Esa Bulletin November 2001 [antikvár]

Lesa bulletin 108 november 2001_______The ESA Council at Ministerial LevelEdinburgh, 14-15 November 2001The Director General's Proposal for ESA's Policy and ProgrammesFirst-class scienceEven with a continuing decline in the budget for science programmes, the European science missions have achieved significant results in the last six years:-Soho has explored the Sun's internal structure, providing insights Into the workings of the solar nuclear fusion reactor and the solar dynamo.-Cluster is giving us a comprehensive vision of space weather.-ISO has discovered the ubiquitous presence of water molecules in the Universe.-XMM-Newton has greatly expanded our understanding of the composition of the enormous high-speed jets emitted by young stars.A large share in the World market Worldwide expenditure on space is estimated at around 70 billion Euros In 2001, The public sector still accounts for a very significant proportion of that spending, though the commercial sector Is moving rapidly towards a share of about 50%.Out of total public expenditure of about 38 billion Euros, the United States' share stands at 76%, the figure for Europe being just 14%, equally divided between ESA and the national programmes. The rest of the World spends 10% of the total.Although in interpreting these figures account has to be taken of variations in purchasing power from one country to another, the fact is that Europe's investment Is about one fifth of that of the United States. Even so, Europe has been able to secure a steady increase in its companies' share of the World commercial market - although the USA had a start of almost ten years.In the early eighties, Europe launched no commercial payloads at all and was completely out of the market for commercial satellites, a market that had come into being some seven years before. Today, twenty years on, thanks toSpace services are part of everyday life. TV broadcasting, weather forecasting, protection of the environment, financial services, and car-navigation all rely on globally operated satellite systems. At the same time, space is a vital tool for scientific research, serving the advancement of our understanding of the origins of life, the development of the Universe, and the complexity of the S terrestrial ecosystem.The resources offered by space also contribute significantly to meeting many of the challenges facing the Europe of today. I am thinking here of:-safeguarding and further Improving the well-being, security and prosperity of every citizen,-protecting the environment and ensuring sustainable development, and-preserving Europe's cultural Identity, diversity and value systems,in short, becoming 'the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the World'.To meet these challenges, Europe must do more than continue to exploit space effectively, drawing wherever possible on the results already achieved. It must also strive to Improve the overall efficiency of the entire European space sector, which Includes the efforts of scientists, Industrialists, public agencies (national as well as ESA), and service companies.Within this challenging environment, the European space community is already producing value for Europe. I am thinking In particular of:-first-class science-a large share in the World market for space infrastructure and services-major contributions to public-service provision for citizens.8