Representatives from 10 industry consortia met recently
to plan the next phase of the ESA’s contribution to the
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)
programme.

The consortia were selected following an evaluation of
proposals received last year for the GMES Services
Elements (GSE), the initial stage of ESA’s five-year,
Euro 83 million commitment to the GMES programme.

GMES is an initiative co-sponsored by ESA and the
European Commission to develop a global monitoring
capability for Europe’s policymakers and other end
users. Total GMES funding is expected to reach
Euro 400 million to develop and implement the programme
by 2008.

The GSE consortia include more than 125 companies,
university and other research firms, consultancies
and end-user organisations that include international,
national and other government agencies. Each consortium
is headed by a prime contractor and consists of up
to 20 organisations with an ESA-mandated mix of
operational service providers, strategy consultants,
system developers, R&D partners and end users.

The groups will focus on developing capabilities and
identifying the needs of end users under two-phase,
20-month contracts totalling €15 million. Funding
will be split evenly among the 10 consortia.

The exact composition of the consortia will be
announced as the contracts are finalised and signed
over the next few months. A week-long meeting in
mid-March at ESA’s ESRIN facility outside of Rome
brought the groups together for the first time to
outline end-user requirements and define which
existing and future Earth observation services to
include in the GMES Service Elements, explained
Stephen Briggs, head of ESA’s Earth observation
applications.

“The real winners in GMES will be the end-users,”
Briggs said. “ESA has tasked the 10 GSE consortia
over the next 20 months to convert the high-level
GMES strategy into a concrete portfolio of reliable
environmental information services, and there will
be plenty more to come in the future”

Each of the 10 groups will start delivering services
immediately, and will back this up with a blueprint
for delivering long-term monitoring for themes including:

  • forests
  • water resources
  • disaster risk assessment and relief
  • agriculture
  • polar regions
  • urban areas.

GMES background

GMES is a decision-support system for use by the
public and public policymakers, with the capability of
acquiring, processing, interpreting and distributing
useful information related to the environment, risk
management and natural resources.

At a global level, GMES will provide new verification
tools to contribute to the precise monitoring of
compliance with international agreements, such as the
Kyoto protocol on climate change, as well as security
and international aid agreements. At the EU regional
level, GMES will provide objective data to support a
broad range of public policies, including regional
development, transportation, agriculture and foreign
policy. GMES also will help local authorities pinpoint
environmental problems and minimize the risks and
consequences of environmental changes on local
populations.

GMES is a cornerstone of the unified European space
strategy developed by EC and ESA. Along with the
Galileo global satellite navigation system, GMES is
key to the realisation of a unified space policy
emerging from the ever-closer partnership between
the two organisations.

Related news

* Roll-out for Euro 83 million GMES project planned
http://www.esa.int/export/esaSA/ESAHC8ZPD4D_earth_0.html

* Europe gets ready for GMES
http://www.esa.int/export/esaLP/DYBVCKSC_earthwatch_0.html

* ESA, EC consult on GMES
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/ESA7DX66K3D_Protecting_0.html

* ESA, EC kick off GMES action plan
http://www.esa.int/export/esaSA/ESAMLET7YYC_earth_0.html

Related links

* GMES
http://www.gmes.info/

* GMES Services
http://earth.esa.int/gmes

* ERS
http://earth.esa.int/ers/

* Envisat
http://www.esa.int/export/esaSA/ESAXU0MBAMC_earth_0.html

* Earth Explorers
http://www.esa.int/export/esaLP/earthexplorers.html

* Earth Watch
http://www.esa.int/export/esaLP/earthwatch.html

IMAGE CAPTIONS:

[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMXS15V9ED_index_1.html]
Earth view taken from American shuttle, during the
mission on board of ESA’s (European Space Agency)
astronauts.

[Image 2:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMXS15V9ED_index_1.html#subhead1]
Stephen Briggs, head of ESA’s Earth observation
applications. Credits: ESA