Poland becomes the fourth ESA European Cooperating State (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

4 May 2007

Poland becomes the fourth ESA European Cooperating State

On 27 April 2007, Pawel Poncyljusz, Secretary of State in the Ministry of
Economy, and Rene Oosterlinck, ESA Director of Legal Affairs and External
Relations, signed the European Cooperating State Agreement in Warsaw.

Poland is the fourth European Cooperating State (ECS) following Hungary
(April 2003), Czech Republic (November 2003) and Romania (February 2006).
Poland was one of the first Eastern European countries to conclude a
Cooperation Agreement with ESA in the field of the peaceful use of outer
space, signed in 1994, followed by another one in January 2002.

Poland has a long-standing tradition in space activities. Polish
institutions have participated as Co-investigators in almost all the ESA
Science projects: Ulysses; ISO (archive data); SOHO; XMM (observing time;
sarchive); Cluster; Double Star; Huygens; Mars Express; Herschel (hardware
for the HIFI instrument); Planck; XEUS; Integral; Rosetta and BepiColombo.
Polish researchers have also had some activities related to the ExoMars
rover instruments. Polish Principal Investigators are very active with the
utilisation of Envisat data. Training and several fellowships at ESA and
Members States establishments have been granted to Polish students. Several
students are currently involved in the ESA educational project known as the
Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative (SSETI).

This signing of the ECS Agreement and the upcoming PECS (Plan for European
Cooperating State) Charter represents a new milestone in the relations
between Poland and ESA, as Poland will now be able to participate in almost
all ESA programmes and activities.

During the coming months Poland will define, together with ESA, the specific
areas and projects for cooperation. The PECS Charter will have to be
subscribed within one year.

For any further information please contact:

Anabelle Fonseca Colomb
ESA International Relations Department
Tel. +33.1.53.69.72.38
Fax. +33.1.53.69.76.27

Bernard Zufferey
ESA PECS Manager
Tel. +31.71.565.3498

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