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CNES
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Owner |  France |
| Established | 1961 |
| Administrator | Yannick d'Escatha |
| Budget | $2.49 billion |
| Website | http://www.cnes.fr/ |
The Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public establishment of industrial and commercial character"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris. It operates out of the Guiana Space Centre, but also has payloads launched from other space centres operated by other countries. CNES formerly was responsible for the training of French astronauts, however the last of them were transferred to the European Space Agency in 2001.
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Assured access to space underpins any global, coherent space policy. France was the 3rd space power to achieve this distinction, sharing technologies with Europe to boost development of the Ariane launcher family.
International competition in space is fierce, so launch services must be tailored to space operators’ needs. The new versions of Ariane 5 can launch large satellites or perform dual launches. And the Vega and Soyuz small and medium-lift launchers are now set to round out this range.
Alongside its European partners, CNES also offers its expertise in satellite deployment.
Space resources are vital for learning more about the Earth and its evolution. Earth observation and measurements offer ways to ensure sustainable stewardship of our planet.
CNES and its partners in Europe—through the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative (GMES)—and around the world have put in place satellites dedicated to observing the land, oceans and atmosphere, as well as to hazard and crisis management.
The best-known are the SPOT satellites flying the Vegetation instrument, the Topex/Poseidon and Jason-1 oceanography satellites, the Argos system, Envisat and—in the near future—Jason-2 and the Pleiades constellation.
Space technologies are set to offer society a number of advances in the coming years through the emergence of new services. Space is a great equaliser for bridging territorial disparities in education, health and citizenship. For example, CNES has developed the concept of a “communications-enabled village” that combines the high data rates offered by satellite technology with terrestrial technologies.
CNES is also taking part in the Galileo navigation programme alongside the European Union and Esa, and—in a wider international context—in the Cospas-Sarsat search-and-rescue system.
In an ever-more-complex world, independent information-gathering, location and civil and military intelligence capabilities are a prerequisite for good, independent and responsive decision-making.
In addition to Spot and the future Pleiades satellites, CNES is working for the defence community as prime contractor for the Helios satellites.
GMES—a joint initiative involving the EU, Esa and national space agencies—pools space resources to monitor the environment and protect populations, but it also encompasses satellite support for armed forces and for European organisations on humanitarian or peacekeeping missions.
Orbital telescopes such as Integral, XMM and Corot, and space probes like Mars and Venus Express, Cassini-Huygens and Rosetta, are revolutionising our knowledge of the Universe and our Solar System.
Recent satellites such as Demeter (earthquakes), Parasol and Calipso (radiation budget) and Megha-Tropiques (water cycle) are profoundly altering our understanding of the processes at work in the Earth system.
France’s contribution to the International Space Station is giving French scientists the opportunity to perform original experiments in microgravity.
CNES is also an innovator, and is currently studying formation flying, a technique whereby several satellites fly components of a much heavier and complex instrument in a tightly controlled configuration.
In December 2006, CNES announced that it would publish its UFO archive online by late January or mid-February. Most of the 6,000 reports have been filed by the public and airline professionals. Jacques Arnould, an official for the French Space Agency, said that the data had accumulated over a 30 year period and that they were often reported to the Gendarmerie.
In the last 2 decades of the 20th century, France was the only country with officially paid UFO investigators, employed by CNES's UFO section GEPAN, later known as SEPRA and now as GEIPAN.
On Thursday, March 22, 2007, CNES released its UFO files to the public through its website. The 100,000 pages of witness testimony, photographs, film footage and audiotapes are an accumulation of over than 1,600 sightings since 1954 and will include all future UFO reports obtained by the agency, through its GEIPAN unit.
The French skeptics have heavily criticized the quality of the work done by the GEPAN, and show a lot of flaws in their methodologies. See (in French):
- Rossoni, D., Maillot, E., & Déguillaume, E. (2007). Les ovnis du CNES – 30 ans d’études officielles. www.book-e-book.com. (extracts from the book). Critical skeptical investigations of GEPAN's work.
The CNES has several tracking stations. Partial list:[1][2]
- Kourou in French Guyana
- Issus Aussaguel, 20 km away from Toulouse
- Kerguelen Island, French Southern and Antarctic Lands
- Hartebeesthoek, South Africa
- Kiruna, Sweden for the SPOT program
- 1961 CNES founded. Hammaguir missile range built in Algeria.
- 1962 Diamant Launch Vehicle introduced.
- 1962 First Berenice rocket launched.
- 1963 Cats launched into space via Véronique rockets.
- 1965 First French satellite put in orbit. [3]
- 1967 Hammaguir range closed.
- 1968 Toulouse Space Centre completed.
- 1969 French Guiana Space Centre completed.
- 1973 Évry Space Centre completed.
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- CNES — Homepage (French)
- CNES — Homepage (English)
- CNES — UFO Data
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