ESA and Argentina sign extension of Cooperation Agreement (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

20 May 2008

ESA and Argentina sign extension of Cooperation Agreement

On 8 May 2008, the Cooperation Agreement between the Argentine Republic and
ESA was renewed for five years.

The Exchange of Letters to renew the Cooperation Agreement between the
Argentine Republic and ESA was signed by Rene Oosterlinck, ESA's Director of
Legal Affairs and External Relations, and Ambassador Victorio Taccetti,
Secretary of External Relations, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Buenos Aires. The original agreement was signed on 11 March 2002 and entered
into force on 22 September 2003.

An ESA delegation was also in Buenos Aires to discuss the possible
installation of a Deep Space Ground Station (35 m antenna) that would
provide support to ESA's space exploration programme, for future scientific
missions, in particular ExoMars and Mars Rover.

Argentina has a continuous and established cooperation with ESA. Since the
first agreement on reception and distribution of ERS-1 and ERS-2 signed in
1997 and the agreement between Argentina and ESA on space cooperation for
peaceful purposes, signed on 11 March 2002, a lot has been done by the two
agencies. The Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) of
Argentina has been designated to implement this Cooperation Agreement.

CONAE provided assistance in the launch of Integral in October 2002. Joint
training courses have been set up with CONAE, and ESA supports regular
traineeships for Argentinean students. Various workshops organised by CONAE
have been financially supported by ESA. Recently the UN/Argentina/ESA
Workshop on Sustainable Development in Mountain Areas of Andean Countries
was held in Mendoza, 2630 November 2007.

Argentina has a longstanding experience in Earth observation,
telecommunications, space science, medicine and space biology experiments in
microgravity, for example. The Argentinean spacecraft SAC-C launched into
polar orbit in 2000 joined the ranks of other international Earth
observation satellites. In July 2003, Argentina also signed the
International Charter on Space and Major Disasters. This charter has just
been activated for Chile to support monitoring the Chaiten Volcano eruption.

Argentina remains an important regional partner for ESA in South America.

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