Meteorology, Meteorological, History

An IGO
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weather and
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HISTORY OF EUMETSAT, p86.

HISTORY OF EUMETSAT, p84.

p85.

EUMETSAT would pay for the basic meteorological payload. EUMETSAT would then pay for a second platform of the same kind, thus taking advantage of ESA's expertise in research and development but retaining operational control when the second satellite was launched. EUMETSAT would be responsible for finding partners who might want to pay to have their instrument fly on the second platform.

A second option, recommended as a contingency, was that EUMETSAT should study development of a small satellite dedicated only to basic meteorological observation. This would leave all operational decisions in EUMETSAT's hands. Despite the advantages, the document says: "At this stage it would be politically very difficult to consider working independently of ESA, but this option should remain open on a contingency basis until final agreement has been reached with ESA."

The third option was joint satellite procurement with NOAA. This option had even greater political drawbacks than EUMETSAT working alone.

The Secretariat put some very rough comparative costs forward, but acknowledged these were of little absolute value. They were sufficient, however, to cause consternation. Nothing concentrates the mind like money, and the subsequent debate about polar orbiting satellites as reported in the minutes of the tenth Council meeting has, for the first time, a truly focused, substantive air.

"Many delegates expressed concern over the cost of developing a 'European' polar system", writes the minute taker. The Netherlands said that further analysis would have to be made on system requirements and data availability and that a larger user community should be sought to help pay for the satellite^l7. Discussion ranged freely over the satellite options. Some emphasised the need to continue working with ESA to develop a mutually acceptable platform. This was the course of action favoured by the STG. Others, in particular France, doubted that ESA could meet the needs of operational meteorology. Yet others argued in favour of initiating discussions with NOAA to see whether joint procurement would be feasible.

In the end the Council adopted a Resolution that kept its options wide open. EUMETSAT, said the Resolution, should: consider further the ESA-EUMETSAT strategy and ideas for an independent EUMETSAT satellite; prepare alternative and independent plans, including joint procurement with NOAA; continue developing plans for instruments for the morning orbit; inform ESA, NOAA and NASA of the Resolution.

During more detailed discussions by the PAC in September 1989, Tillmann Mohr asked, in his capacity as Chairman, whether it was right for the Secretariat to negotiate with NOAA if some governments would find such a solution politically or financially unacceptable. The question arose because of the financial dynamics surrounding space policy in Europe.

ESA, as explained in the context of the MSG programme, has an industrial policy that obliges the Agency to place a percentage of industrial

17 - What was increasingly in delegates' minds as the EPS story evolved was that EUMETSAT could have a role in monitoring climate and the environment on a routine basis.

SEE ALSO| |

1. Meteorologists shed political shackles, a review of Declan Murphy's history of the first 25 years of EUMETSAT (2011), by Helen Gavaghan.

2. An interview in 2010 with Dr Tillman Mohr, a special advisor to the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organisation, in Science, People & Politics.

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Contents

Preface

Foreword

Introduction

Ch.1

Ch.2

Ch.3

Ch.4

Ch.5

Ch.6

Ch.7

Ch.8

The History of EUMETSAT is available in English and French from EUMETSAT©.
First printed 2001. ISBN 92-9110-040-4

Eumetsat meteorology meteorological artificial satellites
European Space Agency weather climate policy politics history