France
Telemedicine Aiding in Disaster Areas
The European Space Agency, in coordination with the Institut de Medecine et de Physiologie Spatiales, is developing a telemedicine solution to improve post-crisis management in areas struck by natural disasters or epidemics.
Disaster Charter Provides Timely Imagery to Response Teams
One of the key challenges in a flood involves getting timely and accurate information regarding flood-affected areas. Satellite imagery can mitigate the magnitude of flood damage by providing response teams with an overall image of the flooded area.
2008 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Space Activities – Snapshot
GEO satellites provide coverage of a wide area from a relatively fixed position, making them ideal for broadcast applications to multiple downlink sites, as well as for networking services to widely dispersed corporate and government facilities. Video distribution, point-to-point video feeds, also known as “backhauls,” and Direct-To-Home (DTH) television services represented three-quarters of total satellite services revenues in 2007.
2008 – German Government Space Budget – Snapshot
Germany is investing in surface system robotics and enhancements in synthetic aperture radar technology, including the TerraSAR-L satellite, a follow-on to its successful TerraSAR-X Earth observation mission. The German Aerospace Center, DLR, engaged in a public-private partnership with Astrium GmbH to produce TerraSAR-X at a total cost of €## million (US$## million), including manufacturing and launch. The launch of the radar-imagery satellite SAR-Lupe 5 in July 2008 marked the completion of Germany’s first satellite-supported reconnaissance system, estimated to have a total project cost of €## million (US$## million).
2008 – French Government Space Budget – Snapshot
Priorities for France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) in 2009 include further refinement of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and an ongoing role in developing Europe’s new Vega small launch vehicle. Forty CNES and EADS Astrium engineers spent six months preparing the ATV for its March 2008 flight, which proceeded smoothly. This marked the beginning of operations for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Control Centre in Toulouse, France, which seven months later guided the ATV through a planned destructive re-entry.
2008 – European Space Agency Budget – Snapshot
The European Space Agency (ESA), with 18 member states, had a 2008 budget of about €## billion (US$## billion). ESA is projecting a budget of €## billion (US$## billion) for the three years from 2009–2011. One feature of the budget will be a ##% per year growth in the agency’s basic science budget. The combined civil space spending for 2008, including both national space programs and ESA contributions of the four largest members, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, amounted to about €## billion (US$## billion), approximately ##% of their averaged national budgets.
2007 – European Military Space Budget
Military space spending among European countries in 2006 totaled $## billion (€## million), according to the European Space Policy Institute, a research institute founded and supported by European aerospace industry partners. For 2004, Euroconsult estimates non-U.S. space spending at $## billion. Countries included in this estimate are the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, and Israel. Data on international military space spending is generally held closely and difficult to find in public sources. Until better data becomes available, we will continue to use this 2004 figure as an estimate in our aggregated number.
2007 – Government Space Budgets Overview
Government space budgets support infrastructure and space products and services. Government spending accounted for ##% of global space activity in 2007, and the United States accounted for ##% of global government space spending, based on available information. Overall, U.S. government space spending rose ##%. International government budgets rose almost ##% in U.S. dollars, though the actual growth is closer to #% when adjusted for currency fluctuations. Large increases in Russian space spending (##%) and in the budget for Italy’s Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (##%) drove this growth
View Satellite Images of What’s Below While Flying–Wait a Minute…
Air France began a partnership with ESA in 2007 to show satellite images of the countries, cities, and terrain below the airplane to passengers. Air France plays CD-ROMs with synchronized images of the flight path below on routes between Paris and Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, and Singapore.
Find The Coveted Parisian Parking Spot
A service, launched in December 2006 in Paris, helps drivers locate the closest available parking spot with the help of GPS signals. Approximately 120 participating garages relay availability data to a centralized database. Drivers with GPS-enabled phones can download data and receive precise directions to the closest available space.