ANNUAL REPORT 2008

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 ANNUAL REPORT 2008

 SPACE: A KEY ASSET FOR EUROPE TO FACE GLOBAL CHALLENGES

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Annual Report 2008

CONTENTS
2 4 6 8 Foreword by Chair of Council Director Generals Year in Review Highlights of 2008 Directors

Summary of achievements
10 20 30 36 42 48 60 68 76 88 96 102

Science and Robotic Exploration Earth Observation Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Galileo Programme and Navigation-related Activities Launchers Human Spaceflight Operations and Infrastructure Technical and Quality Management Legal Affairs and External Relations Facilities General Studies Programme Resources Management

Accounts
118 120 121 122 123

Notes to the financial statements Statement of income and expenditure Statement of assets and liabilities Cashflow statement Statement of changes in net assets/equity

Annex
124

Chairs of Council, Programme Boards and delegate bodies

An ESA Communications Production

Images copyright ESA unless otherwise stated Copyright 2009 European Space Agency ISSN 0258-025X

 FOREWORD
Clearly 2008 was a vintage year for European space achievements. It will be remembered chiefly for the successful completion of historic missions decided back in the 1980s and also for the successful outcome of the ESA Ministerial Council in The Hague (2526 November), which defined the Agencys and Europes future in space for the coming years. We also welcomed a new Member State, the Czech Republic, bringing the Agencys membership to 18. The 7 February launch of the Columbus laboratory and its exploitation followed by the flawless Jules Verne mission including reentry stand as iconic demonstrations of Europes capabilities in space, greatly enhancing its standing among its international partners. There was also the launch of GIOVE-B on 27 April. The final decision by the European Union on funding the Galileo constellation as well as the agreement on the contract and procurement approach, with ESA acting as procurement agent, provide a solid basis for proceeding with programme implementation. For the ESA Council, the year 2008, especially the last weeks in the run-up to the Ministerial, were a very busy period indeed which included one Space Council, eight Working Group meetings and nine delegate-level meetings. In June we celebrated the 200th meeting of Council in Paris which brought together some eminent personalities who had been closely associated with its work. An ESA brochure Cooperating for Success: 200 meetings of the ESA Council 19752008 (ESA BR-272) was published to mark the occasion. Without doubt, the high-point in the ESA calendar was the Hague meeting of ministers responsible for space. Its main objective was to translate the European

Annual Report 2008

Space Policy adopted by the Space Council on 22 May 2007 in Brussels into concrete programmes. Despite the global economic crisis, it approved a package of programmes worth about 10 billion, including Meteosat Third Generation development, the next phase of GMES and the ExoMars mission, plus new initiatives such as Space Situational Awareness. Particularly noteworthy was the decision to give the Science Programme a 3.5% per annum increase for the coming period. Given the gloomy economic conditions, the positive outcome of the Hague Ministerial can be considered an outstanding success. Turning to 2009, this will surely be another challenging yet inspiring year for the Agency, with no let-up for the teams working on readying their missions for launch. We can look forward to a number of landmark events such as the launch of two Earth Explorers (GOCE, SMOS). These missions, geared to responding to societal needs, show that ESA and Europe are up among the leaders when it comes to researching climate change and the environment. With 2009 being International Year of Astronomy, we can also look forward to the launch of HerschelPlanck, two very powerful observatories putting Europe at the forefront of infrared and cosmic background astronomy. The start of Soyuz launch operations from the CSG/Kourou will also be a particularly significant milestone for ESA, which is an important Soyuz customer. Given the decisions taken by Europes ministers in The Hague, and with the upcoming challenging and exciting missions ahead, I am sure ESA can look ahead with confidence to a bright future. Finally, I would like to pay special tribute to my predecessor, Per Tegnr, who guided Councils proceedings with great skill and dedication from 2002 to 2005, then served as acting Chair from October 2007 to June 2008. Maurici Lucena Chair of Council

 YEAR IN REVIEW
The year 2008 was dominated by a string of important mission successes as well as by the preparations for the equally successful Ministerial Council in The Hague. In fact, the successes achieved in orbit were instrumental towards achieving a positive outcome at the Ministerial Council. In total, the decisions taken at the Ministerial Council represent close to 10 billion of investment in new and continuing programmes. These decisions have particular relevance seen against the background of the current financial and economic uncertainties, showing as they do Europes determination to invest in space as a key sector providing innovation, economic growth, strategic independence and preparing us for our future. The tenth anniversary of the International Space Station was celebrated in 2008, and from an ESA perspective there was no shortage of mission accomplishments in this unique cooperative project during the year. In February, the Columbus laboratory was launched to the ISS with Space Shuttle Atlantis. Two ESA astronauts, Lopold Eyharts and Hans Schlegel, were members of the crew. A few days after launch, Columbus was installed on the ISS and exploitation soon began, thereby making Europe a full, in-orbit partner in ISS cooperation. The other main achievement related to the International Space Station was the launch and flawless execution of the ATV Jules Verne mission. This highly challenging mission turned out to be a success from beginning to end. ATV Jules Verne was launched from the Guiana Space Centre on an Ariane 5 rocket in March. In early April it carried out a perfect rendezvous and docking with the ISS. After serving for almost half a year as an additional and, according to the astronauts, most appreciated part of the station, Jules Verne made its controlled, destructive reentry into Earths atmosphere in September. With both Columbus and the ATV mission in full swing, it was most fitting when in May ESA launched its recruitment campaign for new ESA astronauts. Interest was huge, with close to 10 000 applications. The year was far from dominated only by human spaceflight, however. In navigation, the month of April saw the launch of GIOVE-B, the second experimental Galileo satellite. GIOVE-B has validated the technologies to be used in the full Galileo constellation, demonstrating their maturity.

Annual Report 2008

Another important milestone for Galileo in 2008 was the launch of the procurement of the full Galileo system by the European Commission with the support of ESA. In July, the Czech Republics accession agreement to the ESA Convention was signed in Prague, allowing the country to join ESA as its 18th Member State on 12 November, in time for the Ministerial Council in The Hague. The accession of the Czech Republic was all the more symbolic since the country is the first among those joining the EU in 2004 to also join ESA. In September, ESAs comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta showed that it was in perfect health when it closely observed the asteroid Steins on its way to its more distant destination. Other intriguing photos, from a close pass of the martian moon Phobos, had already been sent to Earth from Mars Express a few months earlier. The following month, Europe was also able to applaud the launch of the Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan-1, to which ESA contributed three instruments. On the more ceremonial side, ESA will remember 2008 for the inauguration of the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid, Spain. In addition, at ESTEC there was the official opening of its new laboratory building with the new Concurrent Design Facility. In the field of telecommunications, the signature of the Small GEO platform and the Small GEO mission contracts took place in November. As in the case of Alphasat, the Small GEO programme shows how ESA increasingly works on a partnership basis in this case closely with industry. Other ESA partnerships of increasing importance are with the European Commission and with national agencies (such as for the exploitation of Columbus or the operating of the ATVs). In addition, ESA is expanding its cooperation with its international partners, the USA, Russia, Japan, China, India and other countries around the world. This increasing number of partners has helped ESA increase its leverage and influence, turning ESA into a global space agency, bringing many benefits for citizens of Europe and the world. In the field of Earth observation, important progress was achieved, in particular on GMES (delegation agreement between ESA and the European Commission, contract signature for Sentinel-2 and -3, go-ahead for Segment 2 of the GMES Space Component at the Ministerial Council.) As for Earth observation satellite launches, an impressive three Earth Explorers are expected to be launched in 2009: GOCE, SMOS and CryoSat-2, reinforcing Europes leadership position in tackling climate change. The year 2008 was also a busy year for Europes Ariane rocket, with six launches of Ariane 5 carried out flawlessly from the launch range in French Guiana, placing ten satellites and ATV Jules Verne in orbit. All these missions certainly contributed to the successful conclusion of both the fifth Space Council held in September in Brussels and the ESA Ministerial Council in The Hague. As a matter of fact, the fifth Space Council created the political impetus and set strategic objectives. These objectives and targets were matched with corresponding programme decisions in The Hague. As 2008 turns into 2009, we see that all of the programmes decided back in the 1980s have now been carried through, giving us the opportunity to look forward and prepare for the future in earnest. And it is worth underlining that this feat has been possible only thanks to the unwavering support of ESAs Member States, the professionalism and energy of ESAs staff, and the ability of European industry and operators to deliver on these demanding space programmes. With such a rich and exciting year behind us, it is still my pleasure to assure you that the year ahead also looks to be most interesting indeed!

Jean-Jacques Dordain Director General

 HIGHLIGHTS

Annual Report 2008

January
Santa Maria tracking station in the Azores inaugurated

February
Columbus launched to ISS on Space Shuttle Atlantis

March
ATV Jules Verne launched to ISS on Ariane 5 ES-ATV

April
ATV Jules Verne docks with ISS

May
New European astronaut selection begins

June
Slovenia signs Cooperation Agreement with ESA

July
Procurement of full Galileo navigation system begins

August
XMM-Newton discovers most massive cluster of galaxies known in Universe

September
Comet-chaser Rosetta makes flyby of asteroid Steins

October
First test of Vega small launchers Zefiro-9A solid rocket motor

November
Czech Republic becomes ESA's 18th Member State

December
European participants selected for Mars500 isolation study

 DIRECTORS

Annual Report 2008

Jean-Jacques Dordain Director General

Daniel Sacotte Director Advisor to the Director General

David Southwood Director of Science and Robotic Exploration

Volker Liebig Director of Earth Observation

Simonetta Di Pippo Director of Human Spaceflight

Antonio Fabrizi Director of Launchers

Magali Vaissire Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications

Ren Oosterlinck Director of the Galileo Programme and Navigation-related Activities

Michel Courtois Director of Technical and Quality Management

Ludwig Kronthaler Gaele Winters Director of Operations and Director of Resources Management Infrastructure

Peter Hulsroj Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations

 DIRECTORATE OF SCIENCE AND ROBOTIC EXPLORATION

 DIRECTORATE OF SCIENCE AND ROBOTIC EXPLORATION

The Directorate of Scientific Programmes formally ceased to exist on 14 July 2008 and the Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration came into being the next day. The new Directorate was given responsibility for the Mandatory Science Programme, and for two (then three, in November) Optional Programmes. These are ExoMars, Prodex and the Mars Exploration Preparatory Programme.
Promethei Planum, an area seasonally covered with ice at the martian south pole (ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)

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Annual Report 2008

Cosmic Vision
The Call for Missions for the first slice of the Cosmic Vision plan resulted in the selection of seven proposals selected to undergo assessment studies. Five of the selected proposals are in the Medium (M) class, and two in the Large (L) class. LISA had already been announced as a de facto candidate for an L-class mission, to be put into competition with the concepts resulting from the new call. In addition, a number of future mission themes of high science interest, but without the required degree of technological maturity, were identified. To allow the community to submit mature proposals eventually in response to future Calls for Missions, the enabling of early technology developments has been started, covering preliminary mission and payload studies. The activities are included in the General Studies Programme budget for 2009, and will be pursued in 2010. Considerable progress was achieved in 2008 for both the M and L mission studies. For the M missions, the activities are on track for enabling the down-selection process to take place by the end of 2009, and starting the Definition Phase for the first missions beginning in 2010: All internal studies (Phase-0) were completed by mid-May 2008, largely using the Concurrent Design Facility. The Invitations to Tender for the industrial studies were issued in AprilMay 2008 and all industrial studies (11 in total) were kicked off in JulySeptember 2008. For the five M mission concepts, the industrial study schedules are on track for completion by September 2009. Nationally funded parallel instrumentation studies by prospective Principal Investigators have been promoted by ESA and are being carried out. A comprehensive Technology Development Plan for Cosmic Vision, including the Technology Research Programme/Core Technology Programme and nationally funded activities on payloads has been elaborated and is being implemented.

For L missions, the internal studies have confirmed that these ambitious missions will require international cooperation to be implemented. Therefore, considerable effort was spent on the consolidation of the mission concepts (Phase 0 studies) and on the collaboration schemes, which are at this stage sufficiently well defined to allow starting the industrial studies in 2009. In particular, the L-class studies have allowed consolidation of the concept originally proposed as the XEUS formation-flying large X-ray observatory (ESA/JAXA) into the IXO concept (ESA/NASA/JAXA), a single deployable spacecraft. Regarding the Outer Planet mission, joint ESA/NASA studies were performed in 2008 leading to a down-selection process between Laplace and Tandem in February 2008, resulting in the joint choice of the mission to Jupiter (Laplace), for which the industrial studies will be performed in 2009. LISA also continued to be studied as an ESA/NASA collaboration with a number of significant technology developments advancing in 2008. A number of developments in 2008 (including the Science Programme Committee decision in June 2008 to maintain BepiColombo in the Science Programme with its anticipated cost envelope, the delay in the launch of Herschel and Planck, and the consolidation of the implementation scenarios for the L-class candidates), led to a replanning of the Science Programme, along the following lines:

Tandem, a mission to Saturns system

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The target launch date for the first L-class mission is now 2020. The three mission concepts being studied at the moment, LISA, IXO and Laplace, will compete for this launch slot. The first slice of the Cosmic Vision Plan comprises two launch slots for M-class missions, to be launched in 2017 and 2018. Solar Orbiter is now a candidate for the first M-class mission launch slot, in 2017, in competition with the five other M-class candidates resulting from the 2007 Call for Missions.

In 2008, Solar Orbiter underwent a formulation phase, to advance the definition of the whole system in the wake of the BepiColombo developments, given that the spacecraft baseline design relies heavily on the reuse of technology and equipment from BepiColombo. Solar Orbiter is being proposed as a collaboration with NASA, which will supply the launch services and a significant number of payload elements.

Mission proposal
Missions recommended by the Space Science Advisory Committee in November 2007 for assessment. The inclusion of LISA had been decided earlier, prior to the release of the Call for Missions.

Class
M M L

Comments
Near-Earth asteroid sample return mission, a European contribution to a JAXA-led mission. Magnetospheric plasma physics mission using multiple satellites. Collaboration with JAXA, and possibly NASA. Laplace is a mission to the Jupiter system, and Tandem a mission to Saturns system. Both are in cooperation with NASA. The choice between the two will be made in early 2009.

Solar System Marco Polo Cross-scale Outer Planets mission (Laplace and Tandem, two proposals) Astrophysics Plato Dune/Space (two proposals received)

M M

SPICA

XEUS

LISA

Habitable planet detection, using transits, and parent star characterisation, using asteroseismology. Investigation of the nature of dark energy. The Dune proposal focused on weak lensing and Space focused on baryon acoustic oscillations. An initial study resulted in a new mission concept, Euclid, meeting both science goals. A Mission of Opportunity, an ESA contribution to a JAXA-led mission. A far-infrared observatory with a 3.5 m diameter telescope. ESA would provide the telescope, the management of a proposed nationally funded European instrument (SAFARI, previously called ESI) and a contribution to the operations. A large X-ray telescope, originally proposed as a collaboration with JAXA. In the course of the study, it evolved into the IXO study, jointly carried out by ESA, NASA and JAXA. A three-spacecraft constellation for the detection and characterisation of gravitational waves from astrophysical sources, in cooperation with NASA.

Missions in operation or archived phase

ESA continued to obtain exciting scientific data from 18 science satellites in orbit (including those in collaboration with other space agencies). These missions range from an orbiting telescope (the Hubble Space Telescope in collaboration with NASA), two satellites in orbit around the Sun (SOHO and Ulysses with

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Annual Report 2008

NASA), missions to other planets (Cassini-Huygens with NASA, Mars Express and Venus Express), a comet lander (Rosetta), two observatories (XMM-Newton and Integral) and a formation-flying mission (Cluster, with the Chinese/ESA mission Double Star). Significant scientific results are also being obtained from Akari and Hinode (both Japanese), COROT (FrenchEuropeanBrazilian) and Chandrayaan (India) to which ESA makes various contributions.

Hubble Space Telescope

Made the first detection of an organic molecule in the atmosphere of a Jupitersized planet orbiting another star (planet HD 1897336).

Ulysses
Continuing to produce data despite the loss of the X-band transmitter.

SOHO
Discovered its 1500th comet, making it the most successful comet-finder in history.

Planet HD 189733b

XMM-Newton
Discovered strong quasi-periodic oscillations in the X-ray radiation from a massive black hole; this is important for the theoretical understanding of Active Galactic Nuclei.

Cluster
Made a breakthrough in understanding how oxygen ions are constantly escaping from Earths upper atmosphere.

Integral
Discovered a high level of polarisation in the non-pulsed soft gamma-ray emission from the Crab pulsar that has revealed that these gamma rays must originate very close to the neutron star.
The Promethei basin on Mars (ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)

Mars Express
Covered almost half of the surface of Mars in unprecedented detail using the High Resolution Stereo Camera. Results of the first subsurface probing of the south polar layered deposits have been published which reveal the possible presence of an ice-rich layer on the Promethei basin floor extending to a depth of 500 m.

Rosetta
Successfully flew by asteroid Steins the first encounter with this rare type of asteroid on 5 September.

Venus Express
Observations have led to a significantly improved understanding of the longstanding mystery of the super-rotation of the Venusian atmosphere.

Research activities
Areas of research covered in 2008 include Earth and outer planet magnetospheres, solar and heliospheric physics, planets and minor bodies in the Solar System, the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems, the evolution of stellar systems and galaxies, dark matter, dark energy, fundamental physics and cosmology.

Rosetta and asteroid Steins

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Projects under definition and under development

Herschel/Planck
Launch: 2009 Herschel arrived at ESTEC at the end of 2007 for a complete year of final integration and the flight model acceptance test campaign. The years activities started with completion of the spacecraft integration, the mounting of the large Herschel telescope and the solar array and sunshade and the first spacecraft functional test. The final functional tests were planned for early 2009.
Herschel during acoustic tests at ESTEC

For Planck, the year started with the functional and electromagnetic compatibility testing of the flight model spacecraft at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes. Later, it was shipped to ESTEC for the balancing of the Planck spacecraft that had to be carried out under light vacuum, without disturbance of air, to achieve the necessary accuracy. Planck was then moved to the space simulation facility in Lige (BE). The testing at Lige carried on until the end of the summer, when post-environmental functional tests were carried out. The spacecraft was then ready for shipment to the launch site.

Microscope
Launch: End 2010 During 2008 important progress was achieved in the key technologies required for Microscope, the micro-thrust propulsion and the accelerometer-payload. For the payload, an engineering model T-SAGE accelerometer was built and functionally tested by ONERA. Though some issues meant the test had to be repeated, it allowed CNES to build the qualification model. For propulsion, Planck ready for balancing test at ESTEC ESA reached most of the development objectives of the FEEP micro-thrust propulsion system allowing the closure of the Microscope Phase-B activities in mid-2008. The development activities on FEEP, performed under LISA Pathfinder, included reduced life testing, several test-firings and environmental tests. ESA also completed Microscope Phase-A on the alternative cold-gas micro-thrust propulsion. CNES advanced with the procurement of the spacecraft components and definition of the verification plan.

LISA Pathfinder
Launch: 2011 During the year, the important milestone of the system Critical Design Review confirmed the soundness of the system design. Many flight units have been delivered and structural tests completed. The main payload, the LISA Technology Package, also made substantial progress: the electrical models were integrated and tested, and most of the flight model was built. Critical technologies, such as the micro-propulsion system and the caging mechanism of the LISA Technology Package, also made good progress.

LISA Pathfinder science module ready for testing at ESTEC

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Annual Report 2008

Gaia
Launch: March 2012 The Gaia project took delivery of a variety of hardware and software, and it is expected that by mid-2009 all deliveries will be completed. The mirrors are now in the polishing phase, and some of the smaller ones have already been completed. For the Service Module, the setting up of a realistic test bench was completed and the first engineering modules of the subsystems were integrated and readied for testing. The required test release of the onboard software was available on time to start the test activities. All necessary agreements are in place for the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium to prepare and perform the huge task of analysing the Gaia in-orbit measurements.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Launch: June 2013 The JWST programme was significantly consolidated in 2008, with a number of critical reviews completed. Several development units were built and tested. Two segments of the telescope primary mirror were manufactured, fully assembled and tested. The development model of the ESA-developed Near Infrared Spectrograph was fully assembled and vibration-tested. The development model of the Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI) completed its cryo-verification tests. The telescope primary mirror segments were figure-ground. The flight structures supporting the primary mirror segment and the instruments are being assembled. Several flight model subsystems for the instruments were delivered or are being manufactured.

Demonstrator model of blazed transmission grating for Gaias Radial Velocity Spectrometer

BepiColombo
Launch: July 2014 The contract for the industrial work at the prime contractor and the core team was signed. Detailed system design activities, taking place in preparation for the Preliminary Design Review, revealed a major mass increase. A mission Tiger Team was set-up, reporting that to satisfy all mission requirements an Ariane 5 launcher was required. The launch is delayed to the next available launch window in July 2014 to accommodate the redesign activities. A Critical Equipment Review was conducted to review the technology status. The majority of the technology developments specific to BepiColombo concluded that the system PDR can be started in March 2009. About 75% of the competitive Invitations to Tender were issued and 50% of the subcontractors were selected. Generally, an adequate payload definition status compliant with the scientific objectives and with spacecraft interfaces was demonstrated. The definition of the mission operation centre and of the science ground segment continued according to plan.
MIRI completing cryogenic testing

BepiColombo composite spacecraft

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Robotic exploration
During 2008, the enhanced ExoMars mission Europes first robotic exploration mission to Mars continued in development and completed Phase-B. Preparations for the Preliminary Design Review were performed at subsystem, system and payload level. In preparation for the Ministerial Council 2008, it became apparent that the subscriptions expected from the Member States would not meet the costs of the enhanced mission as defined by the Programme Board in 2007. A plan to reform the project was agreed that would readdress the missions scientific and technical objectives and seek international cooperation to reduce costs to Member States. A new proposal will be made to the Director General in September 2009 and subscriptions to the new programme will be closed at the end of 2009.
Mars Sample Return ascent module

With respect to robotic exploration after ExoMars, a declaration was presented to the Ministerial Council describing the Mars Robotic Exploration Programme (MREP). This programme will study missions after ExoMars leading eventually to the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, with an anticipated launch in the mid2020s. In addition to these missions, an Exploration Technology Programme will be performed to ready technology for exploration needs. MREP aims to develop strategic partnerships with NASA and potentially other space agencies in order to open a number of science opportunities while at the same time delivering the required technology.

Prodex
Scientists and projects/topics supported through Prodex in 2008
Countries
Out of the 128 projects managed through Prodex, 37 included hardwarerelated activities in various stages of development

Number of scientists
4 91 5 9 19 14 142

Number of projects/topics
3 74 5 9 16 21 128

Austria Belgium Denmark Ireland Norway Switzerland TOTAL

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Annual Report 2008

Prodex (Programme de dveloppement dexpriences scientifique) has run three major activities regarding hardware development. The first is the Flight Model Programme for the Mid Infrared Instrument on JWST of which the Irish, Swiss and Danish contributions were completed up to 2008. The Belgian contribution to the Flight Model Programme will be completed in 2009. The second major hardware development via Prodex in 2008 was the Phase-B of the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) instrument, the major payload to the European part of the BepiColombo mission. A substantial activity was the Austrian contribution to NASAs Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS), in which Austria provides two payloads. In addition to these hardware developments, Prodex has contributed to the first phases of development of life and material science projects with launch opportunities in the period 200911 as well as the Phase-B development of several payloads for ExoMars.

Missions
ISS

Experiment (sub)systems
ANITA BASE B & C Solid Particles Mobility SOLSPEC SOVIM

Proposer/country
Honne (NO) Cornelis, Leys, Mahillon, Wattiez (BE) Vedernikov (BE) Gillotay (BE) Dewitte (BE), Schmutz (CH) Dubois (BE) De Wit (BE)
Experiments launched in 2008

Maser-11

BIOMICS CHIPA

Missions
Herschel/Planck

Instrument/subsystem
Detector and Mechanism Controller for Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) MIRI Contamination Control Cover SOVAP MIRI Input and Optics Calibration Unit

Country
BE

Model
Flight Spare Model
Hardware elements completed within Prodex in 2008

JWST Picard (CNES) JWST

CH BE BE

Flight Spare Model Flight Model Engineering and Test Model

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 DIRECTORATE OF EARTH OBSERVATION

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Annual Report 2008

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 DIRECTORATE OF EARTH OBSERVATION

2008 was marked by many severe events around the globe, such as the tropical cyclone Nargis. It was also a key year for the EUs Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative.

Envisats view of Cyclone Nargis in the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, May 2008

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Annual Report 2008

International Charter for Space and Major Disasters

Tropical cyclone Nargis was the most dramatic natural disaster in South-east Asia after the tsunami of 2004. There were also the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Sichuan, China, the devastating hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike, and dozens of flooding events, landslides and wildfires. Overall, the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters was invoked 40 times in 2008. Data from the ERS and Envisat missions were used to provide products such as updated location/classification/event extent maps for rescue operations and post-disaster management. In the case of cyclone Nargis, Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar data with 150 m pixel resolution were used to assess the hydrological situation after the typhoon had passed. ASAR data have also been essential for damage assessment showing the impact of hurricane Ike. In association with CNES and British National Space Centre, ESA organised a workshop in December in ESRIN to promote and optimise the access and use of satellite imagery for disaster response.

Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)

GMES, an EU-led initiative with ESA responsible for implementing the Space Component, is the most complex and ambitious Earth observation programme to date, with the goal to deliver operational information services for environment and security from 2008 onwards. The EC/ESA agreement covering the EC financial contribution to the GMES Space Component (GSC) programme was signed in February. At the end of the year, the amendment of this agreement for the tasks related to the GSC Segment 2 was finalised. The content of the Segment 2 of the GSC programme, on the agenda of the ESA Ministerial Council in November, was consolidated with Member States in the course of the year. The Ministerial Council was again a success for GMES, with a subscription of 831 million for the GSC Segment 2, 97% of the requested financial envelope. As a result, ESA Member States subscribed a total of 1621 million for Segment 1 plus Segment 2, and adding the contribution from the EC to both Segments, a funding availability of 2.25 million is allocated to the GSC programme. At the Fifth Space Council in September, a Resolution on Taking forward the European Space Policy was adopted. The resolution reaffirms the role of ESA as development and procurement agency for the dedicated GMES Sentinel missions, and as coordinator for the whole GMES Space Component. The demonstration of the first GMES operational services was the focus of the Lille Forum organised in September by the EU French Presidency. GMES received strong political support. The development of the first Sentinel-1, -2 and -3 satellites progressed, with the respective Preliminary Design Reviews completed or close to completion at the end of the year. The Sentinel-2 and -3 industrial contracts were signed in April. The two Phase-0 parallel studies for Sentinel-4 and -5 were completed at the end of the year.

Sentinel-3, which will provide operational oceanographic services

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As the Sentinel-4 and -5 missions will be dedicated payloads on the Meteosat Third Generation and post-Eumetsat Polar System satellites, respectively, the studies and development will be carried out in line with these programmes. The GMES Payload Data Ground Segment overall architecture was finalised, and the GSC Coordinated Data Access System implementation progressed according to plan. This system will ensure interoperability with the GMES contributing missions. Data access discussions with the GMES contributing missions continued in preparation of the related contracts. Within the framework of the Data Access Grant agreement between the EC and ESA, the operational delivery of some ESA Earth observation data to the GMES services started toward the end of the year.

Remote-sensing missions in operation

Envisat
Envisat continued to provide outstanding contributions to Earth science and operational applications, but was affected by a failure in the Radar Altimeter instrument. In January, the instrument lost the capability to operate its secondary frequency (S-band). The instrument primary frequency (Ku-band) is in excellent shape, so the negative impact of the S-band loss on Envisat altimetry data is mitigated by the use of ionospheric models. The International Polar Year 2007/8 benefited from the increased data acquisition with an enlarged data take over the polar areas. A good example of this is the observation of the break-up of the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica beginning in March 2008. Daily ASAR coverage was easily accessible to scientists, at no cost, thanks to the ESA data access on the internet. Such type of SAR observations has never been so complete and quickly available. The Envisat mission is particularly adapted to polar observations, thanks to its microwave and atmospheric chemistry instruments. The user demand for Envisat data continued to grow, both for scientific use (2400 scientific projects) and for operational use, requesting continuous adaptations of the ground segment facilities both in terms of data delivery and quality. Normal Envisat operations are expected to last until October 2010 when the propulsion system's hydrazine will be mostly consumed, after which the orbit will be lowered and a new mission phase without orbit inclination maintenance will allow a three-year extension of its operational life until 2013. All analyses have been completed and the plan to modify the mission systems for the threeyear extension has been finalised for a decision by Member States in early 2009.

ERS-2
The ERS-2 mission has reached 13 years of successful operations. The data transmission of the instrument was interrupted in January 2008 following a failure of a mechanical part. The ATSR-2 data collected between 1996 and 2001 provides the most accurate global sea-surface temperature measurements and, from 2002, an ideal six-year overlap with Envisat AATSR data allows extensive cross-calibration. For the other components, ERS-2 remained a robust and reliable satellite, benefiting from an upgraded spacecraft and payload ground segments, in particular with a fast planning and delivery of SAR data, an important asset for some GMES services.

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Annual Report 2008

Envisat/ERS-2 single mission

The harmonisation of the operations between ERS and Envisat has further progressed towards a single mission concept, which is also supporting the ESA Climate Change Initiative. A second ERS-2/Envisat SAR Interferometry Tandem campaign was initiated in November, to exploit the 30-minute difference between Envisat and ERS-2 data acquisition, and focusing on the velocity of fast-moving glaciers and low-relief Digital Elevation Models in the high northern latitudes.

Meteorological missions in operation

MSG
The Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) consists of four geostationary meteorological satellites (MSG-1 to MSG-4), to be operated until at least 2018 under the responsibility of Eumetsat, providing continuous imagery of the atmosphere, clouds and surface of Earth to aid weather forecasting in Europe, Africa and neighbouring countries. It also provides valuable data for climate monitoring. MSG-1 (Meteosat-8) completed its sixth year of operations. On 13 May, Meteosat-8 was declared operational for its MSG Rapid Scan Services, at its new position of 9.5E. The satellite is in good health and instrument performance remains of excellent quality. MSG-2 (Meteosat-9) completed its third year in orbit. Meteosat-9 is Eumetsats nominal operational satellite at 0 longitude, with Meteosat-8 as its back-up. The satellite is in good health and instrument performance was excellent. MSG-3 and MSG-4 are in storage for launch in 2011 and 2013.
Meteosat Second Generation

MetOp
The three MetOp polar-orbiting meteorological satellites, developed by ESA, constitute the space segment of the Eumetsat Polar System. It represents the European contribution to a new cooperative venture with the USA providing data to monitor our climate and improve weather forecasting. MetOp-A completed its second year of operations, offering unprecedented accuracy and resolution of different variables such as temperature and humidity, wind speed, ozone and measurements of trace gases. To ensure the continuation of the High Rate Picture Transmission, the instrument is now being operated using a restricted, zone-based scenario. The satellite is in good health and instrument performance is excellent. The Component Health Assessment Process Reviews covering the entire satellite, held during the last quarter of 2008, concluded that MetOp-A should be capable of continuing its mission beyond a six-year lifetime, allowing the MetOp-B launch to be scheduled for the latest possible opportunity (second quarter 2012). The project and industrial activities will restart in 2009 for the preparation of the next launch (MetOp-B).

MetOp

Earth Explorer Missions in preparation

GOCE
The Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation Explorer mission is the first of the Earth Explorer core missions, planned as part of ESAs Earth Observation Envelope Programme (EOEP). It is designed to provide unique models of Earths gravity field and of the geoid, on a global scale and with unprecedented accuracy and spatial resolution.

GOCE during transport to Plesetsk

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The GOCE satellite development and final test campaign were completed during the first quarter of 2008. All ground segment facilities reached launch-ready status during the same period. Unfortunately, owing to a series of problems encountered on the Rockot launcher, the launch initially planned for the end of May 2008 was shifted to March 2009. After transportation to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and interruption of the launch campaign, the satellite was kept in safe condition at the launch site.

SMOS
The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission will observe two key variables of the Earth system, namely the soil moisture content over land surfaces and the amount of salt dissolved in the ocean. SMOS is a cooperative project between ESA, CNES (France) and CDTI (Spain).
The SMOS three-armed radiometer

After the delivery of the SMOS payload in 2007 and the merging with the Proteus platform, the integrated satellite underwent a normal environmental test programme. After that, it was put in storage. While waiting for the availability of a Rockot launcher, both the Flight Operations Ground Segment and the Data Processing Ground Segment were completed at facility level, and integration and compatibility testing started. Launch is planned for November 2009.

ADM-Aeolus
The ADM-Aeolus programme will provide the first measurements of wind profiles from space. These data are expected to advance numerical weather prediction substantially, especially when applied to extreme weather events. The development and qualification of the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) and its high-power ultraviolet laser transmitter proved to be highly challenging. Technical problems found during laser vacuum tests in early and mid-2008 were addressed in a critical review of the laser design conducted by a panel of experts from industry, academia and ESA. Following their recommendations, design changes were identified to improve the robustness and stability of the laser. Preparations for the implementation of these modifications made good progress and the assembly of the flight laser is expected to start in early 2009.

ADM-Aeolus

CryoSat
The CryoSat mission will determine fluctuations in the ice cover of the polar regions. These measurements will be invaluable in characterising ice-sheet mass balance and changes in sea-ice, and will contribute to the understanding of arctic and global climate change. Early in 2008 the main payload instrument, the advanced SIRAL radar altimeter, was delivered and integrated into the satellite. System testing of the satellite and its equipment continued and, in September, the satellite and its test equipment began a series of environmental tests. In the meantime, a contract had been signed with Kosmotras, to provide a Dnepr launcher.
CryoSat

The satellite was put into storage, with the intention to finish the environmental and other system tests during 2009. This rationale was intended to optimise the use of resources while maintaining the best preparedness of the teams. The upgrade of the ground segment was completed during 2008 and a series of overall ground segment system validation tests started.

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Annual Report 2008

Swarm
Swarm will provide the best survey ever of the geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution, improving our understanding of Earths interior and its effect on geospace, the vast region around Earth where electrodynamics processes are influenced by Earths magnetic field. The Phase-C/D and manufacturing of the three satellites progressed with the completion of the test of the structural model of the optical bench and the testing and delivery of the engineering units. The next major step for the Swarm programme will be the consolidation of the satellite design with the start of the System Critical Design Review and the start of the assembly of the first satellite. The planned launch date is 2010 for the first satellite and 2011 for the rest.

EarthCARE
ESAs Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer is a joint mission in collaboration with JAXA, with the aim of providing a better understanding of clouds and aerosols and their impact on Earths climate. An important feature of the mission is that its instruments will make, for the first time, near-simultaneous measurements of the same cloud/aerosol scene. After completion of outstanding contract negotiation items in the first weeks of the year, Phase-B of the EarthCARE programme began mid-February. The industrial contract was signed with Astrium GmbH, the prime contractor, at the Berlin Air Show in May in the presence of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. EarthCARE is scheduled for launch towards the end of 2013. The System Requirements Review started in mid-December with an expected conclusion in February 2009. The Preliminary Design Review is expected to take place in mid-2009.
Swarm

Seventh Earth Explorer mission

The process of selection of the seventh Earth Explorer core mission was initiated with the call for proposals in 2005. This call resulted in 24 proposals, which after evaluation by specialist panels consisting of external scientists, followed by an overall evaluation and recommendations by the Earth Science Advisory Committee, resulted in six missions being selected for study at Phase-0 level: A-SCOPE, BIOMASS, CoReH2O, FLEX, PREMIER and TRAQ. At the beginning of the Phase 0 studies, Mission Assessment Groups were established for all the candidate missions. These groups advised on supporting studies and campaign activities during Phase-0, and were also responsible for the relevant parts of the Mission Assessment Reports. The User Consultation Meeting to be held in January 2009 will allow the scientific community to provide feedback on the candidates before three of them are selected for Phase-A studies. One of those will be selected for launch in 2016.
EarthCARE contract signed in presence of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel

Meteorological missions in preparation

Meteosat Third Generation (MTG)
In October, the Eumetsat council approved the full proposed MTG Payload Complement. MTG is based on a twin-satellite concept in which two types of three-axis stabilised satellites, one for imaging (MTG-I) and one for sounding (MTG-S) will be developed. The MTG-S Ultraviolet, Visible and Near-Infrared Sounder will be provided from the GMES Sentinel-4 mission. The MTG Space segment is composed of six satellites: four MTG-I and two MTG-S.
Meteosat Third Generation

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In November 2008, the Ministerial Council approved the overall concept for the development of the MTG Programme and full subscription was received. The Phase-A studies performed by Astrium Germany and Thales Alenia Space France, respectively, were completed with a Preliminary Requirements Review in December.

Post-Eumetsat Polar System (EPS)

After additional rounds of user and expert consultations to refine the user and mission requirements under the lead of Eumetsat, the Invitation to Tender for the Phase 0 system studies of Post-EPS was issued in mid-2007. The proposals received were evaluated and a system study will begin in early 2008.

Earthnet
The Earthnet programme has assured for more than 30 years a long-term sustainability beyond normal programmatic funding periods. Through Earthnet, ESA is managing access to Earth observation data from almost 30 different nonESA missions and instruments. ESA is acting as the ALOS Data European Node (ADEN) for the Japanese Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) mission and has, throughout the year, increased the number of scientific user projects to more than 250. New services were opened, and the service level to users was improved. ESA hosted the Second ALOS Principal Investigators (PI) Symposium in November in Greece, with 200 participants from 37 countries. New Third Party Mission (TPM) agreements were implemented. For example, Kompsat-2 very high resolution data (1 m) are now available to users. Further agreements were drafted for the atmospheric missions GOSAT (JAXA) and OCO (NASA). The agreements with Spot Image for the SPOT satellites and with SSC for the Odin satellite were extended to provide research users with continued access to a variety of Earth observation data. As part of the Earthnet programme, Proba is running successfully, and has served more than 150 PI projects through the years. The mission has entered into its eighth operational year. Overall, the high number of TPM science users in 2008 confirms a very positive trend. At the end of the year, more than 700 projects were using TPM data in their projects, in synergy with ESA-owned Earth observation missions.

Service development, international cooperation and education

2008 saw a strong start to ESAs Value-Adding Element programme, which supports European industry in expanding the use of Earth observation-based information services. About 40 activities have started which address a wide range of emerging opportunities. These include waste management, geomarketing, insurance and legal sectors, and looking at expanding growth into regions outside Europe such as China, Persian Gulf and South-east Asia.

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Annual Report 2008

Throughout the year, ESA began dialogues with major multinational financing organisations for international development (for example, the World Bank, European Investment Bank, UN International Fund for Agricultural Development). These efforts are in order to stimulate interest in Earth observation services within these organisations that could open up new opportunities for European industry in the longer term. The year concluded with publication of an updated survey of the health and status of the complete European Earth observation service industry. Total revenues have grown steadily over the last few years, but the industry is still facing challenges to build significant business with private sector customers. The new Support To Science Element was launched, providing scientific support for both future and current missions, by taking a proactive role in the formulation of new mission concepts and of the related scientific agenda, by offering a multimission support to the scientific use of ESA Earth observation data and to the promotion of the achieved results. The TIGER initiative has completed its first implementation period (200508) involving more than 150 African institutions (water authorities, universities, technical centres) through its projects and capacity-building activities. The achievements of this initial phase were recognised at the First African Water Week in Tunis in March with a direct recommendation: International initiatives like TIGER which provide useful tools to the countries to strengthen their capacities for ensuring water security should be encouraged and supported. The ESA multilingual website Eduspace was developed further. New learning modules are continuously being added. Training and capacity-building at international level was provided through a number of training courses, in Europe, Asia and Latin America. These courses focused on the use of Envisat data and associated toolboxes. An Earth Observation Summer School on Monitoring and Modelling of the Earth System was held at ESRIN, attracting 71 young scientists from 25 nations. ESA has contributed to the CEOS Working Group on Education action plan through development of several tools and provision of training courses. Throughout the year, ESA again actively supported the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites and the Group on Earth Observation. ESA engages in delivering, together with other space agencies, an answer to the requirements of GCOS, the Global Climate Observing System. These efforts are supported by Member States through the new ESA Climate Change Initiative, decided at the Ministerial Council in November. In addition, both the CEOS Plenary Meeting (South Africa) and the GEO Plenary Meeting (Romania) took place in November.

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 DIRECTORATE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTEGRATED APPLICATIONS

 DIRECTORATE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTEGRATED APPLICATIONS

Telecommunications had an extremely successful 2008. Possibly the most commercially mature of all space applications, the satellite communications industry received 25 new satellite orders in 2008, ten of which were to European prime contractors.
Iris: developing a satellite-based communications system for air traffic management

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Annual Report 2008

Telecommunications satellite operators have seen substantial growth on broadcast, fixed and mobile systems, with many new opportunities. Equally, the ground segment industry has seen growth with new TV platforms and the emergence of new services. Driven by a healthy satellite communications market, Arianespace placed ten additional launch orders in 2008. Broadband internet access systems also showed strong growth. On the prospects triggered by the successes of Wildblue and Spaceway, new broadband multispot Ka-band satellites were contracted, such as Viasat in the USA and Hylas and KaSat in Europe. These systems will soon be able to offer a much more efficient and economic solution to provide internet access by satellite. The EU in 2008 opened a selection and authorisation procedure to license satellite operators to provide mobile services in S-band. This process triggered a high level of interest for several candidates. It will eventually involve the deployment of two new mobile satellite systems over Europe. An important part of the commercial success of European industry and operators is due to the support provided by ESAs Telecommunications programme. ESA Telecommunications has the objective to enhance the competitiveness of European industry and provide solutions to meet the needs of European society. To fulfil this charter, ESA placed more than 100 satellite communication related contracts in 2008. All these activities are geared to research and development of new technologies, development of innovative concepts, products and services and their qualification and demonstration. Of particular importance are the publicprivate partnerships that have been established with satellite operators such as Avanti, Inmarsat and Hispasat, leading to the realisation of missions to prove advanced satellites and payloads in orbit. An important part of the programme is dedicated to the development of applications benefiting European citizens and society at large. The Telecommunications programme is now complemented with the Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme (ARTES 20). This new initiative will develop a range of new applications by using and integrating different space assets, resulting in improved or new services for the citizens of Europe on a regional or national scale. Intrinsic to these new applications is the added value of space in facilitating them, and the long-term sustainability of the resulting services. The programme will not push any particular technology, but will respond to users needs, addressing a number of themes. The initial themes are health, safety, energy, transport and innovation.

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Highlights
Technology
The Technology and Products programme of ESA Telecommunications is the core of the support that ESA provides to industry to ensure its readiness to meet the requirements of an ever more demanding commercial market. In 2008, 74 individual activities were initiated addressing payload and platform developments on space segments, as well as professional and consumer-type satellite terminals and other ground system developments.

Alphabus/Alphasat
Alphabus

Alphabus is the ESA programme to develop, in cooperation with CNES, the next generation of large platforms for telecommunications satellites. Alphabus development is complemented by the Alphasat programme, which uses the Alphabus Proto Flight Model platform for the first flight opportunity in partnership with Inmarsat. The Alphabus Critical Design Review was completed in April 2008. This major review confirmed the capabilities of the Alphabus product line to meet the requirements of high-power satellites in the 1218 kW range. After the Alphasat signing with the Inmarsat operator, the Preliminary Design Review was completed in October 2008. The review means that the Alphabus platform and its specific adaptations are suitable for the Inmarsat mission. Additionally, the mission will include four technology demonstration payloads: optical communications, QV-band demonstrator, an advanced startracker and an environment and effects facility.

Small GEO
Small GEO The Small GEO programme is developing and qualifying a small geostationary

satellite platform, called Luxor, for telecommunications satellites. This is a segment of the market that until now has not been well-served by European suppliers. The Phase-B of Luxor development was completed and the Phase-C/D began in the third quarter of 2008. This process was accompanied by the selection of potential payloads for the first mission, resulting in the award of a contract to Hispasat in November 2008. Launch of the Hispasat AG1 satellite is expected by the end of 2012.

Hylas
Hylas is the first multi-spot beam Ka-band system to be deployed in Europe incorporating flexible payload technology. The satellite is in implementation following a Critical Design Review early in the year. All advanced innovative elements of the payload have undergone extensive qualification. Launch is expected around the middle of 2010.
Hylas

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Annual Report 2008

S-band initiative
The interest in satellite mobile services using the S-band has been accentuated by the European Selection and Authorisation procedure launched by the EC, which has resulted in granting two pan-European S-band licences to satellite operators. ESA has undertaken, in coordination with all interested satellite operators, an initiative to support the development of technologies, components, equipment and applications, thus ensuring the availability of European system solutions for the deployment of the new resulting services.

Additional programmes
The Directorate of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications completed the preparation phase of additional Telecommunications programmes that are the basis for the extension of the programme approved at the Ministerial Council 2008, namely:
Iris

Iris
The Iris programme will develop and validate a satellite-based component to the Air Traffic Management (ATM) communications system currently being designed as part of the EC SESAR Programme. SESAR is modernising the European ATM System to cope with the growth of the needs of the aeronautical community. The Iris system completed its initial definition Phase I. The ESA Ministerial Council approved the Phase II.1 (200911). On the basis of the received support, the industrial Phase-B will consolidate the system, define the communications protocol (to become an International Civil Aviation Organization standard) and define the characteristics of the main elements of the system.

EDRS
The European Data Relay Satellite programme will develop and deploy a data relay satellite system that will allow real-time communication with low Earth orbit satellites and other spacecraft. The EDRS programme framework has been consolidated and the model of service provision has been addressed. Industrial activities are expected to begin in 2009.

EDRS

Integrated Applications Promotion programme

The IAP initiative will bring satellite-based solutions to new markets, create new user communities, develop technological synergies between existing satellitebased systems, and promote the use of space. The current estimate of the potential market involving satellite-based services is around 50 times greater than the cost associated with the development of the satellite infrastructure. The programme is organised around two main elements: Basic activities, which aim at awareness, at generating ideas for projects and at assessing the feasibility of these ideas; Demonstration activities, which aim at demonstrating the ideas generated and studied in the first element.

Integrated Applications using existing satellitebased systems and promoting the use of space

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 DIRECTORATE OF GALILEO PROGRAMME AND NAVIGATIONRELATED ACTIVITIES

 DIRECTORATE OF GALILEO PROGRAMME AND NAVIGATION- RELATED ACTIVITIES

2008 saw important events in the navigation field: the launch of GIOVE-B, ESA holding the overall IOV system and N-1 procurement responsibility in the Galileo programme, and the European Commission delegation of Galileo Full Operational Capability activities to ESA.
Galileo satellites in orbit

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Annual Report 2008

Final reviews on the EGNOS programme and preparation of the hand-over to the European Commission took place, and the Global Navigation Satellite System Evolution programme was extended to 2011. Delegation agreements between ESA and the European Commission were discussed for the Galileo Full Operating Capacity and the continuation of the activities on EGNOS during its operational phase.

GIOVE-A and -B
The GIOVE-A satellite and its ground system are operating normally and provide valuable experimental data in support of the Development and InOrbit Validation Phase, in particular for onboard rubidium and atomic clock characterisation, medium Earth orbit (MEO) radiation environment modelling and signal performance. GIOVE-A has operated well beyond its design lifetime, with excellent performance and no evidence of fatigue or degradation. Its operations have been extended until mid-2009. The signals transmitted by GIOVE-A and the radiation measurements are being used as part of the GIOVE mission experimentation activities. GIOVE-B was launched on 27 April from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by a Soyuz vehicle equipped with a Fregat upper stage, which injected the satellite into a MEO at nominal altitude and inclination. The first Galileo signals were transmitted on 7 May, after activation of all payload units. For the first time, Galileo experimental test receivers were simultaneously tracking GIOVE-A and -B signals as well as GPS signals, providing proof of concept of Galileo/GPS interoperability. In-orbit testing and characterisation of the GIOVE-B payload signals was completed with the In-orbit Test Review in July, and subsequent transition to nominal routine operations. The GIOVE Workshop held in October gathered large number of industries and specialists from all over Europe and concluded a set of technical conclusions and lessons learned in the field of onboard rubidium and passive hydrogen maser (PHM) clock characterisation, onboard signal generation, MEO radiation environment modelling, signal performance, payload characterisation and spacecraft operations.
GIOVE-B payload fairing on SoyuzFregat launcher

GIOVE-B at Baikonur

Galileo In-orbit Validation phase

Following the termination of the Galileo Phase-C/D/E1 contract with ESNIS in 2007 and renewal of IOV segment contracts, ESA now holds the overall IOV system and N-1 procurement responsibility. Consolidation of all segment subcontracts from technical, schedule and financial aspects was achieved. The Ground Mission and Control Segments achieved their Segment Critical Design Reviews (CDR), and the deployment of ground facilities was started. The Payload CDR took place, and the satellite integration activities at payload and platform level were proceeding at Portsmouth (UK) and Rome (IT) respectively. In parallel, preparatory activities for the Satellite Proto Flight Model integration were initiated in order to ensure the start of the sequence according to the tight schedule requirements.

Control room at Fucino, Italy, where first signals from GIOVE-B were received

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At system prime contractor level, the ESA Project Office launched the IOV System Preliminary Critical Design Review (S-PCDR) with the support of the system support and operations contractors. The S-PCDR is an essential process in anticipation of the System CDR planned in 2009, and to consolidate system requirements and design in view of the FOC procurement. The Galileo project team is deeply involved in the preparation of the FOC with the European Commission. The procurement is proceeding, with ESA teams acting on behalf of the European Commission. Eleven candidates were selected for the next step of the procurement process.

EGNOS
The operational Signal-in-Space (SIS) was available 100% of the time on at least one geostationary satellite, consolidating the full availability since January 2008. Three reviews were held: the Operational Qualification Review which concluded the Initial Operation Phase 4; the System Qualification Review, of the release V2.2, intended to be the release supporting the certification process; and the first part of the Final Development Completion Review, aiming at preparing the closure of the ARTES-9 programme. The Board meeting of the three reviews concluded with the endorsement of more than 100 recommendations. These recommendations are being implemented through work plans at industry level, operator level and ESA level. Extension of the geostationary transponder lease contract was concluded and the launch of the Inmarsat 4F3 satellite in mid-August triggered the repositioning process of the Inmarsat satellite constellation. Discussions with the EC were held for the preparation of the post ARTES-9 phase with the view to ensure proper programmatic hand-over and continuity of the activities after March 2009. Finalisation of the EC/ESA delegation agreement was achieved with the signature planned for early 2009.

GNSS Evolution Programme

The Future Satellite Navigation System Architecture studies were well advanced, with preliminary analyses of the expected performance carried out, showing significant improvements when considering the use of inter-satellite ranging and new schemes for clock correction delivery. System requirements on the Multi-constellation Regional System (MRS) were established and preliminary architectures defined. The work was focused on the assessment of the MRS performance and benefits comparison with alternative solutions. The final review of the first phase was carried out, and the second phase started. In this second phase some of the system issues identified will be consolidated and prototypes of MRS services will be assessed with simulators. The definition phase of the EGNOS Evolutions Platform was completed in June and the start of Phase-C/D took place in October. The programme proposal for the continuation of the programme beyond 2009 was prepared with a preliminary work plan including activities up to 2011. The proposal was approved and subscribed at the ESA Ministerial Council in November 2008.

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Annual Report 2008

Giove-B Launch on 27 April 2008 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan

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 DIRECTORATE OF LAUNCHERS

 DIRECTORATE OF LAUNCHERS

Besides six Ariane 5 launches during 2008 underlining the successful exploitation and reliability of this ESA-developed launcher, development activities showed important progress towards the first flights of Vega and Soyuz from Europes Spaceport in French Guiana.
Ariane 5 ES-ATV on the eve of launch, March 2008

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Annual Report 2008

Besides the first launch of Ariane 5 ES carrying ATV Jules Verne as a tribute to the demonstration of Europes capabilities in space, both Vega and Soyuz reached important qualification milestones during the year. At the ESA Ministerial Council, Member States reconfirmed their understanding of the strategic importance of a guaranteed European access to space by committing considerable amounts of funding into launchers programmes aimed at ensuring not only the exploitation of a complete family of launchers, but also Europes own access to space and competitiveness in the long term.

Ariane
The six Ariane 5 launches conducted in 2008 carried almost half of the worlds competed commercial geostationary satellites for that year. The highlight of the year was the launch of the first Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV Jules Verne, which took place on 9 March, marking the maiden flight of both the ATV and the Ariane 5 version adapted to lift it into orbit (Ariane 5 ES) and inaugurating the use of two telemetry stations on the Azores Islands (Santa Maria) and on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Five Ariane 5 ECA launches carried a total of 10 satellites into orbit: Vinasat-1 and Star One C2 in April, Skynet 5C and Turksat 3A in June, ProtoStar 1 and BADR-6 in July, Superbird 7 and AMC 21 in August, and Hot Bird 9 and W2M in December. Following the Ministerial Council, the participating states of the Ariane programme confirmed their continuing support to the Ariane 5 Launcher Research and Technology Accompaniment programme (ARTA) for the period of 201113 and fully subscribed to the Ariane 5 Post-ECA programme. With this solid support, the states are enabling the start of preparatory work on an Ariane 5 Mid-life Evolution configuration with a reignitable upper stage based on the Vinci expander cycle engine, aiming at increased mission versatility and performances to continue guaranteeing Europes access to space beyond 2015. In terms of activities related to the current Ariane 5 configurations, an ARTA4 solid rocket motor (Moteur Propergol Solide, MPS) firing test took place in June with analyses indicating a performance in line with predictions. ARTA tests are needed to verify the qualification status of the Ariane 5 launch system during its exploitation phase to detect and avoid possible drifts and to qualify material replacements due to obsolescence. This test was the fourth test of an MPS since the beginning of the ARTA5 programme and the 11th since the start of the Ariane 5 Development Programme. The next MPS test is foreseen for 2010. In September, the Qualification Review for the new Horizontal Separation System 3 was completed for a first flight of the new fairing hardware in 2009. Qualification was also pronounced for the new Payload Adaptor Systems and Vehicle Equipment Bay structure after completion of strength, stiffness and acoustics tests. Complementary launcher qualification activities related to the HerschelPlanck and ATV missions were carried out and the Vulcain 2 ARTA8 test campaign preparation was initiated. Site acceptance tests of additional equipment upgrading the Perth Ground Station were performed in October.

Ariane 5 V184 launch in June

MPS test at Kourou in June

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Vega
The Vega launcher will complement the family of launchers operated from Europes Spaceport by ensuring access for small payloads. It involves more than 40 major industrial companies from 12 countries. Its importance was underlined by the complementary subscription to the Small Launcher Development Programme received from participating states during the Ministerial Council and the subscriptions for Period 2 (201112) of the Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment (VERTA) Programme. Qualification activities on the launch vehicle side are taking place. In addition to the qualification of the first-stage motor (P80), the qualification testing of the second-stage engine (Zefiro-23) was achieved in March, after its second firing test Zefiro-23 test-firing at Salto Di Quirra, at the Salto Di Quirra Interforce Test Range in Sardinia. The Qualification Review Sardinia for the motor was completed in December. A first successful firing test for the improved third-stage engine (Zefiro-9A) was completed in October and the upperstage AVUM propulsion system firing test campaign (UCFire) started. The Qualification Review of the Interstage 0/1 was achieved in February and separation tests of Interstage 1/2 performed in October. The Thrust Vector Control Critical Design Review Steering Board was held and AVUM Qualification Review started. With the manufacturing of the second Zefiro-9A firing test model progressing, Flight Model manufacturing activities started. In the ground segment, acceptance tests for subsystems are progressing, the mast structure and cable chain were installed and the Vega tower achieved its first translation movement of 5 m. Ventilation and air conditioning systems were installed in the Mobile Gantry and the bunker. The first release of the Vega Control Centre software was qualified.
Vega Mobile Gantry

In preparation of the exploitation phase, five VERTA demonstration flights are to be carried out. To this end, ESA issued an announcement of opportunity for payloads on the VERTA-1 flight. In parallel, preparations for the qualification flight and interface specification finalisation for the Laser Relativity Satellite (LARES) payload are taking place.

Soyuz at CSG
Launching Soyuz from Europes Spaceport (Centre Spatial Guyanais, CSG) should increase the quality of access to space for medium-class payloads by offering longproven technology at an equatorial launch base. ESA is financing the construction of the Soyuz launch complex and the adaptation of the launcher system to the conditions for its exploitation from French Guiana. With a decision taken to complete the funding for the Soyuz at CSG Programme at the Ministerial Council, works were progressing towards the first launch in 2009. In 2008, the Critical Design Review of the Soyuz Launch System Ground Segment was completed, Soyuz at CSG launch site following the Preliminary Design Review of the payload preparation facility S3B in January and the Critical Design Review of the Air-conditioned Equipped Payload Trailer. The first set of Russian equipment arrived at the CSG in late July, followed by the arrival of about 65 Russian technicians who completed the assembly of the first batch of equipment in October. In the same month, the Acceptance Review for the European infrastructure on site took place. Arrival of the Mobile Gantry was expected in French Guiana in 2009.

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Annual Report 2008

Future Launchers Preparatory Programme

The Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP) aims to achieve a significant step forward in maturation of critical technologies in preparation of the Next Generation Launcher (NGL) for the long-term beyond 2025, while contributing to the technical elements needed for shorter-term decisions. In 2008, there were major achievements in all main FLPP activities: launch system concepts, Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), propulsion and core technologies. Several workshops and two industry days were organised to share the knowledge on results produced. Launch system concepts studies identified promising concepts with, especially for the NGL, full cryogenic concepts based on a single-engine first stage with a staged combustion cycle providing high-performance flexibility (38 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit). The IXV integrates key reentry technologies at system level, to perform in-flight demonstrations of systems and technologies and therefore to gain important experience on reentry for future applications. Following its System Requirement Review, B2/C1 phase activities were initiated with detailed mission and system definitions, including extensive aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics characterisations covering the complete flight domain from hypersonic to supersonic, and transonic through wind-tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics. Consequently, the System Preliminary Design Review was successfully performed. In the field of propulsion technologies and demonstrators, results were achieved for both main and upper-stage propulsion. Liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen coupled hot-firing tests led to European firsts on highest combustion pressure and mass flow per injector. These test results are being used to prepare a High Thrust Engine demonstrator, enabling progress on the staged combustion cycle. Upper-stage propulsion and Vinci Expander Demonstrator engineering and testing activities were pursued. An additional engine hot-firing test led to an accumulated test duration of 4675 seconds. Engine and subsystem test and modelling results were presented to a key-point review in November, constituting a sound background for the Ariane 5 ME upper-stage engine development. Cryogenic upper-stage technology activities began with the selection of a set of enabling technologies and the establishment of a Technology Development and Verification plan. The Critical Design Review for a slush (densified propellant) manufacturing pilot plant took place in early 2008. At the Ministerial Council, participating states decided to continue FLPP activities for Period 2 Step 2, subscribing to IXV development completion up to its Qualification and Acceptance Review and to activities on System, Demonstrators and Technology.

Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle

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 DIRECTORATE OF HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT

 DIRECTORATE OF HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT

2008 was a historic year for ESA and the International Space Station. Not only did we witness the launch of the European laboratory Columbus, but we also mastered unique European competences in automated rendezvous and docking systems and technologies.
Hans Schlegel works outside ESAs Columbus Laboratory

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Annual Report 2008

The completion of the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) mission brought many years of development to fruition. With this success ESA, representing the European participating Member States, has consolidated its role as a reliable partner of the ISS, and in 2008 has pushed the scientific and technological frontiers of space research and development several steps further. The Directorate of Human Spaceflight underwent a reorganisation, following the appointment of Mrs Simonetta Di Pippo as Director, in April 2008. ESA began its selection of new astronauts on 19 May, calling for applications from talented individuals from across ESA Member States who wished to join the European Astronaut Corps and become European ambassadors in space. European human spaceflight activities can look forward to a bright future following the ESA Ministerial Council. The Human Spaceflight and Exploration programme proposals were endorsed by ESA Member States, and received a substantial share (28%) of ESAs optional programme subscription overall: The ISS Exploitation Programme Period 3 (200812), aimed at operating, maintaining and exploiting the European elements of the International Space Station and providing Europes contribution to common operations by delivering cargo and services, was almost fully subscribed by all participating states at 1370.6 million, being the largest individual ESA optional programme. The continuation of the European Programme for Life and Physical Sciences and Applications in Space, ELIPS, Period 3 (200812), received the best subscription level ever at 284.8 million. The European Transportation and Human Exploration Preparatory Activities Programme (200912), received 61.2 million, securing future work on the Phase-A of the Advanced Reentry Vehicle (ARV), scenario studies, lunar lander activities and early activity developments.
Ministerial Council 2008 in The Hague

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis carrying Columbus in February

These results highlight the will in Europe to be a key player in future global human exploration endeavours beyond low Earth orbit, with the ambition that one day soon a European citizen might also have the opportunity to walk on the Moon.

International Space Station

The long-awaited launch of the European Columbus laboratory on Space Shuttle Atlantis took place from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 7 February, with ESA astronauts Lopold Eyharts (FR) and Hans Schlegel (DE) part of the STS-122 mission. On 11 February, Eyharts supported the docking of the Columbus module, firstly at the controls of the stations robotic arm, to extract Columbus from the Shuttles cargo bay, and later by activating the motorised bolts from inside the Harmony Node-2 module to secure the junction.
Columbus being moved into place with the ISS robotic arm

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Work began inside Columbus a few hours after its installation on 12 February, as the laboratory entered its commissioning phase, controlled and commanded by teams at the Columbus Control Centre (COL-CC), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. For the Columbus payloads, a network of European Support Operations Centres runs operations through COL-CC. Schlegel performed the second of three mission spacewalks (Schlegels first ever spacewalk) on 13 February, with NASA astronaut Rex Walheim. Schlegel also coordinated the other two spacewalks during the STS-122 mission, supporting the Columbus modules transfer from the Shuttle payload bay to the ISS, plus the transfer of two payload suites, SOLAR and the European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF), to the external platforms on Columbus.
The STS-122 crew

With the docking of the next Space Shuttle, Endeavour, to the ISS on 13 March, Eyharts swapped crew assignments with NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman and joined the STS-123 mission crew. As a qualified mission specialist in robotics, Eyharts contributed to the STS-123 assembly mission as operator of the stations robotic arm alongside Reisman and Bob Behnken, another NASA mission specialist. Together, they added a new module to the ISS the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module Pressurised Section and supported the assembly and activation of the Canadian-built Dextre manipulator. On 9 March, ATV Jules Verne was launched into low orbit by an Ariane 5 ES from Europes Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The ATV collision avoidance manoeuvre was then successfully demonstrated on 12 March. On 27 March, orbit burns were initiated from the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse (FR), which caused the ATV to leave its parking orbit, and on 29 March, Demo Day 1 was conducted, bringing the ATV to within 3.5 km of the ISS, demonstrating its capability to perform navigation using relative GPS.

ATV Jules Verne seen by video cameras during docking

On 31 March, Demo Day 2 saw the ATV manoeuvre to within 11 m of the ISS, demonstrating its guidance and navigation capabilities using its optical sensors. All systems performed normally and docking was completed on 3 April. This marked Europes first automated docking in space. The 48 m pressurised module of the ATV delivered around 7.2 tonnes of equipment, fuel, food, water and air for the ISS crew. Jules Verne was used twice to raise the orbit of the ISS. The first time on 25 April was to set up the ISS for the arrival of Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-124, launched on 31 May; the second time on 19 June. After undocking from the ISS on 5 September, Jules Verne spent 23 days carrying out rephasing manoeuvres to bring the spacecraft to the correct position behind and underneath the ISS. This predefined position allowed the ATVs controlled destructive reentry on 29 September to be viewed and recorded from the station itself, as well as from two specially equipped observation planes located in the vicinity of the ATVs flight path in the skies above the South Pacific.

ISS Expedition 16 and 17 crews enjoy the interior space of ATV Jules Verne

On 20 November, the ISS celebrated its 10th birthday.

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Space infrastructure development and exploitation

Node-2 and -3
The Node-3 development is reaching its completion and pre-shipment activities will start in spring next year in support of a delivery to NASA KSC.

ATV follow-on production

The ATV Production Sustainability Activities (APSA) were approved as part of the ISS Exploitation Period 3 programme at the Ministerial Council in November, and negotiations with industry for implementation will start in early 2009. The ATV-2 subsystems integration made good progress during 2008. The Equipped Avionics Bay mechanical integration was completed mid-2008 and the first electrical power-up took place in September 2008. Functional tests of the Equipped Avionics Bay are planned for January 2009, followed by a thermal vacuum test in ESTEC. The Integrated Cargo Carrier integration begun in 2008 is proceeding as planned. The remaining ATV-3 equipment procurement was released in 2008, and is running without problems.
ATV Jules Verne reentry

Utilisation
Since February 2008 the Columbus module has functioned normally supporting its various payload activities. Two major external payloads, EuTEF and SOLAR, are housing a large suite of experiments in exobiology, technology, fundamental physics, and astrophysics requiring long-term exposure to the space environment. EuTEF and SOLAR were immediately accommodated on the Columbus External Payload Facility and were activated during the Shuttle STS-122 mission. The nine instruments on the EuTEF platform, with a total of 13 experiments, have been operated continuously according to the individual experiment protocols. The SOLAR platform with three complementary high-precision spectrometer instruments SOVIM, SOLSPEC, SOLACES which study Sun-related irradiation phenomena during the recurring Sun visibility windows, have continued to acquire data during the windows in 2008. The WAICO Biolab experiment, which studies the waving and coiling behaviour of Arabidopsis roots, was the first experiment to be performed inside Columbus. WAICO-1 samples were returned to Earth on Space Shuttle flight STS-123 in March. The second run of the experiment, WAICO-2, is scheduled to start during Increment 19 in early summer 2009.

Interior view of Node-3

EuTEF and SOLAR on Columbus

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The Geoflow experiment programme in the Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL) was started on 7 August. The first 10 runs (out of 67) of the experiment provided excellent interferometric image data. The Geoflow experiment investigates the flow of a viscous incompressible fluid between two concentric spheres rotating around a common axis under the influence of a simulated central force field. The commissioning of the European Drawer Rack and the integrated Protein Crystallisation Diagnostics Facility (PCDF) Electronics Unit was completed in July 2008. The rack is now ready to accommodate the PCDF Processing Unit which will be launched in early 2009. The commissioning of the European Facility Module (EPM) facility was completed in July 2008 and the final calibration of one of the facilitys science modules, The first Geoflow interferometry result called the Multi-Electrode Electroencephalogram Measurement Module, was (C.Egbers/BTU Cottbus) carried out. This module is used for different types of non-invasive brain function investigations and can also be easily reconfigured to support research in the field of muscle physiology. EPM is also equipped with the CardioLab, which comprises nine different instruments. Four runs of the new 3D-Space neurophysiology experiment were performed by NASA astronaut Gregory Chamitoff during Increment 17. This study investigates the effects of weightlessness on the mental representation of visual information during and after spaceflight. The Sodium Loading in Microgravity (SOLO) experiment was carried out in October by Chamitoff, taking a normal sodium diet followed by a low-sodium diet. All samples for the SOLO experiment were placed in the European-developed Minus Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer for the ISS (MELFI) and downloaded on the ULF-2 Shuttle flight in November.
Gregory Chamitoff works on the 3D-space experiment

A large suite of short-duration biomedical experiments was performed by the crews of visiting Soyuz and Shuttle vehicles. As for most of the long-duration medical experiments, the pre- and post-flight Baseline Data Collection (BDC) involving human test subjects and dedicated BDC devices in Moscow and Johnson Space Center, Houston, is of great importance. For most human physiology experiments on the ISS, a suite of complementary instruments and conditioned stowage like ESAs MELFI rack is needed. In autumn 2008, the relocation of NASAs Human Research Facilities (HRF-1/2) racks from Destiny to Columbus was completed and operations resumed. Prior to this, the European-built Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) rack and Express Rack 3 with the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) were also relocated to Columbus.

The Cell Wall Resist Wall (CWRW) experiment of JAXA was completed in ESAs EMCS and the plant samples returned to Earth. Spares and consumables were The 49th Parabolic Flight Campaign uploaded on flight ULF-2 in November to reestablish the full EMCS facility performance. A continuation of the CWRW experiment as well the execution of the Genara experiment is planned in 2009. The ANITA cabin atmosphere monitoring system, completed the 10-month operational phase as system device in the Destiny module, and was returned on ULF-2 Shuttle flight in November. The successful test of this instrument is of high importance for future human exploration.

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ESAs complementary experimental programme in the Russian ISS segment progressed normally with five experiments in respiration (NOA-1/2), radiation (Altcriss, Matroshka-2B) and technology (GTS-2). The NOA experiment series has been completed and the other long-term experiments will continue to deliver invaluable research data. The BIO-4 experiment complement (XENOPUS, BASE-B and -C, and ROALD), which required special short-duration mission opportunities in addition to the utilisation of Columbus, was launched with Soyuz 17S on 12 October. The inorbit activities for the BASE and XENOPUS experiments were completed and the processed samples returned on Soyuz flight 16S on 24 October; the chemically fixed samples for the ROALD experiment were returned on Shuttle flight STS-126 on 30 November. These experiments provide insights into the reaction of the vestibulo-ocular system of a developing amphibian, plus how different bacterial species and human T-lymphocytes react and adapt to spaceflight conditions. A suite of new ESA astrobiology experiments, some of which could help to understand how life originated on Earth, was launched to the ISS in November. The nine experiments are part of the Expose-R, housed in three trays loaded with a variety of biological samples, including plant seeds and spores of bacteria, fungi and ferns. The samples will be exposed to the harsh space environment for about one and a half years. The Foton-M3 final mission presentation was performed with all science teams and participating agencies representatives at ESTEC in March. The detailed evaluation of the 43 experiments fully confirmed the high overall mission success, which will allow major advances in material sciences and fluid physics, protein crystal growth, biology, exobiology, biological life support systems and advanced two-phase loops. The 48th ESA Parabolic Flight Campaign was performed in March, with a focus on fundamental and applied research in heat and mass transfer. ESAs 49th Parabolic Flight Campaign took to the skies in November with three flights over the Bay of Biscay for a dozen experiments. Four drop tower campaigns were performed in 2008 at ZARM in Bremen (DE). In total, 55 drops were carried out in 2008. The Texus-44 and -45 sounding rocket missions with material science, fluid physics and biology experiments were launched from Esrange, in Kiruna (SE) in February. The contract for Texus-46 was signed and the project officially started on 15/16 December. A proposal for Maxus-8 is under evaluation. The Maser-11 sounding rocket flight was performed from Esrange on 15 May with a set of four extraordinary applied research experiments with novel instrumentation on board. A short-duration bedrest study was performed in conjunction with application oriented objectives at the Charite in Berlin. Bedrest studies are an important analogue on Earth for long-duration human spaceflight and exploration. Two Europeans and their back-ups were selected to participate in Mars500, a joint isolation study with the Institute of Biomedical Problems, in Moscow, which simulates a mission to Mars, thereby continuing a long-standing tradition in ESA of conducting research on the physiological and psychological aspects of spaceflight in preparation for human exploration missions.

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ASTRONAUTS
It has been a remarkable year for the European Astronauts Corps, with the nomination of ESA astronaut Frank De Winne (BE) as the first European Commander of the ISS, and the start of a new astronaut selection campaign. ESA officially announced the assignment of De Winne to ISS Increment 20/21 starting in May 2009, and as the first European Commander of the ISS starting in October 2009 for Increment 21. Training of astronauts in 2008 included training sessions at all international partners sites, starting at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agencys training establishment, the Tsukuba Space Centre, then at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Moscow and Johnson Space Center in Houston, followed in September by Columbus system and ESA experiment training at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne. ISS crew training on Columbus and ESA payloads has been implemented at EAC throughout the year. Expedition 17 and 18 crews have been trained and certified on ESA systems and payloads. Following the successful docking of ATV Jules Verne, ESA officially announced the opening for applications for the new astronaut selection campaign. The application period started on 19 May 2008. At the close of applications, which lasted a month, ESA received over 8400 completed applications. Most of the applications were received from France (22.1%) and Germany (21.4%), followed by Italy (11.0%), the United Kingdom (9.8%) and Spain (9.4%). Sixteen percent of the total applications were submitted by women. From these applicants, 920 were retained and invited to the first round of psychological tests in Hamburg, completed in mid August. After the review of the Andr Kuipers (left) and De Winne in medical questionnaires, 192 selected candidates completed the psychological test training for Increment 20/21 phase 2, which ended on 17 November. There were 45 candidates chosen to move to the next phase, the medical evaluation.

Frank De Winne

European transportation and human exploration

Advanced Reentry Vehicle
Building on the success of ATV, a growing interest arose in 2008 towards the development of a European autonomous transportation system. As conceived today, the Advanced Reentry Vehicle (ARV) will provide initially a cargo return capability for the ISS, while paving the way for the potential development of a crew transportation system. Designed for an Ariane 5 launcher, the ARV will extend the capability of the ATV design and capitalise on the earlier reentry experience acquired by several capsule definition studies and by the flight of the Kuipers and De Winne during underwater Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator.
EVA training

To support the ARV design, two industrial studies to provide definition of the requirements and an initial definition of the vehicle configuration (Phase-0) were initiated in September with European industry, in the frame of the General Studies Programme. The follow-on ARV Phase-A activities will be initiated around mid-2009.

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International Berthing Docking Mechanism

Several sub-assemblies of the International Berthing Docking Mechanism (IBDM) development model have been integrated for the first time by European industry. Since autumn 2008, the testing of the IBDM soft-docking mechanism continued with success. The new activity for the design and development of the hard docking structural latch for the IBDM Hard Docking System was placed with Verhaert (BE) and the conceptual design review held. The selected new design is based on an individually mechanised hook-on-hook concept a simplified evolution of the generic latch previously tested. Discussions with NASA are progressing to evaluate the status of the development of the European IBDM versus the US Low Impact Docking System, which have the same origin, linked to the X-38/Crew Return Vehicle project conducted in cooperation.

An Advanced Reentry Vehicle approaches the ISS

Crew Space Transportation System

At the beginning of 2008, Roscosmos and ESA, together with their respective industries, performed a detailed trade-off analysis on vehicle system concepts. As a conclusion, the concept selected for the new crew transportation spacecraft was based on a conical capsule and a service/propulsion module. European industry, in cooperation with RSC Energia, completed the initial design activities and a final presentation took place in Bremen on 710 October. The system activities are focusing on the European Crew Space Transportation System concept.

Expert
During the first quarter of 2008, ESA placed an industrial contract with the prime contractor Thales Alenia Space Italy for the complete Phase-C/D, with a target launch in June 2010. The first set of activities is approaching completion.
Expert

Qualification Reviews of the payloads took place in October 2008, and the manufacturing of the payload flight models is under way. The System Critical Design Review is due to be completed at the end of February 2009. The contract with the launch service supplier was negotiated. Final subscription of the funding required to complete the project is expected in early 2009.

Habitation and life support

The industrial work on the Air Revitalisation System (ARES) made very good progress. The System Requirements Review Collocation and the SRR Board was held in April 2008. As a follow-up to the Ministerial Council in November, a new round of negotiations is planned with the interested delegations to secure the additional funding for continued development of this strategic system. Habitation systems for lunar exploration were studied in detail, providing valuable input to the further definition of future habitats. Inflatable technology for the pressure shell and regenerative systems for water and air recycling were the main areas of investigation. The first phase of the MELiSSA (Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative) food characterisation activity was begun in December and will be followed by additional phases leading to a better characterisation of food production for human spaceflight. The build-up of the MELiSSA Pilot Plant is continuing as planned with the latest delivery of the higher plant chambers to Barcelona.

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The development of the final devices for the Long-term Medical Survey was initiated and will provide a monitoring system for use at the Antarctica Concordia Station.

Exploration technological and system activities

Work continued on the technical and scientific aspects of the MoonNEXT and MarsNEXT Phase-A mission studies; three MoonNEXT Phase-A/Part 2 industrial study activities were started in October. Closely related to the Moon exploration activities, together with further studies on a new Cargo Lander concept, these activities will provide the basis for potential European cooperation in the US-led international lunar exploration initiative. In the Aurora Core Programme, significant progress was made in the development and testing of technologies and capabilities applicable to a future Moon landing, as well as for the Mars Sample Return mission. A coordinated set of specific soft precision landing development activities was established and is being implemented in support of a future European lunar landing capability. Progress was made on an autonomous helicopter-based test facility, along with the navigation sensor hardware experiments that will fly on its first test campaigns. In addition to descent and landing simulation tools and guidance, navigation & control (GNC) development, work was initiated to mature landing leg technology and conduct landing system testing. Work started on the design of a Pressurised Lunar Rover as a possible European contribution to the international exploration endeavour. The main requirements were defined and several system concepts are under evaluation. A Pressurised Lunar Rover would give the exploration crew greatly enhanced mobility on the lunar surface, making it possible to explore a much larger area within the available time. The use of the ISS for human exploration preparation was studied. Several new systems and facilities, like crew medical support, habitation support, system maintenance and food production, were identified as providing significant benefits to the ISS operation while preparing for future exploration missions. A food production facility and rapid prototyping equipment were conceptually designed for use on the ISS. Robotic activities concentrated on defining the overall general requirements for robotic systems both in the period before human arrival as well as during manned exploration scenarios. Application of the Eurobot system and technology for lunar surface operations with and without crew will be tested and demonstrated with a ground prototype model that is under development.

An autonomous lunar lander capable of delivering cargo would extend surface exploration opportunities

International architecture development

The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) held a workshop 1012 June in Montreal. The meeting was chaired by CSA and attended by ASI, BNSC, CSA, CNES, CSIRO, ESA, DLR, JAXA, NASA, KARI and Roscosmos. Plans on future exploration missions were discussed, and the objectives of the forward work of ISECG were agreed, including the development of international interface standards.

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Two International Lunar Exploration Workshops were held in Bremen, 1719 September and in Florida, 2931 October. Representatives of ASI, BNSC, CNES, CSA, ESA, NASA, JAXA and KARI attended these workshops at which international lunar exploration scenarios and related architecture elements were discussed. Phase-1 of the ESA/NASA Comparative Architecture Assessment (CAA) was completed and the findings documented in a public report and presented to ESA and NASA management in Washington on 25 June. Phase 2 of the ESA/ NASA CAA, started on 31 October in Florida, focuses on the consolidation of the ESA lunar cargo lander missions requirements (Phase-0) and its integration of the ESA lunar cargo lander and its payloads into cooperative lunar exploration mission scenario plans. The Phase-1 of the ESA/JAXA CAA began in Florida on 27 October. ESA and JAXA shared initial information on their current lunar exploration architecture analysis. The Phase 1 work is assessing cooperation opportunities related to the lunar cargo lander mission and associated lunar surface infrastructures.

Stakeholder engagement
ESA participated in the Open Days 2008 for Regions and Cities, held on 69 October in Brussels. A dedicated meeting on Engagement of European Regions in Future Space Exploration was organised. At the European Parliament in Brussels, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy held a mini-hearing on 5 November on the Human Exploration of Space. The hearing was attended by ESA Director General, who spoke about aspects of European Space Policy, and by the ESA Director of Human Spaceflight, who gave a presentation on Space Cooperation, about the challenges of human space exploration. Subsequently, the European Parliament released, on 20 November, a Resolution on European Space Policy highlighting the importance of human space exploration.

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 DIRECTORATE OF OPERATIONS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

 DIRECTORATE OF OPERATIONS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

The delivery of the Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station and ATV Jules Verne mission marked the beginning of a new era in European human spaceflight, and in ESAs international cooperation.
The ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France

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New activity: SSA

The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Preparatory Programme, approved by the ESA Ministerial Council in November 2008, is an important milestone. This will enable Europe to start activities for protecting its space assets against threats such as space debris and space weather and will include the development of critical technologies like radar systems and data centres. Its governance and data policies will require close coordination with the EU, European and international partner agencies. Initial studies in 2008 paved the way for this new programme.

Mission operations
ESOC teams had to demonstrate their excellence in a spectacular rescue operation for XMM-Newton. On 18 October 2008, the control centre lost contact with the satellite after a perigee passage. With the help of ESAs Deep Space Ground Station in New Norcia, Australia, and NASAs Deep Space antennas in Goldstone, California, which were located in best possible positions for the satellite, commands sent from ESOC were able to regain normal communications. Once again, ESOCs technical expertise had allowed recovery from a spacecraft emergency. In September, Rosetta achieved a European first when it passed asteroid Steins at a distance of only 800 km. Thanks to high-precision optical navigation, the spacecraft was able to perform this flyby and make accurate scientific observations of the asteroids surface. Mars Express supported the landing of the NASA Phoenix mission by providing data relay between the lander and Earth during entry descent and landing and later during surface operations. This was the first time that a European spacecraft acted as an operational communications relay at Mars: an important example of international cooperation and invaluable operational experience gained at ESOC, directly applicable to future missions such as ExoMars. Integral provided its sixth year of gamma-ray space science. The Cluster fleet is in its eighth year in Earths magnetic field with all four spacecraft and their payloads still remarkably healthy. Venus Express is reaching its 1000th orbit around Venus. After more than 18 years in orbit, Ulysses suffered a failure of its last X-band transmitter in January and is now expected to end its incredibly long and successful mission during 2009. After almost eight years in space and 36 700 orbits, ESAs Earth observation flagship Envisat is still in good health, despite a few anomalies in payload instruments and onboard memory. The ERS-2 orbital change to allow intersatellite interferometry with Envisat was maintained in a tandem campaign, but unfortunately the ATSR-IRR instrument had to be declared as failed after 12 years in orbit. With now more than seven years in orbit, Proba-1 continues to deliver pictures from the Compact High-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS) and the High Resolution Camera. The Artemis data relay satellite supports various missions: its S-band payload was used in support of commanding the ATV mission, Envisat is using the Ka-band and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) project uses the navigation payload.
The XMM-Newton team at ESOC after the successful recovery of the spacecraft

Asteroid Steins as seen by Rosettas OSIRIS camera during the flyby of 5 September

Image of Porto, Portugal, acquired on 9 August 2008 by CHRIS instrument on Proba-1

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Human spaceflight operations

The launch and docking of Columbus on 11 February marked the transition from a major European development programme into a fully operational mission. Following commissioning, the operations of Columbus began a new era in European human spaceflight operations, enabling leading research in fields of plant biology, exobiology, solar physics, human physiology and fluid science. Operated from the DLR control centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, under ESA contract with EADS, the Columbus mission brings the new expertise and skills needed by Europe to operate manned missions independently while also being a key international partner. The ATV Jules Verne was launched to the ISS on an Ariane 5 in March. Its complex autonomous navigation system was put through its paces by mission controllers to validate safe precise docking with the ISS. While docked, it provided supplies and equipment, and also boosted the ISS to a higher orbit. On completion of its mission, controllers undocked Jules Verne and safely guided it to enter the atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean. The ATV was operated from the CNES mission control centre in Toulouse under ESA contract. Both Columbus and ATV are examples of the close cooperation between the ESA and national operations centres in Europe. ESA operations teams are working on a day-to-day basis with their colleagues from the national centres and the industrial teams in Oberpfaffenhofen and Toulouse to support these highly complex missions. In this sense, the approach integrates Europes distributed assets and skills to ensure Europes strategic independence and its readiness for the future as a major international partner in space exploration.

The Columbus Control Centre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany

Missions in preparation
ATV Jules Verne seen undocking from the ISS Preparations for ground segment and mission operations for LISA Pathfinder,

Gaia, BepiColombo and ExoMars progressed as planned. Schedules for all missions were adapted to meet changes in launch dates. The GOCE team adjusted to several delays announced by the launcher authority, one of which was called only two days before scheduled lift-off. Preparations for the Swarm and SMOS payloads and Proba-2, CryoSat-2, Aeolus and GMES Sentinels operations proceeded as planned, and EarthCARE Phase-B started. The Herschel/Planck validation of the ground segment was near completion, ready for a launch in 2009 with an end-to-end test involving mission operations, science ground segments and the satellite in close to flight environmental conditions.

Ground station technologies

The ESA Deep Space Stations were upgraded with the latest generation of European high-power amplifiers and associated cooling devices. Several studies under the TRP and GSTP programmes were started, covering key technology areas for future upgrades to recently approved K-band frequencies (International Telecommunications Union).

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The Maspalomas antenna was completely upgraded. At Perth, the X-band Acquisition Aid was installed and validated for future Launch and Early Orbit Phase support, along with Ariane launcher tracking functionalities. The Santa Maria (Azores) antenna supported the launch of ATV Jules Verne.

Ground data systems

The data systems for GOCE, Herschel/Planck and CryoSat-2 are ready to support launch, while systems are prepared for seven other missions. The future ESA data system will be based on the ESA Ground Operation System (EGOS). It is a single software platform capable of monitoring and controlling any space mission system: spacecraft, ground station and ground support equipment. ESA operational software continues to attract non-ESOC operated ESA missions like Galileo IOV/FOC, but also Eumetsat and other users like CSA, DLR, Eutelsat, ASI, SES Astra, Hispasat, Arabsat, Turkey and Nilesat.

The new X-band Acquisition Aid antenna installation at Perth (top right of antenna)

Flight dynamics and mission analysis

With some last-minute trouble-shooting, Rosettas flyby of asteroid Steins was the first application of optical navigation of a European spacecraft. Besides the preparations for GOCE and Herschel/Planck, the ORATOS New Generation project phase 2 started and the associated cooperation with CNES was initiated. Mission Analysis saw increased activities in the Exploration programme, preparing for missions such as ExoMars and Mars Sample Return.

Space debris
In February, the United States destroyed its decaying USA-193 satellite with a shiplaunched missile at an altitude of 247 km near Hawaii to prevent the uncontrolled reentry of 450 kg of frozen hydrazine. The Space Debris Office assessed the risk resulting from its fragments for the ATV launch and ISS operations. The break-up of Cosmos 2421, at 400 km altitude, further affected ISS safety: one of its fragments required an ISS avoidance manoeuvre in September. The decision by ESA Member States to start a Preparatory Programme for Space Situational Awareness will provide these space debris activities with a more solid base for the future and will not only strengthen Europes expertise, but also improve the technical capabilities for observing potential threats for its space infrastructure.
The fragment cloud of satellite USA-193

Navigation
The Navigation Package for Earth-Orbiting Satellites (NAPEOS) software has demonstrated, in an operational environment, its capabilities as a leading-edge tool for advanced data processing in space geodesy and navigation, through a range of successful applications. Orbit and clock products derived routinely in a combined solution for two global navigation satellite constellations (GPS and Glonass) are at the centimetre level. High-quality results were obtained in assessing the GIOVE navigation signals.

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Special projects
In looking to missions of the future, support has been given in defining mission operations concepts and system design that will be necessary to realise the challenges of next-generation missions. Key evolutions in new technologies, artificial intelligence and mission concepts have been explored and evaluated for possible benefits in operating these new missions. Partnerships with industry and universities provide challenges and stimulate innovation and economic growth in areas of new potential. Also, in close cooperation with the EU, ESA has continued to support the design and development of the ground segment and operations for the Galileo programme.

ESA Informatics and Facility Management

In Informatics, the focus during the extended transition phase of the Overall Service Provision outsourcing contract was on completing the transformation of the ESA IT infrastructure, entailing the deployment of a completely renewed catalogue of IT services. The Corporate Applications Services Provision contract was consolidated through the year. This contract groups under a single procurement the full range of application support services of more than 50 corporate applications which were previously scattered across some 30 different procurements with 15 different suppliers. A substantial level of collaboration and synergy has been achieved between these two contracts, covering the provision of the underlying information technology infrastructure, such as hardware, software and support services, in support of the ESA corporate applications. The new Electronic Council and Programme Boards Document Portal (eCPB) completed its first year of full operational service and supported the intense preparation phases of the ESA Ministerial Council in November. In Facility Management, the consolidation of many of the services at ESTEC into one multi-service contract was achieved. At ESTEC, a major extension to the Ef building was begun and the asbestos removal project remained on schedule. At ESAC, solar panels were installed to improve the future energy management on the site. A high-speed communications link was installed connecting the ESA Deep Space Stations in Australia and Spain with ESOC, in a set-up suitable for the coming astrophysics missions with high data rates, such as Herschel, Planck and Gaia. Plans for a balanced ESA site infrastructure, addressing extensions of current sites and the planning of new ones, are being iterated as requested by the Ministerial Council in 2008.

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 DIRECTORATE OF TECHNICAL AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT

 DIRECTORATE OF TECHNICAL AND QUALITY MANAGEMENT

The impressive scientific missions and human spaceflights in 2008, including the flawless Columbus and ATV missions, are all underpinned by sustained technological advances.

Close-up view of Plancks focal plane unit, showing bolometric detector and radio receiver arrays (ESA/ Thales)

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These technological advances will lead in turn to new space applications, therefore sustaining competitiveness and innovation in industry and better services to European citizens. In challenging economic climates, ESA must consolidate Europes capacity to act more independently, in order to strengthen its role in international partnerships and global competition. This requires a prolonged strengthening of the European technological base, especially in critical technologies.

Electrical Engineering
Electrical power is vital for spacecraft and its supply requires continues innovation. Engineers confronted with challenges come up with solutions that result in patents. One example is the Arc-quenching device for a solar array, an original simple electronic solution to prevent sustained arcing caused by a current source that could occur in solar array drive mechanisms. Another is the Boost converter with magnetically coupled and uncoupled inductors, a novel device that allows the power regulation of solar generators, in missions such as BepiColombo that are subject to wide temperature changes. Such patents are verified in ESTECs laboratories and developed under ESAs Basic Technology Research Programme (TRP) and the General Support Technology Programme (GSTP). The worlds first GPS space receiver using the new second civil frequency (L1/L2C), has been developed by Thales Alenia Space France, as the result of a collaboration between ESA and CNES. This will be demonstrated on the Proba-2 satellite to be launched in 2009. A single frequency version (L1) is being manufactured by Thales Alenia Space France for the Globalstar second generation (96 receivers). An easy-to-apply metal coating, based on innovative rough/porous surface treatments, is being developed with the Universidad Autnoma of Madrid (E), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (E) and Tesat (D). This will triple the power-handling capabilities of passive radio frequency components, and this product is under patent with the university and industry. New technical achievements demand innovative testing methods. Such was the case for the radio frequency testing of the Planck telescope at 320 GHz, where a test method based on radar cross-section measurements was implemented to derive the antenna pattern and beam pointing from the difference between these two reflective states. The measurement results matched extremely well the ESTEC simulations performed in quasi-real time and provided strong confidence that the simulation models can be used efficiently to predict the behaviour of the telescope under cryogenic conditions. The high-reliability 32-bit microprocessor LEON2-FT developed by Atmel (FR) under the AT697F reference became a reality in 2008 and is now available for avionics applications. This microprocessor offers unprecedented performance/ power consumption ratio with 100 MHz clock operation at 0.7 W. Also in 2008, a SpaceWire enabled micro-controller and router became available, supporting this very successful worldwide adopted standard, expanding the European catalogue of solutions for flight data system development.
LEON2-FT Processor The Planck Radio Frequency Qualification Model with 320 GHz test horn

SpaceWire Remote Terminal Controller Board

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The ESA Intellectual Property core portfolio continues to grow and provides the basis for a system on chip solution. Development has started on 65-nm deep sub-micron technologies for use in space, as required by telecommunications satellites and top-of-the-line remote sensing missions.

Mechanical Engineering
The need for lighter, higher-performance structural components is a recurrent driver of research that in turn brings innovative applications. Significant progress has been made in thermoplastic resins in recent years, anticipating its application in carbon-fibre space structures. Advanced reinforcement techniques, with thin high-strength metal foils for highly loaded joints in composite structures, have already been demonstrated. As an alternative to existing composite sandwich DIRIS panel (IMMG Greece) structure concepts, a promising selective reinforcement has been developed and tested: Directionally Reinforced Integrated Single-yarn (DIRIS). The continuous need to advance and mature two-phase heat transport technologies (i.e. heat pipes, loop heat pipes) and cryocoolers is being systematically pursued under TRP, GSTP and ARTES: two thermal heat switches were developed and tested for potential efficient application on a future Mars Rover. Specialised instruments, such as the Imaging Spectral Signature Instrument, have been technology drivers in the optics domain. This is a compact concept that combines two spectrometers and a spatial light modulator, which was demonstrated in 2008 in an airborne test campaign. A high-speed optical data link (5.5 Gbit/s) between the German TerraSAR-X satellite and the US satellite NFIRE was demonstrated in spring 2008 for the DLR development programme. This development is based on the ESA SILEX intersatellite link experiment, where key elements have been developed further by TESAT. The ESA Optical Ground Station in Tenerife is being used for the optical links.
Imaging Spectral Signature Instrument

Disruptive technologies for space applications are being explored, for example in the integration of micro-optical elements with electronics and mechanical (MOEMS) components into a microsystem: a novel Configurable Diffractive Optical Element, made in silicon microtechnology, is the basis for a MOEMSbased infrared gas sensor. Research and development in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for space applications are being pursued in the Near-Earth Object Micro Explorer (NEOMex) strawman mission. This provides a context to coordinate cross-disciplinary MEMSrelated technology developments with a system perspective. Potential applications include i.e. spacecraft inspection, planetary exploration probes. For the first time in western Europe, the concept of staged combustion with liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen was demonstrated experimentally. Subscale tests were performed at the P8 cryogenic test bench at Lampoldshausen (Germany).
Infrared gas sensor based on a MOEMS Configurable Diffractive Optical Element

Electric propulsion also scored well in 2008. Hall effect thrusters from SNECMA were selected for Small GEO and the High-efficiency Multistage Plasma Thruster from Thales were selected for north/south stationkeeping operations. The slit FEEP (Alta) was selected for LISA Pathfinder as the main actuator for its drag-free system, and the T6 ion engine from QinetiQ was selected as the main propulsion system for BepiColombo.

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An extensive aerothermodynamics database for the complete reentry trajectory has been completed for both the IXV flight demonstrator and the European Experimental Reentry Test Bed (Expert). Engineering tools for simulation of complete propulsion systems, including an extensive propellant database, have been validated and put into place, enabling the evaluation of continuous and transient phenomena during operation. Following the review of Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies (LAPCAT), the high-speed air-breathing propulsion initiative will be continued by the EC within the FP7 framework for four years.

Support to ESA space programmes

Expert

Failure investigations were carried out for several ESA projects, notably for the leakage on the propellant latch valve of ATV, the pressure regulator of Planck and the Vega titanium oxidiser/fuel tanks. The common failure of these three cases was the welding of titanium. Recommendations to improve the welding process were given, which resulted in an improved procedure for the Vega case. A major overhaul of the ESA Alert System (EAS), including the release of updated operational procedures and a revamped web site and tool, was completed. This formal system is complemented with an Internal Problem Notification System, and both will meet the needs and expectations of ESA and the space community. A dedicated test programme to characterise gallium arsenide products used in radio-frequency space applications was carried out, following indications that this technology may be susceptible to heavy ion radiation.

Standardisation, cooperation and quality management

Around 100 ECSS standards were released by ESA after joining efforts with the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS). The new release will strengthen the foothold of ECSS in European space business and will help to promote European products on the global market where ECSS is already recognised. ECSS standards are now entering into an operational phase, with intensive use by projects and improvements with user feedback. The second phase of the European Component Initiative (ECI) programme was launched to ensure a steady supply of innovative electrical components and overcome export restrictions. Deep sub-micron and gallium nitride technologies also originate from ECI policy, but since 2008 following dedicated development roadmaps funded by GSTP, ARTES and EC FP-7 technology programmes. The resulting cutting-edge products allow Europe to close the gap with global competitors in these domains. A dossier on Micro and Nano Technology (MNT), spreading over many space disciplines, was established, and significant funds have been earmarked to pursue MNT priority settings in ESA. Collaborations with the European Commission via the FP7 and with JAXA are being strengthened. A major breakthrough was the selection of a European MEMS rate sensor for an ESA Earth observation satellite, now entering formal ESA project qualification.

Fractured weld on the Vega large tank

The MEMS rate sensor to be flown on Sentinel-3

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Systems, software and technology

Advanced software technologies have pushed the use of simulation in all project phases, from rapid concurrent system definition to complex hardware-in-theloop testing. Research in Virtual Spacecraft Design is under way and a prototype will be demonstrated in a real mission. The interactive 3D graphics technology has already been used in the ATV Control Centre for the Jules Verne mission. Shorter development cycles significantly increase competitiveness. Progress was made towards the definition of a plug-and-play building block approach for onboard software. The results of R&D activities in model-based software engineering have enabled an increase in the level of automation and quality in flight software production
Proba-2 in cleanroom at Verhaert Space, Belgium

Proba-1 completed seven years of operation. Proba-2, a solar observatory, is due for launch in 2009. Phase-B of Proba-3, a formation-flying technology demonstrator with a synthetic giant solar coronagraph, has started. Phase-B was started also for Proba-V, which will continue the vegetation mission of the SPOT satellites. Developments were initiated for demonstrators of orbiting receiver systems for the shipborne Automatic Identification System (AIS) and for launcher communications via data relay satellite. System and cost engineering support was provided to ongoing projects and to new initiatives. The Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) was instrumental in this, with the important development of experimentation with models to address complex architectures, system-of-systems (SoS), and also in support of the design of integrated applications addressing key issues such as space, energy and security, etc. Models were developed to estimate costs of complex systems and to quantify risks. ESA sponsored the organisation of a major Cost Engineering Event, ISPA/SCEA 2008.

The Herschel telescopes primary mirror at ESTEC

In the TRP, the plan to support the candidates for Cosmic Vision 201525 was established. The call for proposals for the Startiger initiative for concurrent prototyping of advanced technology was launched. In the GSTP, a permanently open Announcement of Opportunity was established. As from its fifth period, GSTP has been organised as elements to better support programmes and industry along the complete product cycle. Element 1 covers the classical activities. Element 2 devoted to developments to high readiness level is essential part of the new product policy. Element 3 addresses the new domain of security and Element 4 covers in-orbit demonstration. The processes for technology development management and technology harmonisation are run routinely. A major event on technology non-dependence took place with the EC and the European Defence Agency in Brussels, leading to the establishment of a joint task force to identify critical areas and propose solutions. Technology transfer continues, with spin-in and spin-off activities pursued. The ESTEC incubator completed a cycle, achieving the established targets. A new scheme is under discussion.

Space technology helped Wojtek Czyz of Germany to set a world-record long-jump at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games

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 DIRECTORATE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS

 DIRECTORATE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Legal Affairs and External Relations comprises four departments: Legal Affairs, International Relations, Communication and Knowledge, and Education.

In a Communication event, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Jean-Jacques Dordain and astronaut Thomas Reiter chat with the crew of STS-122 during a live link-up with Columbus delivery mission

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International Relations
New European Union Member States
ESA intensified the relations with the new EU Member States. In particular, contact was established with Slovakia and Cyprus. The Czech Republic is the first such EU Member State to have acceded to the ESA Convention. Hungary, Romania and Poland remain associated to ESA programmes through the PECS projects. Romania has expressed its intention to start negotiations for accession in the near future. Following the signature of the Cooperation Agreement on 2007 with Estonia and Slovenia, several activities, projects, and training sessions have been carried out. Canada Regular exchanges of views took place with Canada in advance of the November Ministerial Council. Several avenues for closer cooperation were explored, such as an additional contribution to ExoMars and a preliminary assessment of Canadian interest regarding new ESA activities related, in particular, to ATV, ARV and EDRS. Under the leadership of the new CSA President, Steve MacLean, Canada has initiated an exercise to define a new Long-Term Space Plan. This new set of priorities is believed to be an important basis on which Canada will define its future cooperation with ESA. ESA is preparing to conduct, after the Ministerial Council, a negotiation with Canada to renew the ESA/Canada Cooperation Agreement, which expires in 2010. United States While continuing the exploitation of ISS, ESA and NASA are preparing for the future in close coordination, through the International Space Exploration Coordination Group involving 11 other international space agencies and organisations, and also through a number of joint study teams discussing collaborations considering the outcome of the ESA selection for the Cosmic Vision Plan and the US plans and decadal processes. Russian Federation ESA and Roscosmos concluded an Agreement on cooperation in the ExoMars and Phobos Grunt programmes. Following the signature of this Agreement, a first technical meeting agreed to set up five working groups to cover cooperative activities in the areas of science exchange, communications exchange, radioactive heater units, launcher and technology/test facilities. Japan The ESA/Japan Annual Meeting took place in January in Tokyo and reviewed existing cooperation with JAXA in various fields and identified new ones. In space science, progress was made in cooperative activities on BepiColombo. Frequent meetings took place for Japanese interests in future Cosmic Vision missions. JAXA contacted ESA to initiate a dialogue regarding the JAXA Hayabusa-2 mission to asteroids. In Earth observation, cooperation on the EarthCare mission continued. ESA is exploring possible cooperation with JAXA on the data to be produced by the Japanese Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) to be launched in 2009.

The Agreement on the Czech Republics accession to the ESA Convention was signed on 8 July in Prague, by Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA, and Mirek Topolnek, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

On 28 April 2008 Poland reinforced its relations with ESA by signing the Plan for European Cooperating State Charter

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China The Chinese Academy of Sciences and specialised institutions have shown great interest in Cosmic Vision. Chinese scientists have shown a particular interest in the planned XEUS mission. The final Dragon I symposium was held in Beijing. The Dragon project is an ESA/ China cooperation in Earth observation, aimed at stimulating scientific exchange in the area of science and applications. Following the successful Dragon I, it was agreed to launch Dragon II. This second step is more ambitious, comprising 25 Chinese research teams and 25 European, working together on pre-selected themes. For Dragon II, both European and Chinese data sources will be used. ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have pursued discussions on flying the Soret Coefficients in Crude Oil (SCCO) experiments in an SJ-10 recovery capsule to be launched in 2010/11. AsiaPacific region The AsiaPacific region is a dynamic region in terms of space activities. ESA has continued working to ensure that both our research community and industry remain active and competitive here, where China, India and Japan are leading space players and several other countries are making their first steps. Europe continues to be valued as a credible and effective multilateral partner in the region. For instance, India launched its first mission beyond low Earth orbit on 22 October 2008. Chandrayaan-1, the first Indian lunar mission marks the entry of India in the group of nations actively pursuing an exploration agenda. The spacecraft reached its lunar transfer orbit on 4 November 2008 and has collected a lot of scientific data. ESA has coordinated and supported the provision of the three European instruments on board (CIXS, SARA, SIR-2), and assisted ISRO in areas such as flight dynamics and is supporting data archiving and processing. As a result of the collaboration, ESA and ISRO will share the data from their respective instruments. Other international partners in the mission include NASA and Bulgaria. Africa The GMES Africa initiative was initiated with ESA contributing to the definition of an Action Plan and participating in the Coordination Team set up to oversee this process, together with the EC (DG DEV, JRC, DG ENTR), Eumetsat and Member States. In parallel, the CEOS Tiger initiative led by ESA is entering a second phase which will included better alignment to the priorities of the African water sector and emerging global challenges, improvement of partnerships and networking, enhancement of training, and increased visibility. Mediterranean countries Activities concerning the extension of EGNOS in the Mediterranean Economic Development Area countries are progressing in Algeria, Morocco and Egypt. Latin America On 8 May 2008, Ambassador Victorio Taccetti, Secretary of External Relations at the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Peter Hulsroj, ESA Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations, signed an Exchange of Letters in Buenos Aires to renew for five years the Cooperation Agreement between the Argentine Republic and ESA.

The Chandrayaan-1 launcher, ISROs PSLV-C11 on the launchpad in Sriharikota, India (ISRO)

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ESA and Brazil have pursued their cooperation on the use of the Natal tracking station. Relations with a number of other countries were intensified, for example with Chile, Mexico and Peru. United Nations As an observer to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), ESA pursued its coordination role aimed at achieving common European positions in COPUOS and its subsidiary bodies. In 2008, ESA renewed its support for the series of workshops and training courses organised by the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs in the framework of the UN Programme on Space Applications.

Communication and Knowledge

The UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Ian Pearson, visited ESAs European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt on 23 January in the first-ever such visit from a British minister. On 7 February, the main European launch event for Columbus took place at the Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, and was attended by over 200 VIPs, guests and media representatives. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain, Prof. Jan Wrner, Chairman of DLR, and Evert Dudok, CEO of Astrium, gathered on 14 February with Minister Michael Glos at the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology in Berlin to follow the Columbus delivery mission, with over 100 media representatives and 300 guests.

UK science minister Ian Pearson (right) with Jean-Jacques Dordain in ESOCs Main Control Room

SpaceOps 2008
SpaceOps 2008, the worlds top conference for spacecraft operators, took place in May at the Stadthalle in Heidelberg, Germany, with senior managers emphasising increased standardisation and the ongoing growth in global cooperation in space. This years event, themed on Protecting the Earth, Exploring the Universe, drew in over 400 experts from the worlds space agencies, industry, government and academia.
SpaceOps 2008, the worlds top conference for spacecraft operators, took place in May at the Stadthalle in Heidelberg, Germany

ESAC formal inauguration

On 7 February, Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Asturias formally inaugurated ESAs European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid, Spain. The Spanish Minister for Industry, Joan Clos, Head of the Spanish Delegation to ESA, Maurici Lucena, and the Major of Villanueva de la Caada, Luis Partida, attended the event. Also among the distinguished guests were two Prince of Asturias Award winners, Amable Lin and Pedro Duque.

Madrid Science Fair

The Madrid Science Fair attracted an estimated 200 000 visitors in April, with ESAs stand helping to promote European space programmes, projects and science. The Fair has the objective of stimulating the interest and curiosity of students, and education/research centres, as well as the general public, in science and technology using a hands-on approach.

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Space Exhibition opens in Lisbon

The last day of World Space Week in October marked the official opening of the exhibition Space the last frontier by the Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Jose Mariano Gago. One of the most impressive exhibits was a 1:10 scale model of the International Space Station, lent for the occasion by ESA.

Web 2.0
Web 2.0 describes the use of internet applications that allow interactive information sharing, interoperability and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, social-networking sites and image or video-sharing sites. In 2008, ESA launched its YouTube videosharing site, www.youtube.com/esa, and is developing other Web 2.0 channels, ESAs YouTube channel on the internet such as Twitter and Flickr.

Ministerial Council
Ministers in charge of space activities within the now 18 ESA Member States and Canada met in The Hague, the Netherlands, on 25 and 26 November to implement the European Space Policy, setting out the start of future programmes and taking decisions on the next phases of ongoing programmes. The theme of the event was Space: a key asset for Europe to face global challenges. Communication activities supported this event, with a web site featuring news, images and coverage of the press conference, and a set of videos and flyers highlighting ESAs programmes and the proposals discussed. This material gave rise to set of ESA thematic brochures (now online), entitled Space: a key asset for Europe to face global challenges, explaining how space creates innovation, boosts our economic growth and is a fundamental tool for protecting the environment.
ESAs Ministerial Council in the Hague, 2526 November 2008

Education
While cooperating with other international partners in helping to build in Europe a knowledge-based society, the Education Office, has strengthened its upstream role in support of the recruitment of a qualified workforce for ESA. The office has increased the number of educational opportunities offered to students from ESA Member States, by expanding the range of its hands-on projects and training, both in the field of space system engineering and science for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

To further increase involvement in the preparation of a future European workforce in the space sector, a new micro-satellite project, involving about 300 students began. At the same time, parabolic flight campaigns resumed, offering a unique opportunity for students wishing to run scientific experiments in microgravity conditions. These opportunities are rounded off with a range a The Zero-G Airbus A300, used by ESA, sub-orbital experiments, including use of stratospheric balloons and sounding CNES, DLR and industrial customers, for rockets.
microgravity research and managed by Novespace

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Besides this, the office has increased the number of training opportunities for university students, with a set of training workshops in the space domain and by sponsoring the attendance of more than 200 students to international conferences. Primary school students have also been targeted, by expanding the network of European Space Education Resource Offices, so far located in five Member States. Ad hoc educational material, using the thematic of space to foster the interest of youngsters in science, has been produced and widely distributed. With an upgraded web site, the office has been able to strengthen its capacity for reaching out to the communities of students and teachers, by offering online educational material and real-time information about the various opportunities. 2008 was the tenth anniversary of the forming of the Education Office, fittingly marked with a count of over 10 000 university students and thousands of primary/secondary teachers directly involved in our projects. The office started devising a set of projects dedicated to European Cooperating States wishing to join ESA, to help with the training of potential education teams from new Member States to participate effectively in future ESA programmes.
Fly your thesis! students at EAC in December 2008

Teachers at a workshop organised by the ESERO Netherlands office (ESERO)

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Agreements signed in 2008

The Multilateral Agreement among ESA, ASI, CNES, DLR, CDTI, NOVA, STFC and SNSB concerning the Gaia Data Processing signed in Paris on 14 February 2008 and in Leiden on 19 February 2008 by Prof. D. Southwood, for ESA, Prof. G. Bignami, for ASI, Ms F. Casoli, for CNES, Dr T. Galinski, for DLR, Ms P. Roman, for CDTI, Dr W. Boland, for NOVA, Prof. K. Mason, for STFC, Dr. L. Nordh, for the SNSB. (ESA/LEG/336) The Agreement between ESA and the Government of Ukraine concerning Space Cooperation for peaceful purposes signed in Paris on 25 January 2008 by Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESAs Director General, and Mr Yuri Alexeyev, Director General of the National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU). (ESA/LEG/337) The Agreement between ESA and the European Community on the Implementation of the Space Component of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) signed in Brussels on 28 February 2008 by Jean Jacques Dordain, ESAs Director General, and Heinz Zourek, DirectorGeneral for Enterprise and Industry. (ESA/LEG/338) The Agreement between the ESA and the Kingdom of the Netherlands concerning the European Space Research Technology Centre (ESTEC) signed in The Hague on 21 February 2008 (ESTEC HOST AGREEMENT) by Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESAs Director General, and Mr Maxime Verhagen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands. (ESA/LEG/339) The Agreement between ESA and INTA concerning the Use of Maspalomas Station signed at Maspalomas on 18 April 2008 by Mr Pieter Gaele Winters, Director of Operations and Infrastructure, and Mr Fernando Gonzlez Garcia, Director General. (ESA/LEG/340) The Agreement between ESA and NASA on the Herschel Space Telescope Mission signed in Paris on 7 April 2008 and in Washington on 9 April 2008 by Mr Chris de Cooker, Head of the International Relations Department of ESA and, Mr Kent Bress, Director Science Division for NASA. (ESA/LEG/341) The Agreement between ESA and the Republic of Slovenia concerning space cooperation for peaceful purposes signed in Kozarice, Slovenia, on 28 May 2008 by Mr Ren Oosterlinck, Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations (on behalf of the Director General), and Ms Mojca Kucler Dolinar, Minister of Higher Education, Science and technology of Slovenia. (ESA/LEG/342) The Plan for European Cooperating State (PECS) Charter between the European Space Agency and the Republic of Poland was signed in Warsaw on 28 April 2008 by Mr Chris de Cooker, Head of the International Department and Mr Rafal Baniak, Secretary of State in the Polish Ministry of Economy. (ESA/LEG/343) Agreement between the States parties to the Convention for the establishment of a European Space Agency and the European Space Agency for the protection and exchange of classified information is open for signature by ESA Member States since 19 August 2002. (ESA/LEG/344)

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The Agreement between the Russian Federal Space Agency and the European Space Agency on cooperation on the ExoMars mission and Phobos Grunt mission signed in Paris on 24 June 2008 by Mr Jean Jacques Dordain, Director General and Mr Anatoly Perminov, Director General of the Federal Space Agency. ESA/LEG/345 The Agreement between the Czech Republic and the European Space Agency concerning the accession of the Czech Republic to the Convention for the establishment of a European Space Agency and related terms and conditions signed in Prague, Czech Republic, on 8 July 2008 by Mr Jean Jacques Dordain, Director General and Mr Mirek Topolnek, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. (ESA/LEG/346) The Agreement between the European Space Agency and the European Union on the security and exchange of classified information signed in Brussels on 18 July 2008 by Mr Jean Jacques Dordain, Director General and Mr Javier Solana Madariaga, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union/High-Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. (ESA/LEG/347) Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Hungary and ESA for the extension of the European Cooperating State Agreement signed in Paris on 26 September 2008 by Mr JeanJacques Dordain, ESAs Director General, and Prof. Kroly Molnr, the Hungarian Minister in charge of Space Affairs. (ESA/LEG/348) Arrangement between the Government of Canada and the European Space Agency concerning the participation by the Government of Canada in the European Transportation and Human Exploration Preparatory Activities Programme signed in Paris on 17 December 2008 by Mr JeanJacques Dordain, ESAs Director General and Mr Hugues Gilbert, Director, Policy and External Relations of the Canadian Space Agency. (ESA/LEG/349) Arrangement between the European Space Agency and Arianespace on the launchers exploitation phase of Ariane, Vega and Soyuz from the Guiana Space Centre signed on 18 December 2008 by ESA and on 23 December 2008 by Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESAs Director General and Mr Jean-Yves Le Gall, PDG Arianespace. ESA/LEG/350 (R) Agreement between ESA and the French Government on the CSG and associated services signed in Paris on 18 December 2008 by Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESAs Director General and Mr Yannick dEscatha, Prsident du CNES. (ESA/LEG/351) The Delegation Agreement between ESA and the European Community on the further implementation of the European Satellite Radionavigation Programme Galileo signed in Brussels on 19 December 2008 by Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESAs Director General and Mr Matthias Ruete, Director General, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport. (ESA/LEG/352) The Exchange of Letters between ESA and NASA on the Mars Express Mission signed in Paris on 19 December 2008 and in Washington on 22 December 2008 by Mr Chris de Cooker, Head of ESAs International Relations Department and Mr Kent Bress, Director of Science Division for NASA. (ESA/LEG/353)

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ESA patent applications signed in 2008

PAT 520 MICROWAVE WAVEGUIDE FILTER WITH NON-PARALLEL WALLS

National/Regional Phase entered in Europe and USA Filed March 2008 Applicant European Space Agency Inventors J. Hueso Gonzalez, D. Raboso, D. Schmitt Other Applications FR 0509264, PCT/FR 2006/002087

PAT 525

METHOD OF PROCESSING POSITIONING SIGNALS, IN PARTICULAR FOR INDOOR APPLICATIONS

National/Regional Phase entered in Europe and USA Filed September 2008 Applicant European Space Agency Inventors G. Lopez-Risueno, G. Seco-Granados Other Application PCT/EP 2006/002581

PAT 528

METHOD TO CONTROL AN HYDRAULIC ACTUATOR 0801920 08 April 2008 European Space Agency B. Dutilleul

French Application Filed Applicant Inventor

PAT 538

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF LOW FREQUENCY DRIFTS OF THE SETPOINT IN CONTROL SYSTEMS 08169727 21 November 2008 European Space Agency R. den Hartog

European Application Filed Applicant Inventor

PAT 539

ACTIVE PIXEL SENSOR APPARATUS FOR USE IN A STAR TRACKER DEVICE PCT/EP 2008/000109 09 January 2008 European Space Agency S. P. Airey

International Application Filed Applicant Inventor

PAT 540

A METHOD OF DESIGNING AND MANUFACTURING AN ARRAY ANTENNA 08290154 18 February 2008 12/071,519 21 February 2008 European Space Agency G. Toso, P. Angeletti

European Application Filed US Application Filed Applicant Inventors

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PAT 541

A METHOD FOR COMPENSATING SIGNAL DISTORTION IN AN EMITTING PAYLOAD PCT/IB 2008/001292 24 January 2008 European Space Agency D. Hannes

International Application Filed Applicant Inventor

PAT 542

METHODS, APPARATUSES AND SYSTEM FOR ASYNCHRONOUS SPREAD SPECTRUM COMMUNICATION 08290801 26 August 2008 European Space Agency R. De Gaudenzi, O. Del Rio Herrero

European Application Filed Applicant Inventors

PAT 543

ALTIMETRY METHOD AND SYSTEM 08290686 11 July 2008 European Space Agency S. DAddio

European Application Filed Applicant Inventor

PAT 544

NAVIGATION-SATELLITE TRACKING METHOD AND RECEIVING STATION 08166875 17 October 2008 European Space Agency F. Amarillo-Fernandez, G. Lopez-Risueno

European Application Filed Applicant Inventors

PAT 545

SPACE-BORNE ALTIMETRY APPARATUS, ANTENNA SUBSYSTEM FOR SUCH AN APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR CALIBRATING THE SAME 12/236,025 23 September 2008 European Space Agency M. Martin-Neira, S. DAddio

US Application Filed Applicant Inventors

GAL PAT 006

A RECEIVER AND TRANSMITTER FOR USE IN A SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEM

National/Regional Phase entered in Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, USA Filed September 2008 Applicant European Space Agency Inventors M. Hollreiser, R. Weigand Other Application PCT/EP 2006/002497

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 FACILITIES

 FACILITIES

Openings and anniversary celebrations included the inauguration of ESAC in Spain, the opening of ESTECs new laboratory buildings, the 10th anniversary of ESAs Concurrent Design Facility and the completion of the Santa Maria station (Azores).
HRH Prince Willem Alexander views an operating ion thruster in ESTECs Propulsion Laboratory

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ESTEC
HRH Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands inaugurated the new laboratories at ESTEC on 8 April. The new facilities consist of office space and five laboratories, ranging from propulsion and materials testing to mechanical development, life support and the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF). The new laboratories have state-of-the-art equipment and ensure the highest level of health and safety standards. Specialists from all disciplines are able to work better together on new technologies, preparing and defining more exciting and ambitious space missions.

Electrical Engineering Laboratories

Tests of lithium ion batteries, under simulated low Earth orbit conditions, have been running since 1999 in the European Space Battery Test Centre. These have demonstrated the capability of this technology to meet the demanding lifecycle requirements of the new Sentinel satellites, for example. Europes lead in lithium ion space battery flight heritage has helped European battery manufacturers to win many contracts in the world market, including some for NASA programmes. Innovative test techniques for magnetic cleanliness have been developed. ESA missions that include magnetometers (Swarm, BepiColombo), or payloads sensitive to magnetic fields, gradients and their fluctuations (LISA Pathfinder), require a tight control of the spacecraft magnetic environment. In close collaboration with industry, ESA is developing advanced numerical modelling of magnetic fields and is exploring new test techniques to attain the required onboard magnetic cleanliness. The mobile coil facility at ESTEC was refurbished and is now operated by the Electromagnetics and Space Environment Division to test and model units and components. In the Software and Simulation Laboratory, the EarthCARE simulator was delivered and installed. This simulator, developed under the technical lead of the Software Systems Division to support the EarthCare project, allows the performance testing of EarthCare instruments The simulation tool SIMVIS, for simulation during early project phases, was demonstrated for the Sentinel-2 and Seosat missions. This tool was developed in the frame of a TRP activity and kept operational in the Software and Simulation Laboratory. Progress was made towards the completion of the End-to-end Avionics Test Bench (E2E-ATB), which represents a full avionics system, including onboard computer and data bus, as well as ground control. An application included for a typical Earth observation satellite allows the test bench to fly a realistic mission. The purpose of the E2E-ATB is to demonstrate technology developments in a representative end-to-end laboratory configuration, thereby contributing to increasing the Technology Readiness Level. In addition, early application to project scenarios, like ExoMars proximity communications and Small Geo are being initiated. The E2E-ATB is being developed within the Avionics System Group activities.
Prince Willem Alexander tries the 3D screen in ESTECs Concurrent Design Facility Entrance hall for ESTECs new laboratory building

Prince Willem Alexander attends inauguration of ESTECs new laboratories

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Mechanical Engineering Laboratories

The Automation and Robotics Laboratory capabilities in the field of planetary rover verification were enhanced with additions of tools and instruments enabling terramechanics characterisation and large-volume motion capture. In cooperation with Intespace, an improved near-realtime capability was developed with the DynaWorks environment to process data during spacecraft thermal vacuum/balance testing. The ESA Propulsion Laboratory provided key verification support to important projects such as LISA Pathfinder and several research programmes. The ISO accreditation of the laboratory was maintained in 2008. Engineering tools for simulation of complete propulsion systems, including an extensive propellant GOCE during final testing at ESTEC database, and various equipment elements were validated and put into place, enabling the evaluation of continuous and transient phenomena during operation.

Product Assurance & Safety Laboratories

A fully operational system is now in place for the certification of test centres, not only for the traditional certification of the European coordinated test facilities (ESTEC, IABG, Intespace, CSL, etc.), but also specialised labs (ESTL, Spasolab) and, more importantly, test facilities of prime contractors (Thales Alenia Space Italy and France; Astrium UK, CASA-INTA). This centralised service will avoid multiple audits and duplication of effort by individual space programmes.

Concurrent Design Facility (CDF)

In its 10th anniversary, ESAs CDF was refurbished with state-of-the-art hardware and software. The facility was used extensively to define new missions and initiatives, and to support projects in concurrent engineering. Its capabilities are being strengthened with more robust models based on industrial tools Plank in LSS chamber for balancing test and reflecting agreed data standards. Models for instruments are being added. Studies in the CDF support the establishment of technology roadmaps and serve to populate a repository of equipment and capabilities.

ESTEC Test Centre

Several large spacecraft and numerous smaller items passed through test campaigns in 2008, making use of the latest test and verification facilities. The GIOVE-B satellite completed its test campaign in March and was sent to Baikonur for launch on 27 April. The GOCE protoflight model also completed its test campaign early in 2008, but remained at ESTEC until July because of the unavailability of the launcher. The Planck spacecraft underwent a unique dynamic balancing test under vacuum in the Large Space Simulation chamber before being sent to the Centre Spatial Lige in Belgium for further cryogenic testing. The Herschel spacecraft underwent a complete environmental test campaign at ESTEC with electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) tests, space simulation, shaker vibration and acoustic noise tests.
Herschel during vibration test at ESTEC

The Herschel thermal vacuum test demonstrated the high performance of the new videogrammetry system to measure the deformation of the primary mirror. The vibration facilities were particularly busy during the year with Herschel, Galileo IOV (In Orbit Verification) and LISA Pathfinder (Propulsion Module flight model and Science Module structural model) spacecraft using these facilities.

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The performance provided by the new Quad shaker system enabled the quasistatic load launcher requirements for IOV and LISA Pathfinder satellites to be reached. A new technique was employed for LISA Pathfinder where the Quad shaker also covered the quasi-static load verification efficiently. The Test Centre cleanrooms were used extensively in support of satellite system verification tests. Test Centre facilities were continuously occupied for small test campaigns of satellite equipment, instruments, antennas and solar arrays of ESA projects, and external customers made good use of the small vibration facility, shock bench and Maxwell EMC chamber. The Quad vertical vibration shaker facility was commissioned and used for three major system tests. The new medium-sized thermal vacuum test facility Phenix is being installed for commissioning in 2009. Both facilities increase operational efficiency and reduce inherent test risk. Maintaining state-of-the-art test facilities is a priority in the ESTEC Test Centre, and this is being achieved with in-house engineering and industry support.

Inauguration of ESAC by TRH Prince and Princess of the Asturias

ESAC
Activities undertaken during 2008 have allowed ESA to meet practically in full the objectives set in the ESAC Project Plan that was drafted in response to the agreement with Spain. During the previous four years, a considerable effort was made to bring ESAC to ESA standards. The success of this strategy was significantly recognised in with the honour bestowed on the centre when it was officially inaugurated by Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Asturias, in the presence of the Spanish Minister of Industry and the Mayor of Villanueva de la Caada. Manpower deployed at ESAC by end of 2008 was 64 staff and 224 contractors. ESAC hosts the Science Operations Department, responsible for the science operations of ESAs Space Astronomy and Solar System missions, as well as the Science Data Archive, where data for 10 ESA Science missions are retained. These attract about 150 000 accesses per year, thus positioning ESAC as the major centre and Virtual Observatory node for European space-based astronomical and planetary data. Missions in operation at present are XMM-Newton, Integral, Mars Express, Venus Express and Rosetta. Upcoming missions in preparation are Herschel, Planck, Gaia, LISA Pathfinder and BepiColombo. In addition to Space Science-related activities, the SMOS Data Processing Ground Segment was installed and is ready for the SMOS launch planned for 2009. Satellite tracking activities at ESAC continue at a low level. The ESAC Education and Communication Office was set up and is fully operational. Meetings on space weather were organised as well as an ESA/CDTI working group to define Space Situational Awareness and other activities to develop ESAC. The Ministerial Council in 2008 approved the start of the Space Situational Awareness programme; the project team will be based at ESAC. A Host Agreement, covering the Villafranca and Cebreros site agreements, was submitted to the Spanish Authorities for discussion.

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EAC
The European Astronaut Centre hosts the facilities for the training that ESA has to provide for the European elements of the ISS. The Columbus Trainer and Simulator are complemented by training models for ESA payloads facilities. The training facilities for ATV activities have now been upgraded to a full-scale model of the ATV, which is unique. To cope with the already heavy training plan, and in preparation for the basic training of the new class of astronauts, an extension of the training classrooms and facilities is under way. The refurbishment of the Neutral Buoyancy Facility was launched in October, supported by DLR, the owner of the building. The completion of the building and refurbishment activities is expected in time for Working in EACs Neutral Buoyancy the start of the basic training in the second half of 2009.
Facility

EAC facilities and personnel also support ISS operations. Crew communication and medical operations are performed by EAC. Flight controller training has been implemented and more than 60 simulations were conducted in 2008. Together with the operational readiness for crew communications and medical support to ISS operations, the extension of the training capabilities will make EAC fully capable to fulfil the objectives set for the next years.

ESOC and the stations

The ESA tracking station network (ESTRACK), remotely controlled with a high degree of automation from the ESTRACK Control Centre at ESOC, provided reliable support to ESAs solar and planetary, astronomy and fundamental physics and Earth observation missions, and to external customers and partner space agencies. In particular, this was through the ESA Kiruna high-latitude station, the Santa Maria station in the Azores Cebreros and New Norcia 35 m Deep Space Stations and the 15 m station network. The stations at Kourou, Maspalomas and Perth were upgraded to support X-band launches and critical mission phases, and the Perth station was upgraded to support future launcher tracking services. The new ESA Santa Maria station (Azores) was completed and provided Ariane launcher tracking services for the ATV Jules Verne mission. Dedicated Control Rooms and Project Support Rooms in the ESOC Operations Control Centre in Darmstadt were reconditioned in view of upcoming missions and integration of the operations of mission families. The Flight Dynamics Room was completely renovated and upgraded. Studies on a thorough modernisation of the ESOC Control Centre layout are nearing completion. ESOCs effort to reduce its carbon emissions and resource footprint significantly has become a reality by means of green electricity: ESOC signed a three-year contract for a site power supply from 100% renewable sources.

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 GENERAL STUDIES PROGRAMME

 GENERAL STUDIES PROGRAMME

The General Studies Programme (GSP) is ESAs main tool for preparing future missions and activities.

Developments in commercial spaceflight and space tourism, such as the flight of SpaceshipOne in 2004, are monitored by GSP

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The GSP performs feasibility studies for the selection of new mission concepts, and it serves both to prepare and demonstrate the case for approval and funding of new optional programmes. It interfaces with all ESAs programmes, supporting their activities by addressing their system study needs. The GSP also serves, together with the Advanced Concepts Team, as a corporate strategic think tank: the actions within the programme contribute to the formulation of the overall ESA strategy. These include Industrial Policy surveys, studies on the capabilities of new Member States and on the sustainability of ESA and space industry operations; and other work supports the definition of an ESA position on various hot topics, such as space tourism. Last but not least, the GSP is also a unique platform for inter-directorate work. It provides opportunities for work across ESA units through the internal Calls for Study Ideas to all staff and the activities resulting from it. The effort involved in this ESA brainstorming is significant. During the seven weeks in which a Call for Study Ideas was open in April/May 2008, 290 ESA staff exchanged their views, discussed and refined candidate studies with colleagues from other directorates and, as a result, submitted 165 study proposals; this collective effort is well recognised as a firm step towards One ESA. Space missions are at the core of ESAs business, and this also applies to the GSP. Ongoing or recent mission studies include the eleven industrial studies for the Cosmic Vision M-class candidates (Cross-Scale, Plato, Marco Polo, Spica, Euclid), which began this year. The GSP also funded the internal Phase-0 studies in the Concurrent Design Facility, for IXO and Tandem/Laplace L-class mission candidates. The MoonNEXT and MarsNEXT studies were also conducted and are being used to define future exploration activities. In Human Spaceflight, the Advanced Reentry Vehicle (ARV) is being studied at Phase-A level. For satellite applications, GSP work includes Phase-A studies for The Advanced Reentry Vehicle the European Data Relay Satellite (EDRS) programme and technical support to the Iris programme in Air Traffic Management communications via satellite. For Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP), GSP feasibility studies included the utilisation of satellites for disaster management, civil protection, medical logistics, the management of energy grids and satellite-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle cooperation. In addition to the contribution to IAP, the GSP studies on space debris, space weather, near-Earth objects and the evaluation of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) system architecture, user requirements and data policies have been key to the preparation of the Ministerial Council, leading to new and successful programme proposals. The GSP is the ESA executive scout into the future, helping to find the right path among the many possible, without risking resources. In doing so, the GSP lays the groundwork for ESAs future activities.

The IXO telescope concept as studied in the CDF

Future and plans

The ESA Long-term Plan 200918 was prepared in support of decisions to be made at the Ministerial Council. It provides a longer-term vision of ESAs activities and programmes, contributing to the framework decided upon by Member States with a more strategic perspective.

Representation of debris objects in low Earth orbit

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Fully committed to the implementation of the European Space Policy (ESP), ESA has developed its Long-term Plan with the aim of asserting itself as a global space agency, strategic for Europe in meeting its ambitions on the global scene. During the preparation process, several issues were identified and analysed together with European strategic objectives and ambitions, combined with estimated financial resources. This analysis led to three scenarios linked to different financial perspectives and able to reconcile, with different scope, political ambitions and programmatic plans. The resulting programmatic scenarios, based on assumptions on funding contributions from Member States and the EU (according to its New Financial Perspectives 201420) give different responses to the European ambitions and political objectives, and assume different intermediate steps.
The electrostatic tractor concept for deflecting potentially dangerous near- Scenario 1 Basic scenario Earth objects (F. Annecchini, 17pm design The efforts of ESA Member States would be on average constant, while additional studio)

limited funding was hypothetically assumed from the EU from 2014 onwards. This scenario focuses on the initial priorities of the ESP (Galileo and GMES) and addresses in a limited manner exploration as a further priority identified by the Fifth Space Council in Brussels, 28 September 2008.

Scenario 2 Support to selected fields of activity In this scenario, Member States would increase their contributions to ESA from 2012, on the basis of decisions taken at the Ministerial Council 2011. Such an increase is assumed to be complemented by additional funding coming from the EUs New Financial Perspectives starting from 2014. In addition to the activities seen in the first scenario, further important undertakings, in particular in human exploration, launchers, security and applications related to environment, development and climate change, would be possible under this scenario. Scenario 3 Breakthroughs in human exploration and launchers On the basis of the strong political support given at the Fifth Space Council to the primary role that Europe should be playing, in particular in the future global endeavour of human exploration, this scenario would count on a larger increase of ESA Member State contributions from 2012 than in scenario 2, and support from the EU New Financial Perspectives. In this scenario, Europe would be able to undertake major developments in the key areas of transportation and human spaceflight, and to carry out a prominent European role in the global endeavour of human exploration in a much-reduced timeframe with respect to scenario 2. The three scenarios were discussed with Member States during the preparation of the Ministerial Council, and the ESA LTP 200918 was endorsed by the ESA Council in December.

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 DIRECTORATE OF RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

 DIRECTORATE OF RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

More than 2200 staff, from different national and professional backgrounds, are working together at ESA to develop European space programmes. All share a strong interest in space, an attraction to working in an international environment and pride in being part of this fascinating organisation.

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Human Resources
The objectives of the Human Resources (HR) Department are defined in this context. First, to ensure that staff have the right competences to achieve ESAs objectives; second, but equally important, to nurture staff motivation and offer the means to develop everyones potential fully.

ESA workforce
Workforce management ESAs workforce management is evolving from the present complement-driven approach towards a workload and cost-driven system, with the capacity to supply mid-term planning and long-term staff forecasting. To support this, an information system is under development, now in prototype phase, with the decision on implementation to be made in summer 2009. In addition, a common database on competencies and on contractors to support workforce planning is being set up. An early and significant step towards a workforce planning that better reflects the actual workload was achieved in December 2008 with ESA Councils approval of the flexibility allowance concept. From 2009, Council allows the Director General, within defined staffing limits, to distribute additional manpower (complement) to Directorates, as a consequence of programmatic decisions in particular, or for the coverage of specific non-recurrent requirements. From equal opportunities to diversity management Diversity is inherent in ESAs make-up, as we draw together 18 nationalities and many diverse cultures and different languages. However, reaping the full benefits of diversity is not a simple process. It is one thing to create diversity by recruiting people from diverse cultures, ages and backgrounds, but another to create an inclusive environment that enables people to perform at the highest level and feel professionally fulfilled. In 2008, even though gender balance remained an issue at ESA, positive action was taken to increase comprehensive understanding of diversity in all its forms, from the clearly visible (gender, language, age) to the less visible (nationality, culture). A new development was the marked improvement in the situation regarding managerial positions including those at Director-level. ESA is facing recruitment difficulties in various sectors and diversity management, through promoting the diversification and rejuvenation of hightalent recruitment pools, is one answer to the question of how to resolve this challenge. No one type of employee combines all the skills and talents needed for an enterprise to succeed. So increased diversity is not just a desirable objective, it is also a key factor in furthering competitiveness. A diverse workforce will produce higher efficiency and greater creativity. The question is how to nurture and raise recognition of diversity factors in a way that harmonises with ESAs organisational culture; the challenge is to implement the right mix of interrelated measures to maximise beneficial change. A new training programme on diversity and inclusiveness was developed which will be delivered to ESA staff from 2009.

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Career
Merit Recognition and Promotion Scheme Changes were introduced to the current Merit Recognition and Promotion Scheme with the objectives to reinforce the various types of award, simplify the scheme and ensure a maximum degree of transparency. The changes were presented and possible evolution of the scheme discussed in information sessions with Directors, Department and Division Heads. In this context, the question of performance management was also included and HR has initiated measures to equip managers better to address underperformance and take action with the support of HR. In a joint working group of HR and Staff Association, the criteria for promotion of staff were reviewed and new guidelines were issued.
Staff from the European Astronaut Centre and Human Resources department contributed to ESAs third astronaut selection campaign

Astronaut Selection Project ESA launched its third astronaut selection campaign in 2008. HR provided support to this project of the Directorate of Human Spaceflight by contributing to the planning, preparation and execution of the campaign. In close cooperation with the Directorate of Human Spaceflight, the ESOC HR Division assumed the technical management for major parts of the project, including the development of an online application system and database capable of coping with tens of thousands of applications within a short period of time as well as the corresponding application screening system. Together with members of the European Astronaut Centre, an HR team consisting of local Heads of HR and HR Advisors from all four establishments screened the applications of the astronaut hopefuls and evaluated candidates during a series of psychological tests. Other areas of support included the design of an intelligent electronic application form, to allow the screening of large numbers of applications and the management of recruitment logistics for the various phases of the astronaut selection process. By the end of 2008, the astronaut project was on schedule and within budget, and due to close in April 2009.

Learning
Staff Training and Development A wide range of training and development activities was made available to ESA staff members. These included activities centrally driven by the Internal University to serve corporate needs and priorities, and those instigated locally in each establishment in response to the job needs identified by staff members and their managers. Activities covered a broad spectrum, from courses/seminars designed to ESA specifications to the financing of individual staff members participation in external professional or academic programmes. In 2008, the Internal University offered around 15 programmes responding to different corporate priorities such as reinforcing ESAs managerial capability, expanding staff knowledge about ESAs functioning, and promoting the harmonisation of practises and exchange of expertise. In this respect, a new Senior Leadership Development Programme for the community of ESA senior managers was introduced in 2008 and will be pursued in 2009. Among the efforts made to promote understanding of how ESA functions, particular focus was placed on the financial perspective, allowing staff to

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appreciate better, among other topics, the goals and main features of the new Financial Management Reform. The Internal University started providing support for Financial Management Reform by working in close cooperation with the project team on the design and implementation of appropriate training programmes for staff with duties being affected. Last but not least is the successful introduction of the A5 ad personam lecture programme, where internal experts are invited to present a two-hour lecture, relating to their field of expertise, to interested staff. Taking into account the high degree of interest expressed by ESA staff, this programme will be developed and extended in all ESA establishments. Trainee Programmes and Research Fellows Out of the 1386 applications received in the framework of the 2008 Young Graduate Trainee (YGT) programme, 93 young graduates were recruited after their successful interviews, contributing to a total of 152 YGTs working at ESA in 2008. Through their one-year traineeship at ESA and under the responsibility of their respective tutors, the YGTs gain valuable hands-on work experience preparing them for future employment in space industry or research. The Internal Research Fellow Programme welcomed 23 new recruits in 2008, making a total of 62 Postdoctoral Research Fellows working at ESA for a total of 42 work-years. Internal Research Fellows are given the opportunity to carry out research in a variety of disciplines under the supervision of ESA scientists and engineers, mainly related to space science, space applications or space technology. The National Trainees Programmes, which offer young graduates practical experience in space applications within the framework of bilateral agreements with Spain, Portugal and Greece, continued their activities during 2008. In total, 17 Spanish trainees and two Portuguese trainees commenced training at ESA during the year. The selection process for the first batch of Greek trainees began in 2008 and nine candidates are expected to start work at ESA in 2009.

Working conditions
Maternity, paternity and parental leave In October 2008, ESA Council decided to amend the Staff Regulations and Rules on maternity, paternity and parental leave by increasing maternity leave to a total of 18 weeks for the first and second births, introducing a paternity leave of 10 working days of paid leave and increasing the parental leave from two months to six months.

Non-active status
ESA Council also amended the legal frame for non-active status of ESA staff. It will now be possible to grant non-active status on the basis of two new grounds: in the strategic interest of ESA; and for sabbatical leave, enabling a staff member to carry out studies, research or to follow other personal development curricula.

Coordination
2008 was the year in which the 50th anniversary of coordination was celebrated. Prompted by the Executive Directors of the six coordinated organisations, the Coordinating Committee on Remuneration (CCR) started reviewing the practical functioning of coordination.

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As a result, the CCR recommended changes to the system for calculating daily subsistence allowances granted to officials on mission, as well as changes to the pension rights of officials authorised to work part-time, with a view to improving the pension coverage of such staff members. In parallel to these activities, the CCR also embarked on a comparative study of remuneration systems in other international organisations and in national civil services, as well as a study on salary levels in the private sector, international organisations and national civil services.

Statistics
ESA staffing at 31 December 2008

At the end of 2008, ESA had 2054 staff in post, compared with 1976 at the end of 2007. There were 1100 pension recipients, compared with 1068 at the end of 2007.

Hors Classe I Member States Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Luxembourg The Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Total II Non-Member States Canada Total Grand Total 12 1 1 4 2 2 1

Total Staff

1 12

33 79 24 15 392 321 8 15 331 1 59 22 18 143 43 26 162 1692

10 5

2 9 1 5 93 62 1 9 31 33 2 2 8 4 3 29 294

3 18

35 89 26 20 506 390 9 24 365 1 93 24 20 151 47 29 195 2024

28 28 1720 18

2 2 296 8

30 30 2054

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January February March April May June July August September October November December 2008

1975 1990 1999 2000 2010 2012 2022 2024 2032 2044 2050 2054

Staff in post (Permanent and Advance Recruitment) End-ofmonth figures

Procurement and Industrial Policy

Industrial Policy
The year was mainly dedicated to the preparation of the Ministerial Council, where the new procurement reform and the new Small and Medium-size Enterprise (SME) policy were fully endorsed by the resolution on the evolution of ESA (ESA/C-M/CCVI/Res.4) and its reference documents. The year was also important for the implementation of improved measures for the proactive management of the geographical distribution of contracts, stemming from the FINPOL reform of June 2005. The Industrial Policy Interdirectorate working group (IPI) is in place and its members were nominated by the Director General, replacing the FINPOL inter-directorate working group, in charge of finding structural solutions, in terms of industrial return, for all countries. The IPI defined a plan of actions to implement the special initiatives, in coordination with relevant directorates, and in consultation with Member States, to correct most of the imbalances at the time of the Formal Review of the geographical distribution of contracts for the period 20059, foreseen on the basis of end-2009 results. Various SME issues were discussed with SME associations and Member States, and a new ESA SME Policy has been derived, and approved at the Ministerial Council for an agency-wide action. For the Financial Management Reform (FINREF), the whole Industrial Policy Process was revised and streamlined for the definition of the system specifications, in order to make it more transparent and beneficial to the ESA system.

Industrial Relations
An intensive dialogue with European space industry (90 companies visited, 180 questionnaires) took place to review strengths, weaknesses, to identify industrial policy issues, in order to gather elements for the procurement reform and the preparation of the Ministerial Council. Most Member States were visited, to position their national industry in the European context, and to support their reflections in view of the Ministerial Council. The situation of the European space industry was analysed and presented to IPC, IDWG, EC Space Unit. In particular, it emphasised European industry workload, evolution of the structure and of the capacities of European industry. This work

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was instrumental for the procurement and industrial policy reforms or for programme proposals when considering the maintenance of competencies. The deployment of Industry Outlook, the industry interface for registration to Electronic Mailing Invitation Tender System (EMITS), was finalised. More than 1550 firms or organisations involved in space in Europe are now registered, representing more than 90% of ESA spending in industry, providing a unique source of structured information to a large number of ESA staff. In 2008, through a systematic review of technology plans (650 technology procurement actions reviewed), the Industrial Policy measures for non-Large System Integrators and SMEs were applied 300 times. Support to the technology harmonisation process was provided, identifying future market size and providing inputs to the identification of potential players, of the reviewed technologies. The 2008 nationality audit plan was performed.

Procurement auditing
The Procurement Auditing Division finalised many multi-year industrial rate agreements with the principle European space industries. In addition, the division was also heavily involved in the audits pertaining to the Ariane 5 PA and PB batches launch contracts/proposals, the results of which were of key importance for the preparation of the launchers part of the Ministerial Council.

Procurement activities
652 Invitations to Tender (ITTs) were sent to industry in 2008: 284 in open competition 3 in restricted competition 365 in direct negotiation ESA also initiated 3764 contract actions: 789 Main Contracts 95 Riders 406 Work Orders 2474 Contract Change Notices

Procurement evolution
With the aim of developing and adjusting ESA to be once again an efficient and modern agency in view of an environment that has evolved and changed over the years, the Ministerial Council decided the procurement policy reform. The reform comprises three major areas: Evolution of procurement procedures for large procurements above 20 million Further evolution of procurement policy Reform of the Procurement Regulations and the General Clauses and Conditions of ESA Contracts At the next level, these areas in turn encompass the following major elements: Reinforced four-step procurement approach Strengthening of parallel early phases of programmes Systematic competition at all levels, in particular also prime level Reduced core team size Improved Best Practices

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Product Policy C1C4 & SME policies Risk management and variable profit scheme

Work on all elements was started in 2008 with the aim of completing during 2009; the revised Procurement Regulations were approved by Council at the end of 2008. The task of updating of the General Clauses and Conditions for ESA contracts was initiated. It is divided into two phases: Phase 1: Establish fundamental principles (mainly in the area of liabilities and remedies) that will form the baseline when redrafting the General Clauses and Conditions. Evolve these principles in close consultation with ESAs Industrial Policy Committee. Negotiate and agree them with the association of European space industry, Eurospace. Phase 2: Redraft the General Clauses and Conditions; reflecting the principles established in Phase 1 and ensuring a general modernisation of the clauses with emphasis on risk balance and predictability. Phase 1 was completed in 2008 and Phase 2 is progressing with a schedule for completion in 2009. In the area of Corporate Policy related to industrial contracts, a major review of risk allocation and risk management in relation to industrial contracts was initiated. Measures to ensure an improved risk management will encompass three distinct periods of a projects timeline; the period leading up to the development project, the tendering period for the development phase and the development phase itself. With a close link to risk management, a revision of ESAs policy with respect to profit levels in its industrial contracts was initiated.

Industrial activity and evolution of industrial return

Industrial activity was maintained at a sound level, with some 2071 million of contracts committed with the industry (out of which 2009 million in favour of European and Canadian space industry) in 2008. The pie charts on the next page show the distributions of activities per programme and per state. Application programmes (Telecommunications, Navigation and Earth Observation) accounted for about 22% of the total committed value, 31% was related to Launchers, 13% to Human Spaceflight and Exploration Programmes, 9% to the Science Programme, and 4% to Technology, with the remaining 21% to the General Budget and incentives schemes. Much effort was devoted to the negotiation and finalisation of the ExoMars contract for the Phase-B2 and the advanced Phase-C/D activities. In parallel, procurement actions took place, in accordance with the Best Practices Procedure for the selection of subcontractors, for the purpose of indeed selecting subcontractors within the industrial consortium. Major contractual negotiations were finalised on ISS Exploitation tasks until end-2010 (including Columbus Control Centre) as well as the rebaselining of ATV production activities up to ATV-5. A contract was also concluded with the Russian partner IBMP, formalising the participation of ESA and European volunteers in the Mars500 experiment.

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COMMITMENTS MADE TO INDUSTRY IN 2008, PER PROGRAMME

I H

G A

F E D

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J.

General Budget Launchers Space and Exploration Microgravity Navigation Other Programmes Science Technology Telecommunications Earth Observation

17.3% 30.8% 13.5% 2.5% 3.1% 0.5% 9.4% 4.0% 7.2% 11.5%

TOTAL: 2071 million

COMMITMENTS MADE TO INDUSTRY IN 2008, PER STATE

S R Q P O N M

C DE

K JI H

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. L. M. N. O. P. Q. R. S. T. U.

Austria Belgium Canada Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Hungary Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Other Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom

1% 5% 1% 0.1% 1% 0.3% 26% 26% 0.1% 0.3% 0.2% 14% 0.3% 6% 1% 3% 1% 6% 2% 2% 7% TOTAL: 2071 million

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Procurement activities relating to Earth Observation were devoted to the finalisation and signature of the GMES Sentinel-1, -2 and - 3 contracts, as well implementing, in cooperation with the EU, the competitive selection of subcontractors. The procurement action for the EarthCARE Phase-B/C/D/E-1 contract was finalised and the contract was signed. The industrial offers received for the invitation to tender for the Phase-B/C/D/E-1 of the Seosat/Ingenio satellite were evaluated, the prime contractor selected with CDTI, and the industrial activities begun. In the Telecommunication Programme, the final negotiation and signature of the Small GEO mission contract with Hispasat and the finalisation of subcontractor selection based on Best Practices for the Small GEO Platform with OHB were the most important events. The procurement practices and contractual solutions elaborated in the course of the Alphabus and Alphasat projects proved to be adequate for the type of PrivatePublic Partnership collaboration with space industry and commercial operators which the Telecommunications and Integrated Applications programme is envisaging in its future activities Iris and ARTES 20. The main challenges for the Science and Robotic Exploration Programme were the Firm Fixed Price (FFP) price conversion of the Gaia Phase-C/D Contract after completion of the Best Practices selection of all subcontractors. Gaia is another example in a row of large Phase-C/D projects, which have experienced a large increase of cost to completion already through the subcontractor selection process. This gives further evidence to the problem of prime contractors submitting committing bids without having selected a large part of the subcontractors. The agreement with the EC on the procurement approach and the related procedural provisions determining the Competitive Dialogue for the FOC procurement of the six main Galileo work packages was the major achievement in 2008. It paves the way to the elaboration of all tender documentation which will be released in spring 2009. The European Student Earth Orbiter (ESEO) is the second education microsatellite mission within the ESA Education Satellite Programme and builds on the experience gained with SSETI Express microsatellite (launched in 2005) and the YES2 student experiment flown on the Foton-M3 mission in 2007. ESEO involves the participation of around 280 students in 25 universities across Europe. Phase-B1 has already been completed and this contract covers phases B2/C/E1. The student teams participating in the project will provide most of the spacecraft subsystem equipment, payload and ground support systems as part of their academic studies, with the support of a professional team consisting of a system prime contractor and a network of universities. ESEO mission objectives are to orbit Earth, take pictures of Earth and/or other celestial bodies for educational and outreach purposes, measure the radiation environment in orbit, and test technologies for future education satellite missions. Procurement activities in Launchers increased steadily over the period. There were intense activities concerning Launch Service Agreement (LSA) such as the elaboration of a framework agreement with Arianespace and participation in the Galileo FOC. For other activities, such as Vega, FLPP, Soyuz at Kourou and IOV, programmatic decisions resulted in the further involvement of the Procurement Department to make the necessary changes. Support to ARTA was performed despite an increase in the number of actions.

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Support to Third-Party Activities (ESOC)

In addition to the activities in procurement for ESAs requirements, support was provided for activities undertaken by third parties for their requirements. This involved a limited use of ESAs own expertise, facilities, services or products. Those third parties were often organisations in ESAs Member States. Expenditure incurred by ESA was fully charged to those customers. That kind of support, therefore, is not to be confused with the activities performed under cooperation agreements, which are agreed and signed for dedicated projects and which provide that each cooperating party will perform complementary activities, with or without exchange of funds and with the opening by ESA of a specific programme and an associated budget. In 2008, 15 formal proposals were submitted: two to space agencies (DLR and CNES), two to an intergovernmental organisation (Eumetsat) and 11 to European industrial entities (Eutelsat (FR), Fugro (NO), Inmarsat (UK), New Skies (NL), SESAstra (LU), Thales Alenia Space (FR), Vitrociset (BE)). These proposals related to services in the areas of technical support, stations and network provision, LEOP and routine operations, and navigation services. From these proposals, seven contracts were awarded and three proposals were still under negotiation at the end of the year. The total amount of invoices sent for work performed during the year 2008 was 4.06 million. The total order book value of future work under contract for external customers at the end of the year was 25.6 million.

Finance and Corporate Controlling

Expenditure
ESAs expenditure in 2008 amounted to: 3240 million in Contract Authority, and 3060 million in Payment Appropriations. ESAs Mandatory Activities represented 27% of the total expenditure (812 million) in Payment Appropriations whereas 72% was spent by Optional Programmes (2211 million) and 1% by Programmes financed by Third Parties (37 million). The core elements of ESAs Mandatory Activities are the Science Programme, the Technology Research Programme and ESAs technical and operational infrastructure. During 2008, the Science Programmes budget increased by 12.6% to 435 million, reflecting the Level of Resources in force. In 2008, the rescheduling of the loan reimbursement allowed the implementation of the Gaia mission, Herschel/Planck, JWST, BepiColombo and LISA Pathfinder. Furthermore, the Science Programme funded the operations of nine satellites in orbit and contributed to the cost of seven spacecraft in the framework of international cooperation. The expenditure of the activities associated to the General Budget increased by 7%, mainly due to the Financial Management Reform. Phase-B was completed by March with the endorsement of the future Financial Management Model of the agency and the adoption of the resolution on the start of Phase-C/D by ESA Council. The objectives of the current Phase-C involve designing the new processes, the system solution, the associated training and overall organisation changes as well as data

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conversion. The project is in the design phase, with an operational implementation planned in January 2010. The development of applications is provided via ESAs Optional Programmes, to which Participating States participate with a voluntary subscription. In 2008, the expenditure of the Optional Programmes increased by 13% compared to 2007. In 2008, 613 million (20%) of the total ESA budget was spent on the Launchers Programme. The main activities were the consolidation of the Ariane 5 launcher, the construction of the Soyuz launch facilities in Kourou, the development of the Vega small launcher, the early activities related to the preparation of future launchers and the programme in support of the European Guaranteed Access to Space. Expenditure for the Human Spaceflight and Microgravity Programmes, accounting for 15% of ESAs total expenditure, was increased by 16%. This covered the development and the exploitation of the ISS, with ATV Jules Verne docking at the ISS on 3 April and the on-orbit commissioning of ESAs Columbus laboratory payloads. Earth Observation accounted for 13% of ESAs 2008 expenditure, mainly for the development of the Earth Explorer missions (maintenance of GOCE and SMOS, integration of CryoSat, development of ADM-Aeolus, Swarm and EarthCARE). Expenditure related to the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative was two and half times higher than in 2007, with the development of Sentinel-1, -2 and -3, studies for Sentinels -4 and -5, and the development of the ground segment. Navigation programmes represented 13% of the total expenditure, covering the implementation of the Galileo Programme but also the GNSS support and evolution programmes. A total of 342 million was spent on Galileo, including the launch of GIOVE-B in April and the operations of both GIOVE-A and B satellites and ground systems. In the Telecommunications area, expenditure amounted to 200 million (7%). The main areas were the support of the telecommunication technology activities and industry competitiveness (covered by the ARTES 1, 3, 4 and 5 elements) as well as the development of the large platform Alphabus and the Alphasat payload development, and satellite consolidation activities (both projects covered within ARTES 8). Regarding Small GEO covered by ARTES 11, the Phase-C/D for the platform and Phase-B for the mission started in November. The new area of Robotic Exploration was 1.2% (37 million) of the total expenditure, mainly covering the finalisation of the requirements and definition phase of Aurora/ExoMars, as well as progressing the technology needed for the Enhanced ExoMars mission. Similar to previous years, around 83% of ESAs 2008 budget was spent on contracts in the Member States for research or project-related activities, the running of technical or operational facilities, and the financing of capital expenditure and industrial development.

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EXPENDITURE PER FUNCTION

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Staff Expenditure Running Expenditure Facilities Capital Expenditure Development

392 117 312 275 1964

TOTAL: 3060 million 3

EXPENDITURE PER PROGRAMME DOMAIN

10 11 12

1 2

9 3

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

General Budget Asociated General Budget Science Earth Observation Telecommunications Navigation Microgravity Spaceflight Launchers Technology and Exploration Robotic Exploration Third Parties

208 169 435 409 200 703 73 391 613 85 37 37

TOTAL: 3060 million 8 4

7 6 5

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Income
In preparation for the Ministerial Council, the Income Planning Division was tasked to prepare and coordinate the simulations performed on the planned subscriptions by Member States. The Division was in charge of the registration of the subscriptions at the Council itself in cooperation with the Legal Department and Director Generals Policy Office.

Financial Management Reform

ESAs Member States decided to completely overhaul its financial management system. The objective of this project is to provide ESA programmes with a common integrated model for the management of resources, promoting efficient and effective use of public funds and reinforcing transparency and trust with ESA stakeholders. The Financial Management Reform scope and definition Phase-B ended on schedule in March 2008. The objectives of Phase-B were to finalise the future Financial Management Model of the Agency, to design the future processes needed to implement this new model and to identify the gaps between such processes and the standard utilisation of SAP. Following agency-level Integrated Project Reviews and the completion of Phase-B activities, a European tender for selection of a reform partner to support ESA in implementing and operating the Financial Management Reform solution resulted in the selection of Accenture. The project rapidly mobilised logistics and the required joint team in ESTEC. Phase-C analysis work began in July, producing the 21 deliverables required for the first key Phase-C/D milestone, the System Requirements Review, in early December. Phase-C design work also began in December and is planned to be completed by May 2009. The Financial Management Model covers the Budget Management Model, the Accounting Model and the Cost Management Model. The main features of this new model are: the shift from the current annual budget dimension to multiyear, reflecting the time dimension of ESAs activities, the full implementation of accrual accounting and IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards) principles and the introduction of cost accounting.

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 ACCOUNTS

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ESAs annual accounts are summarised in four main financial statements presented here, including comparative information for year 2007. Among the assets, the 935 million balance of Cash and Banks does not include the funds managed for the Pension Scheme. The latter represent the financed portion of the scheme, invested in the Buffer Fund, and are presented as noncurrent assets. The total obligation of the Pension Scheme towards the active and retired staff and differed pensions of ESA is revaluated at 1553 million in 2008, following the adoption of the recognised accounting standards on Employees Benefits IPSAS 25. The not yet financed portion is shown as a receivable amount. One of the main current assets represents 158 million of advance payments to suppliers, made across the ongoing programmes of ESA. Until the relevant services are tested and accepted, these payments are considered as a claim towards the contractor companies. Among the liabilities, the Prepaid Contributions and the funds available in the Regulation Fund represent balances due to Member States, whereas Accrued Payables are obligations towards suppliers for invoices received but not yet paid, or cost incurred in 2008 but not yet invoiced. The ESA liability for Staff Untaken Leave represent the value of the number of days of leave accrued by staff members but not yet taken at year-end. The net effect of provisions and accruals is reflected in the item Reserve for Accruals and Provisions. The 327 million debit balance in 2008 can be considered as net accumulated excess of liabilities over assets recognised in the accounts. Provisions and accruals are included in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities in order to provide a comprehensive picture of all claims, entitlements and obligations of ESA, but at this stage of the transition to Accrual Accounting they are not financed. Therefore, the net effect of reversed accruals of the previous year and new accruals is identified on a separate line of the Statement of Income and Expenditure which adjusts the expenditure of the year in order to show the total cost incurred. In 2008 this balance amounted to a 9 million net reversal of restated prior-year accruals. The Statement of Changes in Net Assets/Equity illustrates the allocation of the Surplus in the following year, part of which is represented by the net effect of accruals and provisions. This part is consolidated in the Reserve for Accruals and Provisions. The 2008 Surplus amounts to 704 million, inclusive of 587 million of under spending of the budget allocations, 108 million of excess actual income over the budget with other minor balances, and 9 million net reversal of restated prioryear accruals.

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1.

STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2008
2008 2007 Increase/ Decrease

(in thousand )

OPERATING INCOME Contributions Other Income Third Party Programmes Income Plan for European Cooperating States Management Outputs/Esrange Income Suspense Output Internal Tax Income Extraordinary Accrued Income Total operating income OPERATING EXPENDITURE General Budget Scientific Programme Earth Observation Telecom Navigation Manned Spaceflight Microgravity Launchers Technology CSG Kourou and other activities Pensions Total financed by contributions Third Party Programmes Plan for European Cooperating States Management Outputs Expenditure Suspense Output Esrange/Andya special project Internal Tax Variation of accruals/provisions Total operating expenditure NON-OPERATING CHARGES Net Surplus for the Period

3,191,556 297,958 3,489,514 238,489 18,937 11,131 1,510 130,430 4 400,500 3,890,014

3,129,103 229,484 3,358,587 186,927 7,717 16,811 2,554 121,217 0 335,226 3,693,813

62,453 68,474 130,927 51,562 11,220 5,680 1,044 9,213 4 65,274 196,201

209,928 434,813 409,528 199,603 402,615 428,837 73,099 608,905 84,650 94,991 74,044 3,021,013 36,841 4,492 1,701 460 206 130,430 9,040 165,090 3,186,102 0 703,912

200,938 386,123 339,989 187,013 365,416 336,634 73,553 575,094 84,890 88,503 70,065 2,708,218 52,779 4,002 5,647 1,105 202 121,217 234,828 419,780 3,127,998 0 565,815

8,990 48,690 69,539 12,590 37,199 92,203 454 33,811 240 6,488 3,978 312,794 15,938 490 3,946 645 4 9,213 243,868 254,690 58,104 0 138,097

REPRESENTED BY Bank and cash Other assets Prepaid contributions, other liabilities Reserves Net Surplus for the Period

935,182 2,393,936 2,888,006 262,799 703,912

983,093 2,215,315 2,674,669 42,076 565,815

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2.

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2008

2008 2007 Increase/ Decrease

(in thousand )

ASSETS Current assets: BANKS AND CASH AMOUNTS RECEIVABLE : Outstanding contributions Other customers (net) Other amounts receivable PREPAYMENTS Non-current assets: PENSION SCHEME to be financed (*) PENSION SCHEME Buffer Fund Total assets LIABILITIES Current liabilities: Prepaid contributions and other payables to Member States Regulation Fund ACCRUED PAYABLES OTHER AMOUNTS PAYABLE UNTAKEN STAFF LEAVE Non-current liabilities: PENSION SCHEME Total liabilities NET ASSETS NET ASSETS/ RESERVES Reserves GNSS2, ARTES, PPF Envisat, Financial Mnmt. Reform, Stella, Exchange gains Reserve for Accruals and Provisions SURPLUS

935,182 492,096 103,001 70,354 158,131 1,758,764 1,343,229 227,125 1,570,354 3,329,118

983,093 589,619 15,985 59,302 69,942 1,717,941 1,270,452 210,015 1,480,467 3,198,408

47,911 97,523 87,016 11,052 88,189 40,823 72,777 17,110 89,887 130,710

467,102 23,993 567,617 213,441 62,610 1,334,763 1,553,243 1,553,243 2,888,006 441,113

483,653 39,072 570,851 43,610 57,016 1,194,202 1,480,467 1,480,467 2,674,669 523,739

16,551 15,079 3,234 169,831 5,594 140,561 72,776 72,776 213,337 82,626

64,561 327,360 703,912 441,113

50,456 92,532 565,815 523,739

14,105 234,828 138,097 82,626

MEMORANDUM ACCOUNTS Property, plant and equipment Fixed assets in progress INVENTORY OF FIXED ASSETS

2,965,153 318,279 3,283,432

2,788,810 339,150 3,127,960

176,343 20,871 155,472

(**) before allocation of 2008 surplus of 17.1 million

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3.

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2008

(in million ) CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Receipts of contributions 2008 Called Contributions Decrease in outstanding contributions Decrease in prepaid contributions Decrease in Regulation Fund Other receipts Other Income ESA financed programmes Third Party Programmes Plan for European Cooperating States Other receipts Increase in other customers Increase in other amounts receivable Decrease in other reserves

2,591.7 97.5 18.2 15.1 2,655.9 298.0 104.4 15.2 0.2 87.0 11.1 31.9 287.8 2,943.7

Payments Expenses for ESA Programmes Expenses for Third Party Programmes Expenses for Plan for European Cooperating States Other expenses Increase in prepayments to suppliers Increase in untaken staff leave Decrease in accrued payables Increase in other amounts payable Reimbursement of contributions Transfer of 2008 surplus to Pension Buffer Fund Net cash flow from operating activities CASH AND BANKS 31 December 2007 CASH AND BANKS 31 December 2008

3,012.0 36.8 4.5 2.3 88.2 5.6 3.2 169.8 2.9 17.1 2,991.6 47.9 983.1 935.2

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4.

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS/EQUITY FOR THE YEARS 200708

SURPLUS (in million ) (A) Balance at 31 December 2007 Allocation of Surplus 2007 to income 2008: Programmes funded by contributions Plan for European Cooperating States Programmes funded by Third Parties Management and Suspense Outputs Reimbursement to Participants Allocation to Financial Management Reform Reserve Allocation to Stella Growth Fund Allocation to exchange gains reserve Adjustments for accrued expenditure 2007 Sub-total Allocation of Surplus 2007 Surplus 2008 Net movements in reserves Balance 31 December 2008 565.8

RESERVES

RESERVE FOR ACCRUALS AND PROVISIONS (C) 92.5

TOTAL NET ASSETS

(B) 50.4

(A+B+C) 523.7

601.4 3.7 134.1 12.4 2.9 39.8 5.0 1.3 234.8 565.8 703.9 14.1 703.9 64.5

234.8

234.8 565.8 703.9 14.1

327.3

441.1

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 CHAIRS OF COUNCIL, PROGRAMME BOARDS AND OTHER DELEGATE BODIES

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Annual Report 2008

Chairs of Council, Programme Boards and other delegate bodies

Council
Chairman Vice-Chairs (to 30 June 2008) P. Tegnr (SE) D. Frst (CH) J. Wrner (DE) (from 1 July 2008) M. Lucena (ES) E. Beka (BE) D. Williams (UK)

Programme Boards
Joint Board on Communication Satellite Programmes H. Hannula (FI) Satellite Navigation Programme Board Earth Observation Programme Board Ariane Launcher Programme Board Human Spaceflight, Research and Applications Programme Board F. Udnaes (NO) J. Lomba (ES) C. Hohage (DE) S. Di Pippo (IT) G. Kraft (DE) A. Cramarossa (IT) M. Bourgeaud (CH) J. Droz (FR) R. de Groot (NL)

Other delegate bodies

Administrative and Finance Committee Industrial Policy Committee Science Programme Committee International Relations Committee Security Committee Agency Technology Transfer Board R. Sirey (UK) M. Wagner (BE) G. Debouzy (FR) J.-F. Mayence (BE) A. Le Gou (FR) P. Vinard (CH) B. Sode-Mogensen (DK) H. Posch (AT) L. Nordh (SE) S. Callari (FR) B. Frederiksson (SE K. Steinberg (DE)

Statutory bodies
Appeals Board Audit Commission Chairman Emeritus J. Massot (FR) J. Tavares (PT) Chairman J. Gunvaldsen (NO) W. Schellekens (NL) S. Nystrm (SE) A. Martinez de Aragon (ES)

Staff Association Central Committee

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National Delegations to Council AUSTRIA

Klaus Pseiner Harald Posch Andrea Kleinsasser

LUXEMBOURG
Pierre Decker Marc Serres

BELGIUM
Eric Beka Dominique Fonteyn Monique Wagner

NETHERLANDS
Hans de Groene Cor Katerberg Johan Lindeman

DENMARK
Henrik Grage Birgitte Sode-Mogensen Gorm Petersen

NORWAY
Bo Andersen Eirik Annexstad Geir Hovmork

FINLAND
Kari Tilli Kimmo Kanto

PORTUGAL
Virginia Corra Antonio Monteiro

FRANCE
Yannick dEscatha Franois Pellerin Stphane Janichewski

SPAIN
Mercedes Sierra Jorge Lomba Jorge Lopez Reig

GERMANY
Jan Wrner Ludwig Baumgarten Walter Dllinger

SWEDEN
Per Tegnr Thorwald Larsson Stefan Renlund

GREECE
Ioannis Tsoukalas Stamatios Krimigis Ioannis Papadakis

SWITZERLAND
Daniel Frst Daniel Neuenschwander Lino de Faveri

IRELAND
Aidan Hodson Valentine Hayes Tony McDonald

UNITED KINGDOM
David Williams Robert Canniff David Parker

ITALY
Giovani Bignami Fabio Cassese Augusto Cramarossa

CANADA
Guy Bujold Virendra Jha Hugues Gilbert

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