Inauguration ceremony for a new telescope at the Arthur C. Clarke Centre in Sri Lanka, January 1996
This is the first article in a series of four* intended to acquaint the reader with the range of activities undertaken by ESA International Relations. Faced with unique political environments which call for diverse methods in the handling of events and encounters, International Relations has the invariable and ultimate aim of promoting ESA's image abroad.
* 'ESA Around the World'
1. ESA's Relations with Developing Countries and Emerging Space Powers
2. ESA's Relations with the Space Powers in the Developed World
3. ESA and Europe
4. International Relations in Perspective
Why does ESA have relations with developing countries? What can a research and development agency, in the forefront of technology, have to offer countries where the overriding daily need is enough to eat? Where should ESA intervene with its limited resources? When should ESA stand aside?
Why, what, when and where are all valid questions which face International Relations in determining its yearly Plan of Action for approval by ESA's Member States. Given the limited means available both in manpower and resources, priorities have to be established. Once these are established, the means to act have to be found either within the existing budget or by joining forces with other national or international institutions to achieve the desired goals.
In 1975, while ESA was in its infancy, relations with developing countries were still limited. An agreement was entered into with Brazil for the use of their ground station in Natal to track ESA's new Ariane launcher, at the time still in the development stage. A bilateral agreement already existed between ESA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for mutual cooperation. Additional bilateral agreements were made with Indonesia and Iran.
In 1978 Meteosat was launched. Since its coverage zone included Africa and the Near-East, a small budget of 200 kAU was allocated to enable ESA to promote the use of Meteosat in countries outside its Member States. A portable ground station was purchased to enable ESA to demonstrate the effectiveness of its newest satellite. In cooperation with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), training courses were held, especially in Africa, to help new users take advantage of Meteosat data as an additional tool to assist development. ASECNA, a regional organisation for safety of air traffic navigation, regrouping Francophone countries in West Africa and the Malagasy Republic, were quick to see the advantages of Meteosat data for their task.
AGRHYMET, another regional organisation in West Africa centred on the Niger, recognised the advantages of using Meteosat data for agricultural applications. The United Nations joined ESA and WMO in the organisation of further training courses and several meteorologists from Africa were taken for on-the-job training in ESOC to enable a hands-on experience in the use of satellite data. By the time Meteosat passed from ESA to EUMETSAT, there were some fifty ground stations using Meteosat data in Africa.
In the meantime, ESA was preparing its remote sensing satellite programme ERS, the French were building SPOT, CEOS (the Committee for Earth Observation Satellites) was established as a result of a Canadian initiative, and a decision was taken to inform the developing world of the advent of a new generation of remote-sensing satellites to join the American Landsat series. The Economic Commission for Africa created the African Remote Sensing Centre, which is perhaps better known by its French acronym CAT (Conseil Africain de Télédétection). ESA was granted observer status by CAT and received more requests than could be handled to provide training courses. A solution was found through the provision of regional training courses given alternately in English and in French at the Regional Centre for Services in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing (RCSSMRS) in Nairobi, and the Regional Remote Sensing Centre (CRTO) in Ouagadougou. CNES and ESA combined forces in this training venture using experts in the various domains from ESA's Member States.
In South America, SELPER, an organisation of remote-sensing experts, was created as a Brazilian initiative. SELPER expressed interest in the advent of SPOT and ERS and requested training courses in advance of satellite deployment. ESA organised the first regional training course on ERS in Buenos Aires in 1987, and in 1988 CNES and ESA joined forces to provide a regional training course in Mazatlan, Mexico covering SPOT (launched in 1986) and ERS (launched in 1991). These training courses were a success and thereafter regular regional courses were organised on an annual basis by CNES and ESA, joined by DLR after the deployment of ERS.
Through the initial use of Calls for Experiment proposals for ERS and the provision of data on a case by case basis, ESA encouraged hands-on use of ERS satellite data, thus increasing the community of users. As the local expertise increased, trainees were accepted for specific advanced courses in Europe, e.g. at the University of Milan for interferometry and the University of Sheffield for data analysis.
Attracted by the potential of ERS for data acquisition in traditionally cloud-covered areas, four ASEAN countries - the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia - requested assistance from the European Commission (EC) to promote the use of ERS radar data in South-East Asia. In the EC/ESA/ASEAN project, the EC provided the seed money to upgrade the Thai ground station and provide a meteorological ground station for Malaysia; ESA gave the data free of charge; and the EC and ESA combined to support training courses and assistance from European experts. The project ended in 1996. Building on its success, a second project is in the pipeline, this time involving all the ASEAN countries.
Turning now to telecommunications, after OTS was launched in 1978 ESA became increasingly involved in definition studies for regional telecommunications satellites, especially in Africa. African telecommunications engineers visited ESTEC in The Netherlands for on-the-job training on a case by case basis, sponsored either by ESA or by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). In 1982 the United Nations held a conference devoted to space applications of Developing Countries - UNISPACE'82. ESA Member States offered five fellowships per year, through the United Nations, to be used for on-the-job training at ESA establishments: one in meteorology, one in remote sensing and three in telecommunications-related subjects.
Increased contact with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) led to ESA and the UN combining their efforts in holding regional courses on space applications both regionally and in ESRIN. To these was added a regional course on basic space science, which has now been run successfully for six years.
The answer to the question 'Why does ESA have relations with Developing Countries?' is now evident. It has been, and continues to be, to promote the use of ESA's satellites world-wide where this use can be an effective tool in helping people in Developing Countries advance their own resources.
Inauguration ceremony for a new telescope at the Arthur C. Clarke Centre in Sri Lanka, January 1996
Information on natural resources is sadly lacking in many of the poorer Developing Countries. Satellites can provide an inexpensive means of locating natural resources, allowing the country in question to exploit them. The European Commission (DG VIII) came to ESA for technical assistance in providing satellite data to researchers in the Sahel for the 'Freedom from Hunger Campaign'. The Commission allocated funds for the operation of ESA's Maspalomas station to acquire Landsat and later SPOT data for researchers in the Sahel. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have successfully used Meteosat data to detect and destroy sites of locust breeding in Africa, thereby saving crops.
Many of the globe's natural hazard areas tend to be in Developing Countries. Satellites can play a useful role in disaster management, e.g. determining flooded areas, ascertaining the extent of earthquake damage using remote-sensing satellites and, via communications satellites, permitting swift establishment of emergency communication, an essential factor in disaster relief.
Mr K.-E. Reuter, Head of ESA's Cabinet, and Mrs Wang Xiuting, Director General of Foreign Affairs, CNSA, preparing for the visit of ESA's Director General to China, May 1996
ESA's Council, at its 1992 Ministerial Level meeting in Granada, urged ESA's Director General to look for further ways and means to make data available for use by Developing Countries. As a result, ESA's International Relations Committee set up an ad hoc Working Group on Developing Countries. This group produced a report entitled 'A World Wide Approach: ESA Linking to Developing Countries'. One of its recommendations was that a Coordination Group on Developing Countries should be established within ESA to bring forward recommendations which would fulfil this requirement. The group was formed with the furtherance of ESA Council Resolution ESA/C/CXVI Res.1 Final, adopted on 22 February 1995.
This coordination group is currently studying the possibilities for ESA to further develop relations with Developing Countries in the short, medium and long term. It is also seeking the answer to 'When should ESA stand aside' The group is contacting aid agencies belonging to its Member States as well as other international organisations to investigate what is already being done and where, in order to avoid duplication of effort, and to apply ESA's resources to the best advantage.
Brazil, China, India and, to a lesser extent, Argentina qualify as emerging space powers in their own right. Here, ESA takes a different approach, one geared towards technical assistance, exchange of personnel and, faced with diminishing resources available for space activities in the foreseeable future, attempts to define areas where resources could be combined.
This leads to discussions on future plans, possibilities of joint satellite projects, using satellite data from various sources to mount a pilot project for disaster mitigation and possibilities of an interactive regional series of systems for global navigation. Possibilities for European industry are also actively explored, not only with the emerging space powers, but also in expanding economic areas of the world. With this factor uppermost in its mind, International Relations has already organised two 'Euro-Latin American Space Days' conferences in Latin America, one in Brazil and one in Argentina. This year the third will be held in Mexico. In June 1998, a similar conference will be organised in Singapore entitled 'Euro-Asian Cooperation in Space'.
Participants in the International Seminar on the Use and Applications of ERS in Latin America; Viña Del Mar, Chile, November 1996
ESA Bulletin Nr. 91