Further evidence of Europe marshalling its resources for a push to technological non-dependence on outside powers came yesterday in the form of a co-operation agreement between the European Space Agency and the European Defence Agency.
The agreement, signed at the show by ESA director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain and EDA chief executive Claude-France Arnould, will see ESA take guidance from EDA in directing its research efforts toward technologies with space and defence applications.
Arnould said that while the two organisations will take different "lines of action" in research, there are "critical technologies" for European non-dependence which cross over the two agencies' remits.
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Civil and security needs overlap in several areas of the EU's recently strengthened space policy, including development of an independent European space situational awareness capability, to identify debris threats to orbiting assets and near-Earth objects - principally asteroids - posing a collision threat.
Other technology areas offering potential for co-operation include satellite communications and Earth observation, said Arnould.
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Source: Flight Daily News
