Successful
Co-Operation Extends Dragon Programme
(24 April 2008) Following the success of the Dragon Programme, more than 300 leading European and Chinese scientists have gathered from 21 to 25 April 2008 in Beijing in the People's Republic of China to present their results and to kick off the programme's second phase, Dragon 2.
Mr Stefano Bruzzi, ESA's Head of EO Programme Planning & Coordination Service, and Mr Zhang Guocheng Director of National Remote Sensing Center of China, signing the protocol for the ESA/MOST Dragon 2 cooperation programme. (courtesy: ESA-MOST)
The Dragon Programme is a joint undertaking between ESA and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China designed to encourage increased exploitation of ESA and Chinese Earth Observation (EO) satellite data within China.
ESA’s Director for Legal Affairs and External Relations Mr Rene Oosterlinck addressing Dragon 2 Symposium participants at the opening ceremony in Beijing, China, on 21 April 2008. (courtesy: ESA-MOST)
Opening the Dragon 1 final symposium and
Dragon 2 Kick-Off symposium, ESA's Director for Legal Affairs and External
Relations Mr Rene Oosterlinck said: "The Sino-European Dragon Programme is a
co-operation of which we are very proud. In terms of organisation, it is a
small programme but one that has yielded great scientific results. By pooling
Chinese and European capacities together, we are achieving much better results
than if we had done it separately.
"In today's globalised world, Earth
Observation from Space can contribute to the solution of universal problems and
issues, such as environmental monitoring and food security, only if we all
continue to co-operate together and projects such as Dragon are a good
start."
Deputy Director General of High and New Technology Development and Industrialization of MOST Dr Liao Xiaohan during his opening address at the Dragon 2 Symposium in Beijing, China, on 21 April 2008. (courtesy: ESA-MOST)
In his opening address, Deputy Director
General of High and New Technology Development and Industrialization of MOST
Liao Xiaohan said: "The Dragon Programme has become the model of Sino-European
science and technology co-operation. The successful first phase of the Dragon
Programme has promoted co-operation between remote sensing experts from China
and Europe, enhanced remote sensing technological capability of China and
Europe, generated positive and extensive international implications and created
a foundation for a more in-depth partnership as the next step."
"Europe,
over the last 30 years, has established itself as one of the leading players in
Earth Observation. Scientific and operational missions, deployed by ESA,
Eumetsat and their Member States, allow coverage for a wide range of domains in
Earth sciences and in applications," said ESA's Stefano Bruzzi, Head of EO
Programme Planning & Co-ordination Service.
"This impressive
capacity has been built from the beginning in a framework of international
co-operation which ESA intends to pursue and enlarge in future years. Dragon is
a very good example of the way ahead."
The Dragon 1 Programme, which
began in April 2004, sought to stimulate increased scientific co-operation in
EO science and applications between China and Europe.
Under Dragon 1,
there were 16 projects exploiting data from ESA EO missions, including
agricultural and forest monitoring, water resource assessment, atmospheric
chemistry, terrain measurement, the ocean environment and climate
change.
The projects' outstanding scientific results were presented at
the Dragon 1 final symposium and the final scientific publications are now
available.
More than 300 leading European and Chinese scientists have gathered from 21 to 25 April 2008 in Beijing in the People’s Republic of China for the Dragon 1 final symposium and Dragon 2 Kick-Off symposium. (courtesy: ESA-MOST)
Unlike Dragon 1, Dragon 2 will provide
European and Chinese scientists with equal access to the data available from
relevant ESA and Chinese EO satellites.
Dragon 2 will continue to pair
lead and young scientists together, organise training seminars, offer advanced
courses and provide academic exchanges and training programmes for European and
Chinese scientists.
Under Dragon 2, the number of projects has been
increased to 25 following an Announcement of Opportunity, in which 52 proposals
were received. The projects will cover the following themes: atmospheric
studies, topographic mapping, hydrology, sea-ice monitoring, coastal-zones
monitoring, land environment, geology, renewable resources, oceanography,
hazards, large sports events and the calibration and validation of satellite
data.
The Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument aboard ESA's Envisat captures the Nima-Gaize earthquake in Tibet. This 70-day interval data was acquired from 23 November 2007 to 1 February 2008. (courtesy: ESA, J. Sun, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration)
EO satellites are particularly useful for
monitoring and understanding environmental phenomena in China, the world's
third largest country, because of the country's sheer size and various types of
terrain, which range from Himalayan peaks to tropical lowlands.
Dragon 2
EO data delivery will commence in May 2008 and continue for four
years.
(source: ESA)
