The State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) and the European Commission (EU) signed the Copernicus Cooperation Arrangement formalizing plans to develop cooperation under the Copernicus Earth observation programme.
The EU delegation to Ukraine said that under the Arrangement signed in line with the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and Eastern Partnership, SSAU would provide full, free and open access to space monitoring data from its Earth remote sensing satellites, as well as to geophysical and meteorological data of regional observatories to the Copernicus programme.
According to the document, it is planned to boost cooperation between SSAU, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) in the sphere of collection and use of data of space monitoring from European Sentinel satellites of the Copernicus programme.
Under the Arrangement, the sides would promote cooperation in processing space monitoring data for joint use in the following areas: long-term management of natural resources, monitoring of marine and coastal zones, water resources management, the impact of climate change and adaptation to them, disaster risk reduction, food security and rural development, and health management issues.
Each side will fund its own activities under the programme and adhere to the principle of ‘no exchange of funds.’ The National Center Of Space Facilities Control And Test would coordinate the programme in Ukraine.
