France in Space #217

1: DEPARTURE OF M. GERARD BRACHET, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF CNES

On September 19, 2002, Gérard Brachet announced that he is to leave his
position as director general of CNES (French Space Agency). He will be
working alongside the French Ministry of Research and New Technologies to
further foster the European cooperation and coordination in order to set up
the Galileo program. This program is Europe’s new satellite-aided
navigation system, that was developed by both the European Union and the
European Space Agency. Currently, both ministers in charge of CNES, Michèle
Alliot-Marie, who is the Defense Minister and Claudie Haigneré, who is the
Minister of Research and New Technologies, are in charge of space policies.
Furthermore, they affirm their suuport to CNES’ president, Alain
Bensoussan. In tight collaboration with both ministries, Mr. Bensoussan
will guarantee CNES efficiency in a highly competitive environment and will
further develop current actions to enable the integration of his company
into the broad picture of European sciences, space technologies and their
applications.
[CNES Press Release, 09/19/2002]

2: 1671ST FLIGHT FOR SOYUZ

The 1671st flight of a Soyuz launch vehicle successfully took place on
September 25, 2002, from Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launcher
lifted off on schedule at 10:58 p.m. Baikonour local time, and the Progress
spacecraft was accurately placed on the target orbit. This was the 6th
Soyuz mission in 2002 and the 75th successful launch in a row associated
with the Soyuz family of launch vehicles. Soyuz sustained launch rate
confirms its position as one of the world’s primary launch vehicles.
Starsem is the Soyuz Company. Shareholders in Starsem are EADS (35%), the
Russian Aviation and Space Agency (25%), the Samara Space Center (25%) and
Arianespace (15%). The Starsem manifest for Soyuz missions currently
includes contracted launches for Space Systems/Loral, Alcatel Space
Industries, the European Space Agency and Eumetsat.

[EADS Press Release, 09/25/2002]

**

On September 27, Alcatel announced the signature of a contract with the
China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) for the development and
construction of a new telecommunication satellite. This partnership will
enable both contractors to collaborate on the development of the first high
capacity Chinese telecommunication satellite. Alcatel will provide the
payload module, meaning the electronic equipment, that specifies the
satellite mission to CAST, which in turn will integrate it into the first
Chinese made high capacity communication platform DFH4, in order to build a
complete satellite. The new satellite, which will be delivered to APT (Hong
Kong), is designed to provide communication, radio and TV broadcasting
services to telecommunications operators as well as to radio and TV
stations. For the French company Alcatel Space, this new contract represent
a significant success in an ever growing Asian Pacific market.
[Alcatel Press Release, 09/27/2002]

4: 6TH FRAMEWORK PROGRAM FOR EUROPEAN RESEARCH

Claudie Haigneré, French Minister of Research and New Technologies, is in
charge of space policies, that has welcomed the agreement concerning the
last details of the implementation phase of the sixth framework program of
European research, after the adoption of the five specific related programs
by the European ministers in charge of Research. The agreement will enable
the European Commission to officially launch the new program, amounting to
17.5 billion Euros over a 4-year period (2003-2006). As of this fall, the
European scientific and industrial community will be able to present its
research projects with the possibility of signing contracts as early as
next year. This should significantly boost European research.
[Press Release of Minister of Youth, National Education and Research,
10/02/2002]

[From Alcatel Press Release, CNES Press Release, EADS Press Release, Press
Release of Minister of Youth, National Education and Research]