February 25, 2014

CNES’s new Science Programmes Committee holds first meeting

CNES’s new Science Programmes Committee (CPS) recently held its first meeting, chaired by Jean-Loup Puget, following the appointment of its members—proposed by CNES—by the agency’s overseeing ministries for a term of five years. The term of the previous CPS, chaired by Catherine Césarsky, expired at the end of last year.
CNES’s Science Programmes Committee advises the agency’s Board of Directors on matters relating to space science research; it therefore plays a key role in identifying CNES’s science priorities. The committee’s analysis and opinions help CNES to orient its medium-term science programmes and thus initiate preliminary concept or technology research studies likely to spawn new space projects.
The next major step for the CPS is the space science seminar in La Rochelle from 18-20 March, after which it will meet again to analyse conclusions and make recommendations. The CPS’s task is to define the focus of programmes and work with the science community to map out
and plan future research directions, all within a carefully controlled budget. Universe sciences (chiefly ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme), continuing international cooperation (notably with the United States on robotic exploration of Mars and hydrography), the importance of accomplishing the ExoMars programme and CNES’s crucial role in new space-related disciplines like fundamental research (PHARAO and Microscope programmes) feature among its top priorities. Aside from its programmatic responsibilities, the CPS also oversees and defines the working methods of the laboratories that play a pivotal role in designing scientific instruments and exploiting the data they collect.
CNES press contacts
Alain Delrieu Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 74 04 alain.delrieu@cnes.fr
Julien Watelet Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37 julien.watelet@cnes.fr
www.cnes.fr/presse