October 15, 2018

France-South Korea space cooperation - CNES, KARI and KMA commit together to Space Climate Observatory

Monday 15 October in Paris, on the occasion of the state visit to France of South Korea’s President Moon Jae-In and in the presence of Frédérique Vidal, France’s Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, and You Young-Min, South Korea’s Minister of Science and ICT, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall, Lim Cheol-Ho, President of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), and Jang Jae-Dong, Director at the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA, National Meteorological Satellite Center), signed a letter of intent concerning the Space Climate Observatory (SCO).

This agreement marks a new milestone in space cooperation between France and South Korea, providing for new bilateral activities and boosting CNES’s commitment to tackling climate change. Today’s event follows on from the meeting between the three agencies on 2 July in Seoul, where CNES presented the SCO to its partners. The goal of CNES, which has made tackling climate change one of its priorities, is to federate the world’s space players around the SCO, an initiative launched at the One Planet Summit last December to share space data and thus help to understand and measure the impacts of climate change to help combat it.

In the letter of intent signed today, the three agencies express their desire to work together on setting up the infrastructures required for the SCO and to supply the observatory with satellite data on oceans, land surfaces and ecosystems.

France and South Korea have been working together successfully in space for over 30 years. France has regularly supported the development of South Korea’s space programme by building satellites, designing scientific instruments and equipment and providing launch services. Since the early 2000s, CNES has been involved in the development of KARI’s Earth-observing satellites as well as the design and management of its launch facilities and the rollout of its KASS satellite navigation system.

After the signature, Jean-Yves Le Gall commented: “I’m delighted to see this new milestone in France-South Korea space cooperation in the field of climate, which is a major focus of our partnership with KARI and KMA, and in particular their commitment to implementing the Space Climate Observatory. Today’s signature bodes well for the third France-South Korea space forum to be held in South Korea in the spring of next year.”

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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