October 2, 2019

CNES Science Programmes Committee meets First for new 2019-2024 team

Tuesday 1 October, CNES’s Science Programmes Committee (CPS) met at the agency’s Head Office in Paris Les Halles. The CPS advises the CNES Board of Directors on matters relating to space science research and helps it to shape the agency’s science priorities. Today’s meeting was the first since the appointment in March of the new committee members for 2019-2024 and of its new Chair, Gilles Bergametti.

Kicking off the work of the new CPS, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall reviewed the latest developments in space science in recent months:

  • In universe sciences, special mention was given to the delivery of the SuperCam instrument to JPL in June, the new results of seismology readings from the InSight/SEIS mission on Mars, the continuing harvest of results from the Parker Solar Probe mission and CNES’s proposal to supply an instrument for China’s Chang’e 6 lunar mission.
  • In Earth sciences, the go-ahead for ESA’s FORUM mission designed to measure our planet’s radiation budget at wavelengths for which coverage is currently sparse, and the delivery to JPL of CNES’s contribution to the KaRIn instrument for the SWOT mission.

A status check was also presented on the Science Survey Seminar to be held in Le Havre from 8 to 10 October. This seminar is the culmination of a year-long planning effort involving some 200 people from the scientific community and CNES. Jean-Yves Le Gall underlined the fundamental importance of this task to look beyond the horizon of ongoing projects and prepare for a common future in an environment teeming with ideas and opportunities. He stressed the quality of preparatory work undertaken and thanked, through the new CPS members, all of the people and organizations partnering CNES in this endeavour.

Lastly, preparations for the Space19+ ESA Ministerial Conference in Seville later this year related to the CPS’s activities were also addressed.

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CONTACTS
Pascale Bresson    Press Officer    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Raphaël Sart    Press Officer    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 74 51    raphael.sart@cnes.fr

cp134-2019_-_cps_octobre_va.pdf (pdf - 424.08 KB)
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