The Ministers in charge of space activities in the European Space Agency's 18 Member States and Canada today concluded a successful two-day Council meeting in The Hague, agreeing to undertake new initiatives in several fields and endorsing the next phases of a set of ongoing programmes.Today’s decisions are a further step towards giving Europe the means to respond to global challenges. In keeping with the European Space Policy, designed in cooperation with the European Commission, the measures will further strengthen Europe’s role in the development and exploitation of space applications serving public policy objectives and the needs of European citizens and enterprises.These decisions have particular relevance at the present time, showing as they do Europe’s determination to invest in space as a key sector providing for innovation, economic growth, strategic independence and the preparation of the future. Decisions on programmes/activitiesOn the programmatic side, the Ministers took decisions concerning the full range of the Agency’s mandatory and optional programmes: The decisions taken concern the following: a) The Agency’s mandatory activities: s Funding of the Level of Resources for 2009-2013 covering the Scientific Programme and basic activities. b) Continuation of ongoing optional programmes and start of new programmes: s Subscriptions for the Launcher programmes, including funding of the Guiana Space Centre, Ariane 5 and Vega accompaniment technology programmes, Ariane 5 evolution and the future launchers preparatory programme. s Subscriptions for the Earth Observation activities, including the second segment of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Space Component programme, the Meteosat 3rd generation development programme and a novel Climate Change Initiative on the provision of essential climate variables. s Subscriptions for the human spaceflight, microgravity and human exploration programmes including exploitation and evolution of the International Space Station, on-board research in life and physical sciences and definition studies on the evolution of a returnable transfer vehicle.
