Brussels, Belgium, March 14, 2016.
On March 10, the Association of the European Space Research Establishments — ESRE — was formally established as an International Non-Profit Organisation according to Belgian Law (AISBL). ESRE gathers the leading space research centres of CIRA (Italy), DLR (Germany), INTA (Spain), NLR (Netherlands) and ONERA (France).
With the creation of ESRE, the leading national space research centers in Europe decided to strengthen their cooperation and to propose common R&D actions in order to advance cutting edge science and innovative technologies for the support of the competitiveness of the European space sector.
These R&D actions are also launched to provide contributions to the solution of the grand societal challenges and for supporting the necessary European response to a rapidly evolving global space market.
ESRE will pursue two key missions:
- to enhance the cooperation between the research centers in order to enlarge the science and technology base in support of European space industry and
- to position ESRE as one voice for space research proposing a common medium and long term space-related R&D approach to European governments and institutions.
After a first evaluation, ESRE identified the areas “collaborative small satellite constellations”, “future launching systems”, “cost-efficient satellite subsystem technologies” and “satellite-based greenhouse gases monitoring” as particularly promising for next-generation research and development.
For 2016, ESRE plans to start consultations and discussions with the European space sector.
