President Accoyer, distinguished members of the Parliamentary Group on Space, and guests, thank you for the opportunity to address you today. I am honored to be with you and look forward to the opportunity to discuss bilateral cooperation with France as well as more general European space collaboration with NASA, and my perspective on the

The mission of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is “to serve as a global forum for the collaboration of developers and users of spatial data products and services, and to advance the development of international standards for geospatial interoperability.”

Addressing the global issue of biodiversity loss, participants from all over the world recently gathered in Germany to attend the UN’s Convention of Biological Diversity Conference of Parties.

Whether for surface imagery, altimetry, studies of aerosols and clouds or recording the Earth’s magnetic field, satellites permit a global view of our Earth and in combination with more precise local in situ measurements offer enormous potential in understanding how the Earth ’system’ works from the planet’s core out to the stratosphere, helping us to manage our Earth.

2 June 2008.

For more than 40 years, Earth observing satellites have delivered valuable data about our planet and have enabled a better understanding and improved management of the Earth and its environment.

The bulletin UserLink “Inside Preview & Risk-Eos”, published by the French Civil Protection with the proactive contribution of the Italian Civil Protection and the Swedish Rescue Service Agency, is the reference information source for End-Users on Preview and Risk-Eos projects and their initiatives in the field of GMES. “Preview” aims at developing new geo-information services

China launched a second Olympic weather forecasting satellite, the Fengyun-3 (FY-3) May Tuesday 27.

(28 May 2008) Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), the world’s leading small satellite manufacturer, has secured a contract worth €1.6 million from Astrium GmbH, Germany to proceed with work on a new contract to develop and supply the Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) EarthCARE Mission.

Between 3.5 and 4.5 million square kilometres (km2) of vegetation worldwide are consumed by fire every year, an area equivalent to the size of the EU. This is the result of a study conducted by EU-funded researchers and published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

(27 May 2008). A new launch date has been set for GOCE. The change of date is due to precautionary measures taken after the malfunction of an upper-stage section of a Russian Proton launcher. Now confirmed not to affect GOCE’s Rockot launcher, the most advanced gravity mission to date is scheduled for lift-off on 10 September 2008.

ERDAS announces the opening of a new office in Liège, Belgium. Effective May 27, 2008, ERDAS has moved from its Grâce-Hollogne, Belgium office to a new, larger location in Liège. Supporting ERDAS’ growth in Europe, the Liège office includes state-of-the art training and meeting facilities, in a convenient and central location for customers and business partners.

The $250 million initial public stock offering (IPO) planned by satellite Earth observation imagery provider DigitalGlobe Inc. will give investors an opportunity to make side-by-side comparisons of the Longmont, Colo.-based company with its principal competitor, GeoEye Inc. of Dulles, Va.

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch its own satellite imagery on the internet six months from now, rivalling popular mapping service Google Earth.

In a new publication “Window on GMES”, the vast palette of GMES services is illustrated through examples and interviews with key stakeholders. This publication is destined to key political makers, a broader sphere of users and the wider public. “Window on GMES” is being published by the “BOSS4GMES”: http://www.boss4gmes.eu/boss4gmes/Home.do consortium, a FP6 project. The BOSS4GMES

Munich – May 20, 2008 – GAF AG, an internationally active geo-information technology company, announces the successful completion of the design, implementation and testing of the Geological and Mineral Resources Information System (GMRIS) for Papua New Guinea at the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) in Port Moresby.