mark Higgie believes that this development will open pathways for further leading-edge development between researchers and industries in Australia and Europe.
Dr Alex Held, an expert at CSIRO, expects this agreement to help identify where Australian scientists can support Europe‘s €80 billion ‘Horizon2020’ science and technology programme.@
