At the conference on ‘The Ambitions of Europe in Space’, which was held on october  in Brussels, the GMES initiative was presented as a programme of fundamental importance for Europe’s future.

A special session was organised on the status of GMES and Galileo, where Mr. Valère Moutarlier, Head of the EC GMES Bureau, presented the overall status of the program while Josef Aschbacher, Head of the ESA GMES Space Office, elaborated on the GMES Space Component and ESA’s role within GMES. He underlined the challenges ahead for GMES, in particular the definition of an adequate financing strategy as well as a procurement policy that ensures an uninterrupted transition from the build-up to the operational phase.

In 2005, the EU made the strategic choice to develop an independent European space borne earth observation capacity to deliver services in the environmental and security fields, called Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES).

This capacity is designed in a way that is firmly rooted on existing capacities led by the European Space Agency (ESA), Eumetsat and individual countries, complemented by additional EU components to ensure its global dimension. Together these three activity strands are forming the GMES space capabilities.

A Communication, adopted by the European Commission, deals with the achievements and the next steps to bring GMES in a fully operational stage in the most cost efficient way. It however covers only the space component, since it defines largely the scope of the programme as well as of the in situ infrastructure and the overall financial costs.

Vice-President Gunter Verheugen, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, said: ” GMES is essential for understanding climate change, supporting the EU emergency missions and improving the security of citizens. Further steps need to be taken to ensure that the investment put in so far pays off and that GMES becomes fully operational in the most cost-conscious way. This public investment on cutting edge infrastructure marks a turning point in the implementation of the European Space Policy. ”

Overall, good progress has been made and the build-up phase of the GMES Space Component is well underway under the coordination of the European Space Agency (ESA). Since 2008, four pre-operational GMES services have been launched, including: land monitoring, marine operations, atmospheric composition monitoring and emergency response.

GMES services have already proven helpful for the EU and the international Community, in particular in responding to such disasters as floods and earthquakes in Southeast Asia and the forest fires in Europe in an efficient and timely manner.

When outlining the next steps the Commission highlights that further steps need to be taken to ensure that the investment taken so far pays off and that GMES becomes fully operational in the most cost-conscious way.

Significant resources have been allocated both through ESA and the EU budget through the 7 th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (2007-2013) to develop GMES.

To start the operational phase for GMES in time 2011, further funding decisions have to be made, both by the EU and by ESA. The Commission has already laid the ground for the relevant EU decision.

Sources: ESA, EU.