SPACE : ENHANCED COOPERATION WITH ESA ON GMES PROGRAMME.

• Position: European Space Agency and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - Brief article

The European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed, on 28 January, an amendment extending their agreement concerning the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme. The amendment signed by Jean-Jacques Dordain, director-general of ESA, and Heinz Zourek, director-general of the Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry, extends the scope of the initial agreement, signed in February 2008, to the programme's second segment of activities related to the space component. The move paves the way for the launch of the Sentinel 1, 2 and 3 satellites and Sentinel 4 and 5 missions on chemical precursors in the atmosphere.

This second segment will cover the period 2009-2018. It will overlap implementation of the first segment now in progress (2006-2013) and supplement the development of the first five Sentinel satellites developed specifically for the GMES by ESA and intended to...