CNES ( French : Centre national d'études spatiales , lit. 'National Centre for Space Studies') is the French national space agency . Headquartered in central Paris , the agency comes under the supervision of the ministries of the Armed Forces , Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation .
15-639: It operates from the Toulouse Space Centre and the Guiana Space Centre . The president of CNES is Philippe Baptiste . CNES is a member of Institute of Space, its Applications and Technologies . It is Europe's largest national organization of its type. CNES was established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961. It is the world's third oldest space agency, after the Soviet space program (Russia), and NASA (United States). CNES
30-667: A space programme based in Europe is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Prisma (satellite project) Prisma is a satellite project led by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) which consist of two satellites that fly in formation. Prisma is operated in collaboration with CNES , the French space agency, which provides the radiofrequency metrology system that enables the satellites to fly in close formation while autonomously avoiding collisions. It
45-702: Is a research and development centre of CNES . Founded in September 1968, it is located in the Rangueil -Lespinet district of Toulouse in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in France . More than 1,700 employees are responsible for the development of most of the work for which CNES is responsible, with the exception of launch vehicles and their launches. This article related to
60-734: Is taking part in the Galileo navigation programme alongside the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA), and—in a wider international context—in the Cospas-Sarsat search-and-rescue system. The aforementioned Galileo navigation programme, though intended primarily for civilian navigational use, has a military purpose as well, like the similar American Global Positioning System and Russian GLONASS satellite navigational systems. In addition to Spot and
75-503: Is to reduce both the cost and duration of reusable vehicle refurbishment, and is partially motivated by the pressure of lower-cost competitive options with newer technological capabilities not found in the Ariane 6 . CNES concentrates on access to space, civil applications of space, sustainable development, science/technology research, and security/defence. France was the third space power (see Diamant ) to achieve access to space after
90-777: The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative (GMES)—and around the world have put in place satellites dedicated to observing the land, oceans, and atmosphere, as well as to hazard and crisis management. The best-known are the SPOT satellites flying the Vegetation instrument, the Topex/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2 oceanography satellites, the Argos system, Envisat , and the Pleiades satellites . CNES
105-493: The International Space Station is giving French scientists the opportunity to perform original experiments in microgravity . CNES is also studying formation flying, a technique whereby several satellites fly components of a much heavier and complex instrument in a close and tightly controlled configuration, with satellites being as close as tens of meters apart. CNES is studying formation flying as part of
120-632: The 6,000 reports have been filed by the public and airline professionals. Jacques Arnould, an official for the French Space Agency, said that the data had accumulated over a 30-year period and that UFO sightings were often reported to the Gendarmerie . In the last two decades of the 20th century, France was the only country whose government paid UFO investigators, employed by CNES's UFO section GEPAN, later known as SEPRA and now as GEIPAN . On March 22, 2007, CNES released its UFO files to
135-928: The Earth observation satellite PARASOL and the CALIPSO environment and weather satellite. It has also collaborated with the Indian Space Agency ( ISRO ) on the Megha-Tropiques Mission , which is studying the water cycle and how it has been impacted by climate change . CNES plays a major role in the ESA's Living Planet Programme of Earth observation satellites, having constructed the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite . In December 2006, CNES announced that it would publish its UFO archive online by late January or mid-February. Most of
150-545: The Swedish-led PRISMA project and on its own with the Simbol-x x-ray telescope mission. CNES currently collaborates with other space agencies on a number of projects, including orbital telescopes like INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory , XMM-Newton , and COROT and space probes like Mars Express , Venus Express , Cassini-Huygens , and Rosetta . CNES has collaborated with NASA on missions like
165-839: The USSR and US, sharing technologies with Europe to develop the Ariane launcher family. Commercial competition in space is fierce, so launch services must be tailored to space operators' needs. The latest versions of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle can launch large satellites to geosynchronous orbit or perform dual launches—launching two full-size satellites with one rocket—while the other launch vehicles used for European payloads and commercial satellites—the European/Italian Vega and Russian Soyuz-2 —are small and medium-lift launchers, respectively. CNES and its partners in Europe—through
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#1732766124735180-593: The future Pleiades satellites, CNES is working for the defence community as prime contractor for the Helios photo-reconnaissance satellites . Global Monitoring for Environment and Security —a joint initiative involving the EU, ESA, and national space agencies—pools space resources to monitor the environment and protect populations, though it also encompasses satellite support for armed forces on border patrol, maritime security, and peacekeeping missions. France's contribution to
195-441: The public through its website. The 100,000 pages of witness testimony, photographs, film footage, and audiotapes are an accumulation of over 1,600 sightings since 1954 and will include all future UFO reports obtained by the agency, through its GEIPAN unit. The CNES has several tracking stations . A partial list follows: Toulouse Space Centre The Toulouse Space Centre ( French : Centre spatial de Toulouse ; CST )
210-499: Was launched, along with the PICARD spacecraft, on 15 June 2010 on a Dnepr launcher from Dombarovskiy Cosmodrome , near Yasny , Russia. Its primary objective is to test autonomous formation flying. A secondary objective was to flight test a new monopropellant thruster using ammonium dinitramide (ADN) propellant. On 12 August 2010, SSC reported that the two satellites, called Mango and Tango , had separated from each other for
225-441: Was responsible for the training of French astronauts, until the last active CNES astronauts transferred to the European Space Agency in 2001. As of January 2015, CNES is working with Germany and a few other governments to start a modest research effort with the hope to propose a LOX / methane reusable launch vehicle by mid-2015. If built, flight testing would likely not start before approximately 2026. The design objective
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