ABSTRACT
European space agency (ESA) core tasks are to define and put into effect a long-term European space policy of scientific research and technological development, and to encourage all members to co-ordinate their national programmes with those of the Agency to ensure that Europe maintains a competitive position in the field of space technology. The 2019 meeting of the ESA Ministerial Council that was held in November, in Seville, identified information, innovation, interaction, inspiration and infrastructure as the ‘five dimensions of space’, and reorganized ESA’s activities around the following pillars: safety and security; science and exploration. In February 2017 ESA announced a new Open Access policy, under which digital resources such as data sets and images were to be freely reusable by the media and general public. ESA’s space safety activities cover early warning and mitigation of potentially damaging solar flares and asteroids, the identification and removal of space debris and the development of mechanisms aimed at automating space traffic control.
