munich

The council of the European Space Agency (ESA) last week approved a resolution agreeing to work more closely with the European Union in developing strategies in telecommunications, navigation and Earth observation.

The council also approved the launch of a programme for Earth observation, known as Living Planet. A total of ECU24 million was agreed by 10 member states plus the associated member state, Canada. Although it is 20 per cent less than the designers asked for, programme director David Southwood says it is sufficient “to move ahead immediately”. Other member states may join the programme later, he adds.

The Living Planet programme will organize a series of “small and frequent” missions in areas such as oceanography, climatology and atmospheric chemistry, to be launched after 2002. Opportunities for small missions in these categories will be announced in the next few weeks.

The programme was designed after discussion with the European Commission, reflecting the willingness of the two bodies to work together more closely. Southwood says the resolution “prevents us from going off in different directions, or from competing with each other”.