EARTH, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE Partnerships are inherent to the success of CNES projects. Such cooperation has been translated this year into the visual, sensitive and original language of Christiane Beauregard, an artist from Quebec who has created a multifaceted character embodying CNES’s collaboration with its international partners in a poetic, dreamlike image especially for this year’s annual report. Christiane Beauregard is a multi-talented artist working as an illustrator and designer for European and North American clients. CNES, THE FRENCH SPACE AGENCY STANDING TALL ON THE GLOBAL STAGE ACCESS TO SPACE 26 34 12 2
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EARTH, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE
Partnerships are inherent to the success of CNES projects. Such cooperation has been
translated this year into the visual, sensitive and original language of Christiane Beauregard,
an artist from Quebec who has created a multifaceted character embodying CNES’s
collaboration with its international partners in a poetic, dreamlike image especially for this
year’s annual report. Christiane Beauregard is a multi-talented artist working as an illustrator
and designer for European and North American clients.
CNES, THE FRENCH SPACE AGENCY STANDING TALL ON THE GLOBAL STAGE
ACCESS TO SPACE
26
3412
2
SECURITY AND DEFENCE
SPACE SCIENCES
CIVIL APPLICATIONS
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
4 Profile
6 President’s message
8 2012 in brief
10 CNES Board of Directors
11 Organization chart
CNES, THE FRENCH SPACE AGENCY STANDING TALL ON THE GLOBAL STAGE14 Five strategic focuses for an ambitious space policy
16 Toulouse Space Centre
18 Launch Vehicles Directorate
20 Guiana Space Centre
22 Active human resources management
24 External communications: showing CNES’s utility
and the benefits of space
ACCESS TO SPACE29 Ten launches in 2012
30 Adapted Ariane 5 ME and Ariane 6: Europe reinvents Ariane
32 Vega: successful maiden flight
EARTH, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE36 Studying ocean dynamics with NASA and ISRO
40 Solid Earth observed by CNES and the European Space Agency
41 European synergies harnessed for meteorology
42 France & Germany: a shared interest in studying greenhouse gases
43 Close ties with the scientific community
CIVIL APPLICATIONS46 Fast fixed satellite broadband for all
48 Connected by satellite—anytime, anywhere
49 Argos-4: the next generation for tracking and environment
monitoring
50 Space telecommunications and medicine
SECURITY AND DEFENCE54 Observation at the closest quarters
56 Military telecommunications: the shift to broadband
57 Intelligence: locating ground-based radar sources from space
SPACE SCIENCES60 Mars exploration: France at the heart of the United States’ MSL mission
64 CoRoT and exoplanets: an impressive string of successes
66 Planetology in the limelight
67 CNES, LPC2E, CEA, IRAP, APC, LATMOS and others: all together on Taranis
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
52
58
44
68
annual report
20123
CNES helps the government to shape French space policy
and implements it in five key strategic sectors:
- Access to space
- Earth, environment and climate
- Civil applications
- Security and defence
- Space sciences
CNES
- represents France within the European Space Agency (ESA)
and the international arena;
- pursues a forward-looking strategy of excellence;
- invents tomorrow’s space systems to harness space for
society;
- and partners ESA, other space agencies, the scientific com-
munity and industry.
launches from the Guiana Space Centre in 2012
10
Profile
direct jobs in the French space sector
16,000
in revenues for the French space industry
3 BILLION EUROS
4
CNES wins award for managerial excellence
On 20 March 2012, at the fourth “Managerial performance” symposium, the French standards institute AFNOR rewarded the CNES Inspectorate General and Quality Directorate (IGQ) for its results implementing the principles of the European Foundation for Quality Management. EFQM is a European collection of good management practices, used in both public and private sectors to guide improvement projects. IGQ managers decided to apply the key principles of this model to its own operations. These include conducting self-assessments, designed to give a 360° diagnostic view of the organization and identify priority actions; seeking balanced results that will satisfy those outside and inside the agency—namely its overseeing ministries and the executive committee, project leaders and managerial employees; and thirdly, checking the effectiveness of improvement actions taken.
Focus
Focus
projects underway in 2012, nine of them new
30
The CNES managers’
seminar brings together
all CNES directors and
departmental heads.
Representatives of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters meeting
at CNES head office in Paris, October 2012.
CNES chairs International Charter on Space and Major Disasters for six months
As France’s representative, CNES took over as official chair of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters at the meeting of the Steering Committee in Paris from 9 to 12 October 2012. The French term will be marked by the opening up of universal access to charter services. The charter is the fruit of a common desire and commitment by space agencies with operational Earth-observation satellites to provide imagery free of charge to local authorities, emergency response teams and the United Nations in the event of a natural or man-made disaster anywhere in the world.Created in July 1999 by CNES and ESA, the charter’s membership has since increased to 15 space agencies, each of which takes it in turn to chair the organization for six months at a time. In 12 years, the charter has been activated over 350 times and provided valuable support to relief teams on many occasions.
annual report
20125
In 2012, CNES wrote a great new chapter in its history.
At each of its space centres, the men and women that are
the lifeblood of the agency reached ever higher levels of
achievement at home and on the European and international
stage.
The Toulouse Space Centre can boast the docking of the ATV
Edoardo Amaldi with the International Space Station, the
success of the ChemCam and SAM instruments aboard
the Curiosity rover on Mars, the performance of IASI-2 on
MetOp-B, the orbiting of the third and fourth Galileo satel-
lites and the flawless operation of Pleiades 1B.
The Launch Vehicles Directorate in Paris can be proud of the
groundwork that led to Europe’s commitment to the Ariane 6
programme put forward by CNES. Ariane 6 is the only way
we will remain at the top of the international commercial
launch market in the coming decade.
The Guiana Space Centre hosted for the first time in its his-
tory seven launches by Ariane 5, two by Soyuz and one by
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
CNES driving innovation for jobs
Vega, lofting into orbit 75 tonnes of payload in total. This is
a new record for the base, consolidating French Guiana’s
position in the world launch arena.
Head office, in Paris, has led an ambitious policy in terms of
human resources, programmes, budget and outreach, open-
ing up new horizons and contributing to the huge success
of the European Space Agency’s ministerial council meeting
in Naples, Italy.
I thus found CNES in excellent health on my appointment
as President by the French government on 3 April 2013, and
I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Yannick
d’Escatha, and his management team for enabling such
major progress in recent years.
We shall continue along this path to success, investing even
more in access to space, sciences of the Universe, Earth
observation, applications and finally defence and security.
Most will be cooperative programmes, allowing us to broaden
our expertise while leveraging our financial resources.
This report therefore focuses on projects in partnership.
aris can be proud of the
Europe’s commitment to the Ariane 6
e put forward by CNES. Ariane 6 is the only way
we will remain at the top of the international commercial
launch market in the coming decade.
The Guiana Space Centre hosted for the first time in its his-
tory seven launches by Ariane 5, two by Soyuz and one by
ound
as President
I would like
d’Escatha, a
major progress
We shall continu
more in access t
observation, appli
Most will be coopera
our expertise whil
This report therefore
6
CNES will also play a key role in economic diplomacy, sup-
porting companies seeking to export. After consolidating
access to space, we shall now consider the best way to secure
the future of our commercial satellites, taking our cue from
plans for Ariane 6.
CNES is today a key driver of innovation for jobs. To fulfil this
mission, we need to be ambitious. We must chart our future
course, more specifically for 2020, since that is the focal
point for our main programmes and why I formed my idea to
structure our efforts around two areas—ambition and 2020,
through a programme called quite simply ‘Ambition 2020’.
We can face the future with confidence because CNES is now
an undisputed leader setting the standard for the rest.
As President, I shall strive relentlessly to ensure that CNES
remains an ambition for France.
Jean-Yves Le Gall
CNES President
30 April 2013
“CNES will also play a key role in economic diplomacy, supporting companies seeking to export.”
Jean-Yves Le Gall
CNES President
annual report
20127
2012 in brief
26 JanuaryCNES’s Orbital Systems Research & Technology
Day in Toulouse focuses on what the near future
holds for satellite buses, innovative technologies
and new-generation satellites.
13 FebruaryVega completes a fully successful maiden
flight from the Guiana Space Centre, orbiting
two satellites and seven nanosatellites,
including Robusta, developed by the
University of Montpellier 2 with support
from the Toulouse Space Centre.
23 MarchLaunch of the European ATV Edoardo
Amaldi. On 29 March, this unmanned
cargo ship docks with the ISS,
bringing air, water, fuel and other
supplies. It burns up over the South
Pacific on 3 October. The ATV Control
Centre at the Toulouse Space Centre
monitors the mission from start
to finish.
25-28 JuneThe Toulouse Space Show showcases space
applications. This third edition highlights the
vibrancy of the space sector in the Midi-Pyrenees
region. The guest of honour is Italy, represented
by Italian space agency ASI, with a retrospective
exhibition on the first 50 years of its history.
2 AugustAriane 5 celebrates its 50th
straight success since 2003.
6 AugustThe Curiosity rover from the
US Mars Science Laboratory
mission lands on Mars to explore
Gale Crater. The rover’s payload
includes ChemCam and SAM,
two French instruments designed
to study the Martian atmosphere
and soil.
8
5 SeptemberCNES balloon campaign from the Balearic Islands,
the first session of the BAMED mission (Balloons
over the Mediterranean Sea) to study severe
weather events linked to the water cycle (torrential
rain in the Cevennes area of France with flash
floods in the South of France, Spain and Italy).
Some 15 or so balloons are released from Minorca.
17 SeptemberLaunch of IASI-2 aboard Eumetsat’s
MetOp-B satellite. This infrared sounding
interferometer acquires global
measurements of around 20 atmospheric
compounds twice a day. 10 OctoberIn the name of France, CNES takes over
the rotating chair of the International Charter
on Space and Major Disasters for six months.
The 15 member space agencies provide
imagery of disaster areas free of charge
to rescue services and the United Nations.
12 OctoberSoyuz blasts off from the Guiana Space
Centre to orbit two new navigation satellites
for Europe’s Galileo constellation.
21-22 NovemberThe decisions taken in Naples by the ESA
ministerial council meeting affirm Europe’s
commitment to its space programme, especially
launchers. A new addition to the Ariane family,
Ariane 6 (PPH), will take over from the enhanced
version of Ariane 5.
2 DecemberSoyuz orbits the Pleiades 1B Earth-
observation satellite, just 12 months
after its twin Pleiades 1A. CNES oversees
operations and is system architect for
the Pleiades satellites.
annual report
20129
CNES Board of DirectorsAt 30 April 2013
PresidentJean-Yves Le Gall
Government representatives Jean-Luc Vo Van QuiRepresenting the Prime MinisterGeneral Council of Industry, Energy and TechnologiesMinistry of the Economy and Finance
Elisabeth VergesRepresenting the Minister for ResearchMinistry of Higher Education and ResearchDirectorate General of Research and Innovation (DGRI)
Philippe PujesRepresenting the Minister for SpaceMinistry of Higher Education and ResearchDirectorate General of Research and Innovation (DGRI),Department head, Specialized Organizations
Hélène DuchêneRepresenting the Minister for Foreign AffairsMinistry of Foreign Affairs Director, Mobility and Attractiveness
Vincent MoreauRepresenting the Minister for the BudgetMinistry of the BudgetDeputy Director, 3rd Budget Subdirectorate
Cécile DubarryRepresenting the Minister for IndustryMinistry of Productive RecoveryHead of Technology and the Information Society, Directorate General of Industry, Information Technologies and Postal Services
Jean-Pierre DevauxRepresenting the Minister of DefenceFrench defence procurement agency (DGA)Director, Force Systems and Industrial, Technological and Cooperative Strategies
Members appointed for their expertise in CNES affairs Edwige Bonnevie(appointment pending)Director, Risk Management, CEA
Geneviève DebouzyEngineer emeritus
Denis MaugarsPresident of ONERA
François JacqChairman & CEO of Météo-France
Members elected by CNES employeesJean-François Le Brun, CNES Paris/Les Halles
Gérard Lassalle-Balier, Toulouse Space Centre
Yves Bonamich, Toulouse Space Centre
Patrick Berger, Toulouse Space Centre
José Golitin, Guiana Space Centre
Olivier Bugnet, Launch Vehicles Directorate, Paris/Daumesnil
Government CommissionerEric BernetMinistry of Higher Education and ResearchDirectorate General of Research and Innovation (DGRI)Department head, Performance, Funding and Contracts with Research Organizations (SPFCO)
10
Jean-Yves Le GallPresident
Joël BarreAssociate Director
General
Henry de RoquefeuilMilitary advisor,
Defence team
coordinator
Organization chartat 30 April 2013
Annie TargaState Controller
Jean-Luc DumayChief Accountant
Bernard LucianiSecurity and
Defence, Central
security service
Bernard ChemoulGuiana
Space Centre
Jean-Marc AstorgProcurement,
sales and legal
affairs
Geneviève CampanInformation
system
Pierre TréfouretExternal
communications,
education and
public relations
Michel EymardLaunch Vehicles
Directorate
Isabelle Rongier-
PomagrzakInspector General,
Quality
Pierre UlrichHuman resources,
labour relations,
in-house
communication
Marc PircherToulouse
Space Centre
Thierry DuquesnePlanning,
strategy,
programmes,
valorization
and international
relations
Laurent GermainFinance
Pierre DentandAccounting
annual report
201211
France is the second world space power in terms of effort per capita. It is one of the few European countries to boast an independent space policy. CNES’s constant investment in innovation is a major advantage that enables France to keep pace with the world’s leading space nations. Research and technology, demonstrators, proof-of-concept programmes and new methods and tools have made the French space agency a standard-setter for its partners, which include other space agencies, research organizations and laboratories, industry players and value-added service companies.CNES is inventing tomorrow’s space systems and launch vehicles, tailoring them ever more closely to the needs of society and—through investigations to probe the origins of life and the Universe, and to better understand the Earth system—knowledge itself.
CNES, THE FRENCH
SPACE AGENCY
STANDING TALL ON
THE GLOBAL STAGE
12
Five strategic focuses for an ambitious space policy
INDEPENDENT ACCESS TO SPACE AND NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
France and Europe’s independent access to space depends
on Europe’s spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG)
and a portfolio of three launchers: Ariane 5, Soyuz and
Vega. The current challenge for CNES and ESA is to make
its launch systems more competitive, especially the Ariane
series. By 2021, assuming the next ESA ministerial council
meeting in 2014 confirms the programme, Europe will be in
a position to offer a new-generation launcher, Ariane 6.
Responsible for its development, CNES and ESA aim
to design a launch vehicle geared to an increasingly com-
petitive market.
SATELLITES KEEP A CONSTANT EYE ON EARTH
Satellite observation of the Earth and its environment is cen-
tral to the social and scientific challenges of the 21st century.
CNES invested very early on in Earth-observing systems that
are now operational. By providing reliable, continuous obser-
vation data to complement information from ground- or sea-
based sensors, space systems designed or supported by
CNES are crucial in sectors such as operational oceanogra-
phy, climate and meteorology, and the study of land surfaces
and the solid Earth.
CNES teamed up with the European Commission in 2000
to initiate Copernicus—previously known as the Global
Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) pro-
gramme—to federate and rationalize European Earth-
observation activities.
Artist’s impression of the future Ariane 6 launcher
lifting off from the Guiana Space Centre.
14
SATELLITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS FOR CIVIL APPLICATIONS
CNES is at the heart of the burgeoning digital economy, driv-
ing and validating the space technologies that companies and
operators will implement. Today’s challenge is to offer
fast-broadband satellite services, especially to rural areas.
High-definition, 3D or mobile TV must be accessible to any-
one, anywhere—as must broadband and fast-broadband
Internet services for fixed and mobile applications.
CNES’s actions in this area are paving the way for a vibrant
industry with major commercial spin-offs in France, Europe
and further abroad in the coming years.
THE UNIVERSE, A NEVER-ENDING WORLD TO EXPLORE
Space exploration seeks to probe the secrets of a Universe
without bounds. It aims to answer the most basic human
questions on the origins of life, the solar system and galaxies.
Unexpected worlds have been discovered and new missions
sometimes call into question previous findings. Knowledge
is progressing, but as yet only a tiny part of the Universe has
been explored.
Missions dedicated to sciences of the Universe stem from
international partnerships between space agencies and
scientists. CNES partners the French scientific community to
provide state-of-the-art instruments to be flown on satellites
or probes heading for Mars, the Sun or planets even further
afield about which nothing is known.
ELISA satellite control centre
at DGA’s Creil facility.
Stellar nursery observed
by the Herschel satellite.
SPACE SYSTEMS TO ASSURE THE SECURITY AND DEFENCE OF CITIZENS
The French government’s white paper on security and
defence for 2014-2020 will map out the strategic focuses
that will determine the priorities of forthcoming space
defence investments. Development is currently centred on
very-high-resolution optical observation, secure telecommu-
nications, interception of electromagnetic signals and ballistic
missile detection and early-warning systems.
CNES is working closely through its Defence team with the
French defence procurement agency DGA and the Joint Space
Command to develop space systems, an increasing number
of which are dual-use civil/military systems.
15annual report
2012
The Toulouse Space Centre (CST) was set up in the Midi-
Pyrenees region in 1968. It is CNES’s largest technical and
operational field centre, with 1,800 employees, 80% of them
engineers. The CST studies, designs, develops, positions,
controls and operates orbital systems.
Its strength lies in the maturity of the complex technologies
it has conceived and the synergies it has fostered with the
surrounding space community, which includes industry prime
contractors, SME/SMIs, laboratories and research centres,
universities, engineering schools and various institutions.
EXPERTISE BOOSTING PERFORMANCE
CST personnel have all the key skills crucial to orbital system
projects, spanning systems engineering and satellite bus
and spacecraft design to payload instrumentation, ground
support equipment, data processing and exploitation, space
systems and balloon operations.
Driven by a firm desire to sustain its end-to-end expertise
in orbital projects, the CST conducts a broad spectrum of
activities:
- research and development;
- development of national orbital systems or with interna-
tional partners;
- operation, positioning and station-keeping of orbital
systems;
- exploitation of data and mission data centres;
- space situational awareness and monitoring of orbital
system compliance with the French space operations act.
Toulouse Space Centre
TECHNICAL SUCCESSES IN 2012
- The in-orbit commissioning of the four ELISA (ELectronic
Intelligence by SAtellite) demonstrator microsatellites, the
Pleiades 1A new-generation optical Earth-observing satel-
lite, the IASI-2 infrared interferometer on MetOp-B and the
orbiting of Pleiades 1B all confirmed CNES’s renowned
expertise in atmospheric sounding and high-resolution
optical systems.
- The flawless docking and atmospheric re-entry of Europe’s
third Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV-3, which resupplied
the International Space Station (ISS), and the de-orbiting
of telecommunications satellite Telecom 2 illustrated our
ability to manage complex orbital operations.
The Automated Transfer Vehicle Control
Centre (ATV-CC) in Toulouse is responsible
for establishing mission plans, preparing
and validating control tools and
monitoring ATV flight phases.
Thermal vacuum and solar radiation resistance tests on the interface between the Taranis satellite’s solar array and its drive mechanism.
16
- The operational qualification of the French Instrument Mars
Operation Centre (FIMOC) crowned the success of France’s
participation in NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission.
- The TRAQA and BAMED balloon campaigns to study the
atmosphere and water cycle in the Mediterranean basin
demonstrated once again our ballooning expertise.
- The launch of Robusta, a nanosatellite entirely designed
and developed by students from Montpellier University,
consolidated our involvement with academia.
REGIONAL EVENTS
CNES’s R&T day in January, which attracts over 500 partic-
ipants annually, traditionally kicks off a busy schedule of
space events in the Midi-Pyrenees region.
With over 1,000 international attendees, the 3rd Toulouse
Space Show confirmed the attraction and strength of the
region’s space sector, particularly in applications. A special
effort was made to boost the public image of space activities
through active participation in the La Novela knowledge
festival in Toulouse, the “Space Odyssey” series of films at
the Toulouse film library, and initiatives in cultural centres
throughout Toulouse or the wider region, including events in
Cordes, Marciac and Gimont.
The French Instrument Mars Operation
Centre (FIMOC) at the CST receives
and processes science data from Mars
in addition to monitoring and tasking
the French payload aboard Curiosity.
17annual report
2012
CNES’s Launch Vehicles Directorate (DLA) has been lever-
aging its exceptional expertise in the development of launch
vehicles and associated ground support equipment for over
40 years. It has spearheaded all Ariane launcher develop-
ments and led the Soyuz in Guiana programme on behalf of
the European Space Agency (ESA). It also supported devel-
opment of Europe’s Vega launcher.
DLA is currently working to secure Ariane’s future through
a joint CNES-ESA team. It is supporting and providing exper-
tise to ESA, responsible for managing the new development
programme approved by the ESA ministerial council in
November 2012 and subject to confirmation in 2014. New
developments include an adapted Ariane 5 ME, an Ariane 6
launcher and elements common to both, particularly a com-
mon upper stage.
Launch Vehicles Directorate
NEW SYNERGIES BETWEEN DLA AND ESA
A year has now passed since CNES and ESA launcher
teams—320 employees in all—were relocated to the
Paris/Daumesnil site in the 12th arrondissement. Initiated
in 2009, team integration took a step further with this
co-location.
A joint project team is therefore currently shaping the future
of European launch vehicles. Tomorrow’s generation—and
particularly Ariane 6—is specifically designed to assure
Europe’s independent access to space. This strategic chal-
lenge is today driven by new considerations dictated by inter-
national competition. DLA, in close cooperation with ESA, is
being asked to quickly design a launch vehicle that is cheaper
to build and operate than Ariane 5 ECA.
The room dedicated to work on future launchers (R&T, proof-of-concept
studies and Ariane 6) is equipped with the latest concurrent engineering
and collaborative working technologies.
This is where Geneviève Fioraso, France’s Minister for Higher Education and
Research, watched the last Ariane 5 launch of the year on 19 December 2012.
Teleworking experiment
The first local agreement on teleworking negotiated at CNES was implemented at DLA in January 2012. A little over half of Paris/Daumesnil personnel signed up (55%). Those who chose to work one day a week at home—with the exception of Mondays and Fridays—have secure access to their work applications. Dedicated support was provided so that managers and their teams could get a handle on this new way of working, which boosts efficiency and benefits employees without affecting team spirit.
Focus
18
Let the launch show begin!
After a break due to its move from Evry to Paris, the Launch Vehicles Directorate has resumed its traditional live broadcasts of launches from the Guiana Space Centre, when launches are within working hours. Ariane 5 flight VA209 on 28 September 2012 was watched by CNES and ESA employees, their families and space-loving Internet users, bloggers and illustrators.
TECHNOLOGY HELPS TEAMS IMAGINE THE FUTURE
The new Paris/Daumesnil site has a special room dedicated
to work on future launch vehicles. Dubbed Penelope
(Plateforme d’Evaluation Numérique de l’Environnement
Lanceur et Optimisation des Paramètres d’Etagement –
Digital platform for evaluation of the launcher environment
and optimization of staging parameters), this work area pro-
vides all the IT systems engineers need to work in a multidis-
ciplinary, concurrent-engineering context, whether their field
of interest is propulsion, avionics, structures and materials,
trajectories or ground infrastructures.
Each engineer has a dedicated console for calculations and
simulations. The results are accessible in real time to the
other participants so that work can advance in successive
iterations. A concept can thus be validated or rejected in a
matter of hours, before taking it any further. Different archi-
tectures may be examined before settling on a design for the
new-generation launcher that will succeed Ariane 5.
Development, production and operating costs are also deter-
mined at the same time.
Focus
19annual report
2012
CNES represents France, the launch nation, at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in Kourou, where it is responsible for:- organizing and coordinating launch operations;- acquiring and processing launch data such as position,
telemetry and optical measurements from downrange tracking stations;
- establishing and implementing all aspects of range safety and protection for ground and space segments, and apply-ing environmental protection measures.
CNES is design authority for all the operational ground sup-port equipment on site and owns the Guiana space base.
Guiana Space Centre
AN EXCEPTIONAL LAUNCH YEAR
2012 will stand out in the CSG’s history as the first year it effectively operated a portfolio of three launchers—Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega—from the equatorial space base. It was also marked by a record ten launches:- the successful maiden flight of Vega, Europe’s latest launch
vehicle, as scheduled on 13 February;- seven Ariane 5 launches, including Europe’s Automated
Transfer Vehicle Edoardo Amaldi (ATV-3), which resupplied the International Space Station with food, water, oxygen, fuel and spares; Ariane 5’s superior reliability compared to Ariane 4 towards the end of its operating lifetime gives it an excellent commercial advantage;
- two Soyuz launches orbited two more satellites in Europe’s Galileo constellation and the Pleaides 1B Earth-observation satellite.
Could Jules Verne ever have imagined Ariane 5 going around the world in 80 days several times over following five successive flights?
20
CNES a key partner in Guianese economic development
In addition to its main mission arising from space activities and coordination of operations at the CSG, CNES has sought to step up its contribution to economic development in French Guiana.The CNES Guiana Mission, created in January 2000, is in charge of relations with project initiators. It suggests and supports projects and actions that will contribute to the development of the local economy, in line with the strategic and policy directions chosen by France and the Guiana region. It also manages a dozen agreements with local authorities (municipalities and inter-borough councils), granting preferential relations with 22 Guianese communes. CNES funds over 50 projects, including:- creation of an automated blind production
workshop;- purchase of an innovative centre for carpentry
joining;- creation of a new business in the Haut Maroni
area selling deep-frozen and fresh foods;- landscaping of the Iracoubo riverbank;- work on the sludge basin in the commune
of Saint-Georges.
TELEMEDICINE INCREASINGLY TAILORED TO GUIANESE NEEDS
CNES teamed up with the Regional health agency and
Cayenne hospital to hold an international conference on
“Operational telemedicine in French Guiana” on 4 October 2012.
This conference provided an opportunity to review applica-
tions of telemedicine since its introduction in 2000. There
were around 100 participants from the medical field, institu-
tions and industry. It is crucial to develop means of commu-
nication to make it easier for health professionals to share
SCIENCE AT SEA: A FIRST FOR GUIANESE PUPILS
CNES and the Guianese education authority organized the
first educational project at sea from 15 to 20 October 2012.
Students aboard the Guyavoile catamaran were given several
tasks: they had to work on educational CNES projects such
as “A balloon for my school”, Argonautica and Calisph’Air
while also studying the marine environment off the Guianese
coastline and in the Oyapock estuary. This science trip was
an integral part of the school curriculum for history, geogra-
phy and science.
medical information. This should also help to eliminate
‘stovepipes’ in the system between hospitals, healthcare
centres and private practitioners, to improve medical care
wherever the patient might be. There are currently 20 sites
equipped with telemedicine kits, used for increasingly
specialized care such as remote consultations of GPs or
specialists, ultrasound scans, dialysis or epidemiology using
satellite imagery.
Telemedicine is already operational in
French Guiana for many cases. New projects
are currently being identified, including the use
of satellite imagery to predict vector-borne
diseases such as malaria or dengue fever,
therapeutic education and prevention
programmes, HIV testing and screening
for high blood pressure and diabetes.
High school students taking part in the first educational
science trip aboard the Guyavoile catamaran.
Jam-making at a local firm (Délices de Guyane)
supported by the Guiana Mission.
Focus
21annual report
2012
NEW AGREEMENT ON GENDER EQUALITY AT WORK AND WORK-LIFE BALANCE
In conjunction with trade union organizations, CNES pursues
a proactive, concerted policy to promote gender equality at
work. The two agreements signed in 2004 and 2009 have
been joined by a third agreement, negotiated in 2012, appli-
cable since 1 February 2013.
The first two agreements have enabled progress in eliminat-
ing gender discrimination, promoting equal pay, career pros-
pects and work-life balance. The current agreement commits
CNES to continuing its actions to guarantee gender equality
and to foster a shift in attitudes, usually conveyed by a soci-
ocultural image forged outside the workplace.
Activities include raising awareness of these issues among
managers, increasing the proportion of women recruited,
equality of pay, promotion to managerial jobs and finally
consideration of personal life when organizing meetings,
missions and business trips.
Active human resources management
MANAGING INDIVIDUAL SKILLS: A HIGHLY OPERATIONAL APPROACH
Like all economic stakeholders, CNES must adapt to—and
even foresee—changes in its environment. This is crucial if
CNES is to remain at the top of the world space sector. It is
vital that the agency be more aware of its employees’ exper-
tise in order to maintain a high level of innovation. The goal
is to match the agency’s needs to employees’ wishes while
getting the most from each individual’s skills.
Initiated in 2010, individual skills management was extended
to all employees in 2012. They are all invited to establish their
own profile—i.e. their knowledge and know-how—using a
standard baseline of 500 CNES skills centred on technical
job and cross-cutting competencies. This “constellation of
competencies” was the focus for a major effort involving the
HR team and an in-house board of advisors. By early 2013,
40% of employees had followed this procedure.
Each employee is responsible for his or her own records. This
tool is designed to clarify career objectives, foster mobility,
identify recruitment and training needs, and tailor support
for employees’ needs.
The overall mobility rate at CNES has remained over 10%. By
maintaining this relatively high rate, we can guarantee the
transfer and multiplication of skills. Such a rate also confirms
the success of CNES’s careers policy.
22
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
General mobility rate (not counting reorganization) 9.8% 12.2% 13.8% 13.1% 11.7% 11.3% 10.8%
including:
Geographic mobility (between centres) 1.9% 2.2% 2.1% 1.2% 1.6% 2.0% 2.3%
Functional mobility (in situ) 7.7% 9.9% 11.5% 11.6% 9.9% 9.0% 8.2%
Outside CNES (as per mobility agreement) 0.2% 0.1% 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3%
CNES unlimited-term contract FTC / NFE (1)
Total
Type / Site Executives Non Executives Executives
2011
Paris/Les Halles 144.0 43.2 0.0 187.2
Paris/Daumesnil 186.2 38.8 3.2 228.2
Kourou 162.8 100.6 4.8 268.2
Toulouse 1,375.7 332.2 15.3 1,723.2
Total per type & general 1,868.7 514.8 23.3 2,406.8
Total CNES 2,406.8
Total women 874.5
Total men 1,532.3
CNES unlimited-term contract FTC / NFE (1)
Total
Type / Site Executives Non Executives Executives
2012
Paris/Les Halles 146.7 43.5 0.0 190.2
Paris/Daumesnil 182.0 33.6 1.3 216.9
Kourou 167.1 99.5 3.0 269.6
Toulouse 1,390.3 317.3 7.3 1,714.9
Total per type & general 1,886.2 493.8 11.6 2,391.6
Total CNES 2,391.6
Total women 865.0
Total men 1,526.6
2011MEAN PAYROLL (FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT)
2012MEAN PAYROLL (FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT)
(1) FTC: fixed-term contract NFE: Non-French European workers on fixed-term contracts.
23annual report
2012
EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
Showing CNES’s utility and the benefits of space
CNES’s communications teams once again reached out to
everyone with an interest in space, particularly young people
and teachers. One of the agency’s assignments is to engage
pupils and get them excited about science. Supported mainly
by public funding, CNES is also accountable to taxpayers who
are entitled to know how those responsible for advancing
science are using these funds.
DUAL FUNCTION AND STRONG REGIONAL PRESENCE
CNES works hard to make people aware of the unique dual
function it performs as an administrative space agency
and through its technical field centres, both at home and
in Europe. 2012 was a very successful year for the agency,
so a special effort was made to publicize these successes,
especially the launches from French Guiana—which included
the ATV, Vega and the Pleiades satellites—attended by
numerous French and foreign dignitaries. In a similar vein,
scientists were invited to high-profile events at the Toulouse
Space Centre, including conferences and an exhibition
centred on the Curiosity rover and its French instruments,
SAM and ChemCam.
Moonwalk simulator at
the Cité de l’espace theme park.
The Curiosity rover’s landing on Mars is broadcast live
at the Cité de l’espace space theme park.
24
SPACE FOR EARTH
CNES also shared its successes with the general public—
especially younger members—through original popular
science outreach and mediation events across the country.
2012 saw the agency open up parabolic flights to the general
public for the first time. The agency also does not hesitate
to get out “on the road” and engage people with initiatives
such as “Space in my City” in mainland France, “Space
along the river” in French Guiana, “Challenges of Space” in
Les Mureaux—which attracted 5,000 visitors—C’Space
in Biscarosse and participation in the Toulouse Space Show.
It has formed partnerships with cultural centres, including
the Air and Space Museum, Universcience, the Cité de
l’espace and the Toulouse film library, and teamed with other
scientific and/or cultural organizations for national events
such as the French science festival, European Heritage Days
and French language week. A highlight was Michel Drucker’s
prime-time TV show “A night in space”, watched by two
million viewers.
CONNECTED
CNES is also supporting its public relations through the
webspace, with a revamp of the cnes.fr website, a benchmark
in the French-speaking world. And it is continuing to develop
its relations with bloggers and stay connected through social
networks such as Facebook.
Parabolic flights on Novespace’s Airbus A300 Zero-G
are now open to the public.
Water rocket workshop for the 5th “Space along the river” initiative along the Oyapock, French Guiana.
25annual report
2012
In 2012, for the first time in the history of the European space programme, three launchers orbited satellites from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG). Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega were all successful, hoisting European launch vehicles and the CSG into an excellent position in the face of fierce competition from all the major space powers.To maintain this advantage in launch services and continue to provide Europe with a vital independent launch capability, the ESA ministerial council—meeting in November 2012—decided to renew the emblematic Ariane series. It gave the go-ahead for a programme paving the way for a new-generation Ariane 6 launcher and validated pursuit of the “Adapted Ariane 5 ME” programme. This pragmatic approach will assure development of a brand new Ariane for Europe around 2021.CNES strongly supported Europe’s commitment to the Ariane 6 project. The preparatory programmes and groundwork already carried out under phase 1 of France’s PIA future investment programme played a decisive role backing the French position.
ACCESS TO SPACE
26
28
Ariane 5 ECA lifts off on flight VA209 from the Guiana Space Centre on 28 September 2012.
INDEPENDENT ACCESS TO SPACE
Ten launches in 2012
COMPETITIVE LAUNCH VEHICLES
Seven launches in 2012 and 53 straight successes since 2003
for Ariane 5; two launches in 2012 and four straight successes
since 2011 for Soyuz in Guiana, and a successful qualification
flight for Vega.
2012 will go down in history as the year when, for the first
time ever, Europe offered a portfolio of three launch vehicles,
and when the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) hosted a record
ten launches. The CSG is the only space base in the world
to offer operational launchers meeting such a broad spec-
trum of institutional or commercial needs. They can orbit
telecommunications, weather, Earth-observation or science
satellites ranging from nanosatellites to 20-tonne giants.
They can also launch cargo vessels to the International Space
Station and propose a choice spanning geostationary or
Sun-synchronous to medium- or low-Earth orbits.
Flight VV01
Vega13 February
2012
Nine small satellites including LARES, the Italian space agency’s science satellite, and
ALMASat 1, the cubesat developed by the University of Bologna, Italy.
Flight VA205
Ariane 5 ES 23 March
2012
Launch of ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi and docking with the International Space Station.
Flight VA206
Ariane 5 ECA 15 May 2012 Two telecommunication satellites: JCSAT-13 for Japanese operator SKY Perfect
JSAT Corporation, and Vinasat-2 for Vietnamese operator Vietnam Posts
and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) under a turnkey contract with US
manufacturer Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.
Flight VA207
Ariane 5 ECA 5 July 2012 EchoStar XVII satellite, dedicated to Internet access for US operator and service
provider Hughes Network Systems, and MSG-3 weather satellite for Europe’s
Eumetsat.
Flight VA208
Ariane 5 ECA 2 August
2012
Two telecommunication satellites: Intelsat 20 for international satellite operator Intelsat,
and Hylas 2 for the new European satellite operator Avanti Communications.
Flight VA209
Ariane 5 ECA 28 September
2012
Satellite Astra 2F, mainly devoted to direct broadcasting for Luxembourg operator
SES, and telecommunications satellite GSAT-10 for the Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO).
Flight VS03 Soyuz ST 12 October
2012
Two new satellites for Europe’s Galileo constellation: IOV-2 (In-Orbit Validation)
FM3 and FM4.
Flight VA210
Ariane 5 ECA 10 November
2012
Two telecommunications satellites: Eutelsat 21B for European operator Eutelsat,
and Star One C3 for US manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corporation and Brazilian
operator Star One.
Flight VS04
Soyuz ST 1 December
2012
Earth-observation satellite Pleiades 1B for CNES, with Astrium as prime contractor.
Flight VA211
Ariane 5 ECA 19 December
2012
Military telecommunications satellite Skynet 5D by Astrium Services for the UK
Ministry of Defence, and telecommunications satellite Mexsat Bicentenario for the
Mexican Ministry of Communications and Transportation.
The Mexsat
Bicentenario
satellite is mated
with Ariane 5 ECA’s
payload adaptor
for flight VA211.
annual report
201229
MINISTERIAL AGREEMENT BACKS FRANCE’S POSITION
Ariane 5 leads the global commercial satellite launch market.
Its US, Russian and Chinese competitors are highly ambitious,
driving European space players to affirm their own determi-
nation. Accordingly, discussions centred on this issue at the
ESA ministerial council meeting on 20 and 21 November 2012
in Naples, Italy.
While the heavy-lift version, Ariane 5 ECA, has proved its relia-
bility time and again, the dual-launch concept on which it is
based now appears under threat with the growing mass of sat-
ellites and fewer small satellites suited to this kind of launch
strategy. It will become increasingly difficult to pair up two sat-
ellites to be launched together while remaining within the total
mass limit of nine to ten tonnes. As a result, the European
launcher’s long-term economic viability and competitiveness
may be called into question.
Fully aware of this situation, France began reconsidering the
future of Ariane 5 back in 2009. The government commissioned
a report on the future of the European launcher programme,
which recommended the development of a new-generation
launch vehicle. The following year, CNES and German space
ADAPTED ARIANE 5 ME AND ARIANE 6
Europe reinvents Ariane
agency DLR published a joint report on the need to tailor launch
systems to the changing market. The question remained of how
best to assure Ariane’s future.
After lengthy discussions between French and European stake-
holders, based on an analysis of different options, a consensus
was reached and submitted to the ESA council for review.
France’s main objective was to reach an agreement on the prin-
ciple of developing a new-generation Ariane 6 launcher to be
operational around 2021, while pursuing development of an
adapted Ariane 5 ME scheduled for 2017 or 2018 at the latest—
an objective satisfied by the council’s conclusions.
ARIANE 6 TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS
CNES is tasked with researching innovative concepts
and designs to lay the foundations for future launch systems.
The preparatory research carried out for Ariane 6 these
past three years has been driven by the following strategic
requirements:
- Europe’s policy of independent access to space must prior-
itize institutional needs;
- reduce operating costs by at least 20% to maintain
the European launcher’s pole position while assuring the
programme’s financial stability;
- improve the competitiveness and technological expertise
of French industry within Europe and abroad, at both major
space players and SME/SMIs.
The PIA programme includes technology demonstrators
to resolve any remaining issues and consolidate the choice
of the PPH three-stage concept from over 125 concept stud-
ies by CNES and its industrial partners.
Solid-propellant demonstrators are currently focusing on:
- controlling combustion instabilities;
- developing new grain casting processes;
- designing and developing composite materials for booster
casings.
The avionics—i.e. the onboard electrical and electronic equip-
ment—are currently being put through their paces on the test
bench to finalize new architectures and enhance system reli-
ability and implementation while drastically reducing costs.
25 concept stud-
focusing on:
als for booster
lectronic equip-
aces on the test
nce system reli-
educing costs.
Adapted Ariane 5 ME (left)
and Ariane 6 PPH (right).
30
Two successful flights for Soyuz in Guiana in 2012
Russian engineers and technicians are responsible for assembling the launcher stages, transported separately from the TsSKB plant in Samara, Russia. They check the tanks for leaks and ensure that all the electrical systems—mainly used to communicate with the launch base—are working correctly. The launcher is then erected on the launch pad and its fairing mated.To host the Russian launch vehicle, CNES had to design the launch complex and equipment in close relation with its Russian and European partners. The agency was also responsible for coordinating operations, overseeing the work and tests through to technical qualification. The Soyuz launch complex is the seventh built in French Guiana under CNES supervision.
Focus
ARIANE’S FUTURE: A THREE-TIER PROGRAMME
Two scenarios have been under discussion. The first is Ariane
ME (Mid-Life Evolution), a variant of today’s Ariane 5 ECA.
Supported by Germany, this version offers a 12-tonne
dual-payload capacity, 20% more than the current offer. The
second is a completely new Ariane 6 launcher, a scenario
supported by France. The new vehicle would offer a single-
launch capability but be more flexible, more powerful and
more competitive due to the PPH concept based on two
solid-propellant stages (PP) and a cryogenic upper stage (H).
As Europe’s economic and financial context precludes the
concomitant development of two launch vehicles, a compro-
mise was reached. The current agreement—to be confirmed
at the next ESA council meeting in 2014—is based on a three-
tier programme:
- develop an enhanced version of Ariane 5 ECA known
as “adapted Ariane 5 ME”, scheduled to fly in 2018 at the
latest and aimed at buoying Ariane 5 in the face of interna-
tional competition until Ariane 6 comes on stream;
- maximize synergies between the two launchers by devel-
oping an upper stage common to both the adapted
Ariane 5 ME and Ariane 6. This cryogenic propellant stage
would use liquid hydrogen and oxygen with a reignitable
Vinci engine;
- begin activities devoted to Ariane 6, such as detailed
design, costing, industrial organization and scheduling.
CNES and ESA launcher teams have relocated
to a shared facility in Paris to help streamline
the joint work that will secure Ariane’s future.
Vinci 3 on the test stand. The Vinci engine will power the upper stage of the future Ariane 5 ME launcher.
annual report
201231
VEGA
Successful maiden flight
France and Italy working together on Vega
Developed and funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Vega programme entails development of a launcher and construction of a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG).Work was overseen by a joint team based in Frascati, Italy, representing the European, Italian and French space agencies. The CNES Launch Vehicles Directorate supported this team on behalf of ESA and was responsible for system ground qualification tests.
Focus
VEGA’S FIRST FLIGHT IN 2012
Vega, Europe’s latest launch vehicle, made its 100%-successful
debut on 13 February 2012. This lightweight launcher rounds
out the European launch services offering by catering for the
needs of small LEO missions some 700 kilometres above
Earth. It will orbit mainly science and Earth-observation
satellites.
But Vega is more than just a launch vehicle. It is also a tech-
nology demonstrator through its P80 first stage, which
boasts a carbon-epoxy filament-wound composite casing
and electromechanical actuators for thrust vectoring. These
two technologies will contribute to development of the
new-generation launch vehicle, just as Vega’s new nozzle
design is an enhancement of the solid-propellant boosters
used by Ariane 5.
CNES developed the P80 stage and provided expertise for
both the ground support equipment and the launcher itself
through dedicated contracts with ESA.
Vega is planned to handle one or two launches a year, though
the maximum possible is four launches in the same year.
Vega‘s first qualification flight was a complete success. The launcher orbited the LARES and AlmaSat-1 science microsatellites along with seven nanosatellites.
Vega’s P80 stage is rolled out to the pad for mating
with the launcher.
r
a (CSG).
ian
ehalf
32
FRENCH LEGISLATION ON SPACE OPERATIONS APPLIED TO VEGA’S QUALIFICATION FLIGHT
ESA and CNES signed an agreement to ensure that CNES
could deliver a certificate of compliance for the new launcher’s
qualification flight. As an international organization, ESA is
not a launch operator under the terms of the new French
space operations act (FSOA), but the European agency
chose to comply with French government orders, technical
regulations and ground support equipment rules at the
Guiana Space Centre for safety reasons and to provide
Arianespace with a new launch system meeting current
regulations. It is in this spirit of coordination between ESA
and CNES that the first certificate of compliance was issued
by CNES for Vega’s maiden launch.
French propellant for a US satellite
CNES and NASA are teaming up to improve management of cryogenic propellants. Although efficient in terms of propulsion, liquid hydrogen and oxygen are difficult to use because they heat up in the space environment. The goal of this first French-US project in the field of cryogenic propellants is to model and test their behaviour in microgravity to get to know, and manage, them better.Once NASA has confirmed the programme, CNES will begin working on the Cryogenic Propellant Storage & Transfer (CSPT) technology demonstrator designed to test propellant insulation and storage techniques.
Focus
A satellite being fuelled at the Guiana Space Centre. 33
annual report
2012
Earth is a complex system. There are constant interactions between its minerals, the atmosphere, living creatures and water, which in its various forms covers 70% of the planet’s surface. Humankind is just one element of this ecosystem, but human activities actively transform the environment, even to the point of endangering it.The satellites designed by CNES and its partners—other space agencies and the scientific community—observe our planet to better understand how it works, monitor its health and protect it. By keeping an eye on Earth from space and exploiting the data collected by satellites, we can study the extent of global climate change, measure mean sea level, establish weather forecasts and even visualize the local consequences of human activity.Numerous cooperative projects were carried out in 2012. Thanks to complementary expertise, the oceans are revealing their secrets, satellite hydrology is becoming a reality, movements in the Earth’s magnetic field will soon be mapped with unrivalled accuracy and potent greenhouse gases quantified.
EARTH, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE
34
CNES AND NASA CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF ALTIMETRY
The joint CNES/NASA TOPEX-Poseidon mission launched
in 1992 sparked off a revolution in our knowledge and under-
standing of the way oceans work, and their key influence on
climate. Altimetry—the instantaneous measurement of sea
level using a spaceborne radar—detects tiny variations in
ocean surface topography immediately and on a global scale.
These variations reflect ocean dynamics and are therefore
useful for both meteorology and climatology. Altimetry has
revealed that mean sea level is rising by 3 millimetres a year
due to climate change. TOPEX-Poseidon has been followed
by a succession of altimetry satellites, Jason 1 being launched
in 2001 and Jason 2 in 2008.
With Jason 2, altimetry entered the operational era. This
cooperative project involves the US National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Europe’s Eumetsat
(EUropean organisation for the exploitation of METeorological
SATellites). Follow-on projects Jason 3, scheduled in 2015,
then Jason-CS 1 and 2 as of 2018, will extend this operational
and technical partnership on both sides of the Atlantic.
Studying ocean dynamics with NASA and ISRO
During these two decades of constant progress in altimetry,
technical cooperation between CNES and NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has been exemplary, as has
scientific cooperation between the various laboratories
involved in France and the USA. This cooperation forms the
backbone of a very close-knit international community.
These 20 years of progress in radar altimetry were celebrated
through a science conference held in September 2012 in
Venice, Italy.
Sea level anomalies observed by the Jason satellite
(variations with respect to the mean sea level in the Atlantic
Ocean).
36
Venice celebrates progress in radar altimetry
Nearly 600 researchers and engineers from all over the world gathered in Venice from 24 to 29 September 2012 for a conference celebrating “20 years of progress in radar altimetry” jointly held by CNES and the European Space Agency. Numerous organizations participated in this event, including NASA, NOAA, Eumetsat, Mercator Ocean—the French centre for ocean data analysis and forecasting—and CLS (the Argos system operator). The conference, devoted to ocean and land surface observation, reviewed the progress made through radar altimetry in areas ranging from oceanography and the cryosphere to coastal processes and hydrology.The conference also hosted more technical events, such as the annual meeting of the Jason/Ocean Surface Topography Science Team (OSTST), the International Doris Service (IDS) workshop, the COASTALT project’s coastal altimetry workshop and the 4th science workshop of Argo, a global ocean observation project deploying drifting buoys.
Focus
FRENCH-US SWOT MISSION TO TAKE ALTIMETRY TO THE NEXT LEVEL
CNES and NASA are now turning their attention to the
next leap ahead in altimetry technology based on a new
interferometric altimetry concept using a Ka-band radar
interferometer. This technology will provide a two-dimensional
image with an unprecedented horizontal resolution of around
50 to 100 metres. This is a far cry from conventional altim-
etry, which generates data points spaced out along
profiles by dozens to even hundreds of kilometres. Interfer-
ometric altimetry paves the way to closer surveillance of the
oceans and, more especially, continental waters such as lakes
and rivers, facilitating the conservation and exploitation of
freshwater resources.
SWOT will fly KaRIN, its Ka-band Radar Interferometer, in
2020. CNES has already kicked off validation phase A of this
very ambitious mission, and NASA will follow suit in 2013.
Satellite-aided hydrology will become a reality through global,
systematic and precise measurements of inland waters,
impossible to achieve until now. Oceanography will also ben-
efit from sub-mesoscale data, a key factor in energy transfers
between ocean system elements and vital to understanding
climate.
Interferometry measurements from KaRIN will generate a
data stream of unmatched proportions, transmitted using
new systems and analysed scientifically by processing lines
yet to be developed.
The Bassas da India atoll in the Indian Ocean seen by Pleiades 1B.
annual report
201237
SARAL/ALTIKA, A HUMAN AND TECHNICAL FRENCH-INDIAN ADVENTURE
Launched on 25 February 2013, the SARAL/AltiKa
environment-monitoring satellite has now joined ocean
sentinels Jason 1 and 2. This second partnership between
CNES and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
is just as successful as the first, Megha-Tropiques. CNES
developed the satellite payload, including the AltiKa radar
altimeter/radiometer. Considered a successor to RA-2
on ESA’s Envisat satellite, this new instrument precisely
measures ocean surface topography.
AltiKa is the first spaceborne altimetry instrument to use
Ka band (35 GHz). Such a high frequency offers enhanced
spatial and vertical resolution, improving observation of ice,
coastal zones and inland waters worldwide. AltiKa is coupled
with the DORIS precise positioning system and a laser ret-
roreflector array (LRA) to accurately determine the satellite’s
position along its orbit. The SARAL satellite is also flying
Argos-3, a system offering location capabilities in addition
to acquiring and distributing environmental data.
ISRO was responsible for the satellite bus, development,
launch and orbital operations. France’s partnership with ISRO
was a real human adventure, with each partner discovering
differences in technical and project management cultures.
Studying ocean dynamics with NASA and ISRO (ctd.)
Focus
Consolidating cooperation
France and India will now pursue and develop their partnership in the space sector, begun several decades ago. A statement of intent defines their future priorities: climate change, oceanography, data sharing, exchange of young scientists, environmental and scientific balloon campaigns, and finally joint research into satellite technologies.
38
Megha-Tropiques, the first French-Indian mission, is designed to study three key components of the tropical atmosphere—humidity, precipitation and radiation budget. After the satellite was successfully launched by ISRO on 12 October 2011, 2012 was devoted to validating its four onboard instruments—MADRAS, SAPHIR, SCARAB and GPS-ROSA. Following an anomaly on the MADRAS instrument, a specific data recovery algorithm was also developed jointly by ISRO and CNES, enabling delivery of the first MADRAS products to the mission science team in March 2013. Products derived from the SAPHIR and SCARAB instruments have been available to science users since February 2013.
SARAL satellite undergoing thermal vacuum
tests at Thales Alenia Space.
39annual report
2012
CNES, ESA, LETI AND IPGP SCRUTINIZE EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD
Two-thirds of the Earth’s centre is made up of liquid iron,
with a solid inner core. The liquid outer core, with a radius
of some 3,500 kilometres, generates much of the planet’s
magnetic field, which prevents the dangerous part of solar
radiation from reaching its surface. Only spaceborne instru-
ments can globally map this magnetic field and its move-
ments. Magnetic disturbances linked to the Earth’s
geo-dynamo and affecting all or part of the core have been
observed on scales of a few years.
Swarm—ESA’s 5th Earth Explorer mission—is designed to
identify, map and interpret the various magnetic fields pro-
duced by the dynamo in Earth’s liquid core, the magnetized
lithosphere, induced internal currents, and currents in the
ionosphere and magnetosphere. It will be the most complete
survey ever undertaken of Earth’s geomagnetic field and its
evolution over time.
HIGH-TECH INSTRUMENTS
Swarm will improve our knowledge of the Earth system by
giving new insights into the inner workings of our planet and
the Earth-Sun environment. Its configuration is quite unique,
as all three identical satellites in the constellation will be
placed on different orbits. This concept will optimize identi-
fication of each individual component of the Earth’s mag-
netic field. Furthermore, the combination of this unique
configuration and state-of-the-art instruments will enable
Solid Earth observed by CNES and the European Space Agency
Swarm to map these different fields with unrivalled precision
for at least four years.
CNES has contributed the absolute scalar magnetometers
developed by LETI—the French atomic energy agency’s
research centre—that will be flown on all three satellites. The
agency has also drawn on its scientific expertise for the
magnetometers themselves and the scientific validation of
their data by science teams led by the Institut de Physique
du Globe in Paris (the IPGP geophysics institute). The con-
stellation will be launched by a Rockot launch vehicle in the
second half of 2013.
Characterization of Swarm sensor microvibrations.
40
SMOS, AN INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CNES, ESA AND SPAIN’S CDTI
Although originally developed by ESA, CNES and Spain’s
CDTI industrial technology development centre for research
purposes, SMOS—launched in November 2009—is currently
used operationally by weather agencies. Designed to map
soil moisture and ocean salinity, this small 680-kilogram
probe some 755 kilometres above our heads has opened up
new opportunities. SMOS has provided insights into Gulf
Stream meanders, forecast the strength of hurricane Sandy
in November 2012, measured water shortages in Western
Europe in March 2012, given drought indicators in Africa and
certain US states and predicted flash floods. It has been
so successful that its operational mission has been extended
to at least 2015.
European synergies harnessed for meteorology
IASI-2 launched, IASI NG approved
Launched on 17 September 2012, the MetOp-B satellite is flying the second Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer, IASI-2, jointly developed by CNES and the EUropean organisation for the exploitation of METeorological SATellites, Eumetsat. The first IASI model aboard MetOp-A, launched in October 2006, is still operational. The data from both instruments will be integrated into numerical weather forecasting models and contribute to research on changes in atmospheric composition.The CNES Board meeting of April 2012 greenlighted development of IASI’s successor, IASI NG.
Focus
The SMOS satellite being prepared at Thales Alenia Space, Cannes.
SMOS measured the thickness of sea ice in the Laptev Sea late last
winter (20 April 2012).
The CNES/Thales Alenia Space team during tests
on IASI in Cannes.
annual report
201241
MERLIN, A COOPERATIVE PROJECT TO GET A HANDLE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
In 2009, CNES and the French scientific community joined
forces with German aerospace centre DLR and its own sci-
entific partners to develop an innovative mission to further
climate research. MERLIN—MEthane Remote Lidar Instru-
ment—will measure methane (CH4) levels in the atmosphere
from space, monitoring its temporal and spatial variations.
MERLIN’s observations will be used to locate and quantify
the sources and sinks of this potent greenhouse gas, and to
better understand the carbon cycle. MERLIN will thus offer
precious data for environmental policy decisions.
Germany is also providing leading-edge technology through
its innovative differential absorption lidar. France will contrib-
ute the new Myriade Evolutions bus tailored to small satellites.
To formulate specifications and data processing methods,
scientific and project meetings are held two to three times a
year in alternately France and Germany. Mission design
phase B will be conducted jointly throughout 2013 for a launch
around 2017.
FRANCE & GERMANY
A shared interest in studying greenhouse gases
42
NINE PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS INVESTIGATING THE ENVIRONMENT
Population growth, socio-economic development and land
planning all exert increasing pressure on the environment.
To implement sustainable development strategies, we need
to monitor changes in the environment and regions, improve
our understanding of the dynamics involved and share infor-
mation between key players to map out concerted manage-
ment policies. Regional development is a major challenge for
the coming years, and it needs to be based on the diagnostic
and monitoring tools now available through modern science
and technology.
An agreement was signed on 6 December 2012 to found the
“Continental surfaces” thematic cluster (PTSC). Founding
members are French atomic energy agency CEA, CNES, the
CIRAD centre for international cooperation in agronomic
research through development, the French national scientific
research centre CNRS, French mapping and survey agency
IGN, the INRA agronomy research institute, the IRD devel-
opment research institute, Météo France and the IRSTEA
science and technology research institute for the environ-
ment and agriculture. PTSC is a national grouping of organ-
izations designed to capitalize on satellite data for
environmental research purposes. It aims to facilitate studies
relating to the impact of anthropogenic pressures and
climate on ecosystems and land; to observe, quantify and
model water and carbon cycles; to monitor changes in soci-
eties and their activities; and to elucidate the dynamics
of biodiversity.
SATELLITE DATA FOR SCIENTISTS
The PTSC cluster will develop and distribute to the French
scientific community data, products, methods and services
related to satellite observation of continental surfaces on
a scale ranging from single ecosystems through to regions
and the entire globe. The satellite data will be produced by
the CGTD data processing and management centre built
around CNES and the Equipex GEOSUD consortium, in
addition to scientific expertise centres in different regions.
The quality-controlled products and services available
through the cluster will cover extensive areas and long time
periods, with annual satellite coverage of France; high- or
very-high-resolution time series of surface reflectance; time
series of bio-geophysical products on a global scale, includ-
ing biomass, water levels and surface moisture; the Orfeo
Tool Box to display and process data; processing algorithms
and methods; and, finally, validation procedures.
PTSC will pool French expertise in this field and supply over
400 laboratories and 100 PhD establishments. It will be open
to public land planning players, government departments,
public bodies and local authorities.
Close ties with the scientific community
High-resolution time series for
southern France from five years
of data.
annual report
201243
In fixed and mobile communications, space technologies are as necessary and as advanced as their terrestrial counterparts. In the developed countries, satellites round out terrestrial network coverage in rural or remote areas and provide a cost-effective response to demand from businesses, households and public bodies for broadband and, increasingly, fast broadband Internet access. In parts of the world where telecommunication infrastructure is unsatisfactory, as well as in desert regions and at sea, satellite services are often the only solution.CNES is investing in R&T to provide the technological building blocks that industry needs to develop next-generation systems, satellites and terminals, and in turn enable telecoms operators to bring new products and services to market.CNES is pursuing the THD-SAT satellite-based fast fixed broadband project, funded under France’s PIA future investment programme from 2011. It is also playing an active role in mobile communications with a new programme called SMILE.
CIVIL APPLICATIONS
44
Fast fixed satellite broadband for all
THE FUTURE IS FIBRE-OPTIC COMBINED WITH SATELLITE
What new services do telecommunications operators want
to offer? How can satellites help overcome the limitations of
fibre-optic rollout, currently underway in France? What tech-
nologies need to be developed to transition from broadband
to fast broadband, particularly in rural and remote areas?
Fast broadband networks are currently being rolled out to
urban areas in France using FTTH (Fibre To The Home)
technology. Data transmission speeds may be as high as
100 Mbps—much faster than what can be achieved with
ADSL via twisted-pair copper wires. FTTH enables users to
connect to fast broadband Internet as well as receive digital
television channels. But cost remains a barrier to these
networks in rural and, in particular, remote areas. As a result,
10% of the population is likely to be excluded from fast
broadband in the medium term, falling to 2% in the long
term. Yet satellite offers high-quality Internet access today,
as demonstrated by dedicated Ka-band satellites such as
Eutelsat’s KA-SAT system, which provides broadband service
across Europe as well as parts of North Africa and the Middle
East. Satellite thus appears to be the natural complement to
FTTH and is able to rapidly deliver fast broadband Internet
services to all, irrespective of location and at the same price
as ordinary broadband.
46
THD-SAT, AN ATTRACTIVE NEXT-GENERATION SOLUTION
Having helped to develop satellite broadband technologies
in recent years, CNES is currently working on solutions
offering very fast broadband throughout France. To this end,
it launched an ambitious R&D programme in December 2011.
Dubbed THD-SAT, this project calls for €100 million in pub-
lic funding under the ‘digital economy’ budget line of the PIA
future investment programme. A first tranche of €40 million
has been released for the period 2012–15. The objective is to
establish a national industry capable of providing operators
with fibre-optic fast satellite broadband systems.
The CNES project team, in partnership with prime contrac-
tors Thales Alenia Space and EADS Astrium, has completed
the preparatory phase to identify and define the necessary
technological building blocks to be developed: Ka-band and
Q-V-band payloads, a large deployable reflector antenna, a
ground segment and terminals. Contracts have since been
signed with industry partners to develop some of these com-
ponents. Fast satellite broadband, which is generating keen
interest from operators, could be available by 2017 or 2018.
Significant commercial spinoffs are also expected in Europe
and further afield in the years ahead.
Key figures for fixed broadband and fast broadband in France
On 28 February 2013, ARCEP, the French telecoms regulator, published its electronic communications market indicators for 2012, correct at 31 December. The number of fixed network broadband and fast broadband accounts stood at 24 million. Of these, over 1.6 million are fast broadband accounts, up 19% from 2011. And of these 1.6 million, 58% benefit from a maximum speed of 100 Mbps or over, up 40% from 2011. The number of FTTH subscriptions has risen by 60% from 2011. At 31 December 2012, some 2.1 million homes are eligible for FTTH, up 46% from 2011. Of these, 305,000 are located outside very high-density areas.
Focus
annual report
201247
Connected by satellite—anytime, anywhere
SMILE, OR SPACE TECHNOLOGY FOR MOBILE NETWORKS
SMILE (Satellite Mobile Innovation, Laboratory and Engi-
neering) is a CNES programme dedicated to mobile commu-
nications. Connectivity on the move, whenever you want and
wherever you are, has become the norm for users of mobile
terminals, personal computers, smartphones and tablets.
The volume of multimedia content consumed via these types
of terminals is growing at an exponential rate, as are com-
munications. Fast broadband is on the horizon. Business and
personal users alike are making increasing use of the ‘cloud’.
At the same time, new ‘over-the-top’ service providers are
appearing, so-called because they offer over-the-top content
As with fixed broadband and fast broadband, mobile terrestrial networks provide only imperfect coverage of rural and remote areas. Satellite is often the only solution able to deliver high-quality services to these communities.
not controlled by conventional operators, such as IP teleph-
ony. Technological and commercial innovation is bringing
about a real revolution in the world of telecommunications.
CNES has played an active role nurturing innovative new
concepts in the last 10 years, such as S-DMB in 2004 to
2006, based on S-band technology, followed by S-WiMAX
and TVS. These initiatives have enabled CNES to test differ-
ent types of partnership arrangements with the private
sector as well as familiarize itself with the regulatory envi-
ronment. With the SMILE programme, the objective is to firm
up this type of industry partnership.
Launched in late 2012, SMILE is now at an exploratory phase,
identifying frequency bands for mobility, assessing the
impact on dedicated satellite frequencies and collaborating
with operators. The next World Radiocommunication
Conference in 2015 will be an opportunity for CNES to
promote the role of satellites as the natural geographic
complement to mobile terrestrial networks.
48
Cuckoo fitted with an Argos transmitter,
weighing just 5 grams.
ARGOS-4
The next generation for tracking and environment monitoring
ARGOS-1, 2, 3 AND SOON 4—CONTINUITY IS ASSURED
Argos is a unique global location and data collection system
dedicated to studying and protecting the environment. It was
originally set up in 1978 by CNES, NASA and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a sci-
entific tool for collecting and relaying oceanography and
meteorology data around the world. Other agencies subse-
quently joined the initiative, including Eumetsat (European
Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites)
and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Since 1986, CLS has operated, maintained and marketed the
Argos system.
Currently, seven satellites are carrying Argos instruments.
The objective of Argos-4 is to ensure continuity of service
after the Argos-2 and Argos-3 missions while significantly
increasing the system’s data handling capacity.
The next-generation system will also allow more flexibility in
the way transmitters are used, thanks to increased sensor
performance, particularly for monitoring small animals.
As the number of users continues to increase, Argos-4 will
be able to simultaneously manage up to three times more
transmitters than Argos-3. Four instruments have been
ordered from Thales Alenia Space. Two will fly on the
U.S. Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites and two
on Eumetsat’s MetOp-SG spacecraft. The first instrument is
scheduled to fly in 2016.
Some of the applications served by the Argos system
- Location of drifting buoys, fishing vessels, animals and any moving platform fitted with an Argos transmitter.
- Collection of environmental data such as ocean temperature profiles, river levels and animal heart rates.
- Ocean observation and measurement of parameters such as sea level variation, wave height, currents, temperature and colour.
- Food distribution monitoring, fisheries management and maritime security.
Focus
annual report
201249
Space telecommunications and medicine
DIABSAT DIABETES SCREENING SERVICE
Implement a programme assisted by satellite to screen for
complications of diabetes—this is the goal of the Diabsat
project designed by CNES in partnership with the Midi-Pyrenees
regional council, Toulouse university hospital, the DIAMIP
diabetology network, the MEDES space medicine and phys-
iology institute—which developed the information system—
and local SMEs. After an experimental phase from
May 2010 to December 2011, Diabsat became permanently
operational in 2012, thanks to ARS Midi-Pyrenees, the
regional healthcare service, which is funding DIAMIP to run
the service. To date, over 1,200 people have been screened
in the course of campaigns in six geographic departments.
DIABSAT has three components:
- prevention, through distance education and awareness;
- screening for complications of diabetes, using a mobile
medical unit;
- tele-consultation in homes for problems related to foot
ulcers (under evaluation).
Test results are relayed via satellite link, in real or deferred
time, to the Toulouse hospital diabetes unit, where they are
interpreted by a specialist. A report is then sent by post to
the GP and patient. An adapted version of Diabsat is also
being developed with French Guiana’s ARS regional health-
care service and the Cayenne and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni
hospitals.
TEN YEARS OF OPERATIONAL TELEMEDICINE IN FRENCH GUIANA
On 4 October 2012, around 100 people from the medical
sector, institutional bodies and industry attended a confer-
ence to review the rollout of telemedicine in French Guiana,
which began in the early 2000s. Telemedicine is now an
established part of ARS’s field of expertise through its
regional healthcare plan and regional telemedicine plan
for 2011 to 2015.
Telemedicine is operational in French Guiana at Cayenne
general hospital and is practised by private doctors for coor-
dination of patients hospitalized at home, teledialysis,
tele-ultrasound scans and deployment of the PSMA forward
emergency medical unit for any medical intervention in the
event of a disaster in a remote or hostile location.
Other projects focusing on tele-epidemiology are being
defined with French Guiana’s Institut Pasteur in order to use
Earth-observation data to create dynamic maps for the
prediction of entomological risks associated with malaria,
dengue fever and other vector-borne diseases, which are a
major public health problem in the country.
50
When satellites save lives
On 14 June 2012, CNES took part in a ‘Plan Rouge’ (code red) emergency response exercise organized by the Haute-Garonne prefecture on the A68 motorway between Toulouse and Albi. One of CNES’s objectives was to test the effectiveness of operational satellite communication systems, such as its space telecoms truck, alias Mobidick, and Emergesat container, in the event of a major accident involving multiple vehicles. Both performed their roles perfectly. The VHF and WiFi links worked flawlessly, keeping operatives in touch with the CODIS departmental fire and rescue operations centre. The Emergesat container, on loan to the SAMU emergency medical service for a year, provided telemedicine functions with the Toulouse hospitals.
Focus
Terrestrial and satellite communications systems make it much easier for
healthcare professionals to share medical information and enable closer
interaction between sectors in the healthcare chain, resulting in better
care for patients, wherever they are. The Trois-Sauts medical centre on
the Oyapock river can call on the Cayenne general hospital for real-time
diagnoses whenever needed.
The Emergesat
container, deployed
during the ‘Plan Rouge’
exercise.
annual report
201251
SECURITY AND DEFENCE
Space systems are an integral part of the assets used by the French defence authorities to perform their missions. Observing, communicating, locating and informing are the key functions of military space for the French armed forces, whether acting alone or in coalition. The new White Paper on defence and national security, which forms the basis for the next defence spending plan for 2014–20, is expected to confirm the vital importance of space in the planning and execution of military operations.Frequent and precise optical observation is provided today by the Helios and Pleiades systems, but CNES is already gearing up for tomorrow with the CSO—Composante Spatiale Optique, or optical space component—of Europe’s MUSIS system, which will succeed Helios, and is conducting the technological research that underpins a whole new generation of systems.The impending launch of the Athena-Fidus telecommunications mission, developed in partnership with Italy, will provide the armed forces with broadband services to complement their existing capabilities. At the same time, the successor to Syracuse 3 is in preparation, with the key priority to provide an anti-jam capability for very-long-range communications.
52
Observation at the closest quarters
PLEIADES LATEST-GENERATION SYSTEM NOW COMPLETE
The Pleiades 1B satellite was successfully orbited by a
Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) on
2 December 2012. With in-orbit checkout of Pleiades 1A con-
cluded in April 2012, the Pleiades constellation, comprising
two identical Earth-observing satellites at an altitude of
694 kilometres, is now complete. Pleiades is the result
of close cooperation between CNES, France’s defence pro-
curement agency DGA and the Joint Staff of the French armed
forces (EMA). This new optical Earth-observation system
offering submetric resolution is able to distinguish objects on
the ground as small as 1 metre or less. Its 70-centimetre res-
olution across a 20-kilometre swath is designed to meet the
requirements of defence, civil protection, mapping, precision
agriculture and environmental management. Pleiades is a
dual-use programme, which means that military users have
priority access to satellite tasking while civil users benefit
from a latest-generation source of information with excep-
tional agility, precision and image quality. The two satellites
are the perfect complement to the Helios 2A and Helios 2B
military observation satellites, which offer higher resolution
in the infrared portion of the spectrum, but are less agile.
They also complement SPOT 5 and SPOT 6, which offer
lower resolution, but a wider field of view, which is better
suited to mapping applications.
Lorient, the first image acquired by Pleiades 1B
on 5 December 2012.
The satellite sent back its first images just
three days after it was positioned on station by
the Toulouse Space Centre (CST). Image quality
is remarkable, in line with the expectations
of civil users and the French and Spanish defence
ministries.
The Pleiades 1B satellite is prepared for launch
at the Guiana Space Centre.
54
Military and civil requirements in perfect harmony
Developed in partnership with Austria, Belgium, Spain and Sweden, Pleiades is the first dual-use optical space system. It meets the requirements of both military and civil applications. Tasking requests from the armed forces are treated as a priority and in the strictest confidence. Military commanders have an allocation of up to 50 priority images per day, available within just hours of acquisition. Civil and commercial users at public institutions and private-sector companies are also well served. Between them, the Pleiades satellites return up to 900 very-high-resolution images per day and offer a daily revisit capability over any point on the globe. To meet this demanding work schedule, the system is split into two separate tasking channels: a ‘defence’ channel, used exclusively by the French and Spanish defence ministries, and a ‘civil’ channel, operated by Astrium Services under a delegated public service agreement.
THE FUTURE OF VERY-HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGING WITH CXCI
France is supplying the CSO (optical space component) of
Europe’s MUSIS (Multinational Space based Imaging System
for Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Observation) pro-
gramme, which will replace Helios in 2017. But work must
begin today on the future-generation system to ensure con-
tinuity of service in the longer term. To this end, CNES and
the Ministry of Defence are preparing the dual-use technol-
ogies that will be employed on the satellites that succeed
Pleiades and CSO. On 26 January 2012, the outlines of the
CXCI demonstrator were presented at CNES’s annual one-
day research and technology planning conference. The goal
is to take these space technologies to a new level, enabling
French industry to maintain its lead in very-high-resolution
optical observation. Instrument, mirrors, sensors, processing
and downlink—breakthrough technologies are needed in all
areas to support the best possible capabilities at lowest cost.
The approach to this preliminary project is pragmatic, bring-
ing together the best of commercial and military research.
The future system will offer a higher resolution than Pleiades
while retaining a ground swath of 15 to 20 kilometres, rich
spectral information and agility. The challenges are signifi-
cant, not least the need to identify innovative solutions for
the development of large-diameter, ultra-lightweight mirrors.
FocusF
The Defence team meets at CNES head office.
The CXCI
very-high-resolution
imaging satellite.
annual report
201255
ATHENA-FIDUS, A SUCCESSFUL FRENCH-ITALIAN COLLABORATION
The French and Italian defence ministries, the Italian space
agency (ASI) and CNES are cooperating to reinforce the sat-
ellite communications capabilities available to military and
civil government users. The Athena-Fidus programme, slated
to launch in early 2014, will complement the capabilities of
the Syracuse 3 satellites, which entered service in 2005 and
2006, in line with French and Italian requirements. With a
high-speed transmission capability of 2 Gbps on the French
side, this new geostationary Ka-band telecommunications
satellite will meet growing demand for higher speeds from
the armed forces and civil protection services. Strategic com-
munications will continue to be carried by Syracuse, which is
a highly secure system. Athena-Fidus will provide high-
speed, encryption-protected communications, such as
imagery from the Helios system, as well as links with
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
France and Italy have appointed CNES and ASI to develop the
satellite and ground control segment. The two agencies are
also responsible for launch. DGA has responsibility for the
mission ground segment.
LOOKING BEYOND SYRACUSE 3
Preparations for future military satcom capabilities are also
underway with European partners, particularly Italy and the
United Kingdom. The French defence authorities want to
have a high-speed, highly secure space telecommunications
capability in place by 2019. This objective will be achieved by
the Comsat-NG programme, which will ensure continuation
of the capabilities offered by Syracuse 3.
CNES, in close coordination with DGA, has therefore begun
work on the FAST demonstrator, which will serve as a platform
for development of strategic dual-use components for future
protected telecommunications programmes. FAST will
complement the research currently being conducted by DGA,
under the FLIP project and advanced concept studies, and
by CNES, which is focusing on innovative, versatile payloads.
Areas of investigation identified to date include technologies
and techniques to support more flexible telecommunications
missions—specifically a third-generation transparent digital
processor, local flexible or fractional oscillators and multilayer
filters. These studies will enable the Ministry of Defence to
make an informed decision on how to achieve the highest-
performance satellite transmission capabilities at lowest cost
when the Syracuse system is withdrawn from service.
MILITARY TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The shift to broadbandThe payload of the Athena-
Fidus satellite is integrated
at Thales Alenia Space.
5656
INTELLIGENCE
Locating ground-based radar sources from space
Cooperating to avoid collisions in orbit
Monitoring the space environment is a daily operational concern at CNES, particularly because the 500,000 catalogued items of space debris and other objects larger than 1 centimetre pose a potential threat to the 17 satellites under its control. To make better use of the information provided by the US Department of Defense, CNES has launched a trial service to mitigate collision risks in orbit. This service, based at CNES’s operational orbit determination centre, draws on the expertise of CNES engineers in this field as well as its close links with the French Ministry of Defence. The French Air Force’s GRAVES surveillance and SATAM trajectory-tracking radars and DGA’s trajectory-tracking radars on the French Navy’s Monge vessel provide CNES with the vital information it needs to analyse risks and propose avoidance manoeuvres. A first service contract has been signed with EADS Astrium to provide collision protection for the SPOT 6 satellite, launched in September 2012.France is pursuing its partnership with Germany, which operates the TIRA tracking and imaging radar, complementing France’s assets. France and Germany also share a common vision for developing Europe-wide capabilities, in particular through ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme. With the number of catalogued objects in low-Earth orbit increasing by 5% per year—and with it the risk of collision with operational spacecraft—the French and German defence ministries, DLR (the German aerospace centre) and CNES believe this type of capability is now a necessity.
Focus
ELISA DEMONSTRATOR ON THREE-YEAR MISSION
The ELISA (ELectronic Intelligence by SAtellite) demonstra-
tor microsatellites were orbited on 17 December 2011 and
in-orbit checkout was completed in July 2012. Their three-
year mission is to establish and maintain a map of ground-
based radar sources around the world. Developed under a
partnership between DGA and CNES, and built around
CNES’s Myriade microsatellite bus, the ELISA constellation
will validate the latest space-based SIGINT (signals intelli-
gence) technologies.
The demonstrator comprises four microsatellites, orbiting
just a few tens of kilometres apart. Flying in such a close
formation calls for a high degree of precision—a first for this
type of system—and rigorous stationkeeping to avoid any
collisions.
Like the ESSAIM constellation, designed to identify telecom-
munication sources and deorbited by CNES in late 2010, this
new demonstrator paves the way for the CERES operational
programme, expected to be approved under the next defence
spending plan.
The ELISA satellites are mated with the Soyuz launcher’s ASAP platform.
annual report
201257
How did life begin on Earth? What evidence is there of life elsewhere in the solar system and beyond? How does the solar system work? And how is it evolving? How was the Sun formed? And what about galaxies, stars, planets, asteroids, comets and interstellar dust clouds—how were they formed? What are the physical mechanisms governing the Universe?These are the big questions that science is attempting to answer. And because they are inherently universal, they lend themselves particularly well to international cooperation. National research bodies and industry contractors are making a key contribution to the missions on which CNES is working, either with ESA or with international partners. The major event of the year was the arrival of the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars, on 6 August 2012. Curiosity is the spearhead of America’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to explore the Red Planet. And France’s involvement in this mission—supported by CNES throughout the development, operational and scientific investigation phases—is particularly significant.
SPACE SCIENCES
58
First clues to life on Mars revealed
Shrouded in a residual atmosphere of 95% carbon dioxide, swept by violent dust storms, bombarded by meteor showers and subject to temperature swings between 0° and –130°C,
Mars is not a particularly hospitable place. Nonetheless, scientists are investigating whether
it once harboured the conditions needed to support life. Its distance from the Sun, neither too
near nor too far, puts it in the ‘habitable’ part of the solar system, and river valleys, clearly visible
on the planet surface, suggest that water once flowed there in abundance, although atmospheric
conditions are very different today.In the samples collected during the first drilling
operation into a Mars rock in February 2013, Curiosity discovered the first chemical elements
indicating that the Red Planet once provided a habitable environment for microorganisms.
These chemicals were detected by the SAM and CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy) instrument
suites.This finding proves the rover is indeed at the site of an ancient wet environment, where clays were
formed. The samples also contain sulphates, which are used on Earth as an energy source by
certain microorganisms.
Focus
MARS EXPLORATION
France at the heart of the United States’ MSL missionA KEY QUESTION FOR MSL: WAS MARS ONCE HABITABLE?
Around 40 Mars missions have been launched since the
1960s. The Soviets were the first to reach the planet’s sur-
face, but the first real scientific and technological achieve-
ments were by U.S. missions: the Viking probes in 1976,
which collected and analysed samples, then the Pathfinder
mission in 1997, heralding the era of Mars rovers with the
Sojourner vehicle. Spirit and Opportunity landed in 2004,
followed eight years later by Curiosity.
The Curiosity rover touched down on Martian soil on
6 August 2012. After a voyage of 570 million kilometres,
lasting over eight months, it successfully reached its target
destination: Gale Crater. This site was selected after years of
talks between engineers and researchers around the world.
It represents a reasonable trade-off between technical con-
siderations, primarily to do with safe landing conditions, and
the mission’s science objectives, namely to discover whether
life was once possible on Mars, as indicated by the presence
of clay minerals and therefore water. Weighing 900 kilo-
grams, Curiosity is by far the largest and heaviest vehicle ever
sent to the Red Planet. Its task is to explore and analyse the
planet’s surface for at least 687 Earth days, or one Martian
year. In this time, it will travel approximately 20 kilometres
and collect around 70 rock and soil samples, which it will
analyse using its ChemCam (Chemistry Camera) and SAM
(Sample Analysis at Mars) instruments in particular.
Self-portrait by the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater.
60
“The SAM instrument is designed to analyse atmospheric gases, such as minor atmospheric species and isotopes, as well as surface and subsurface minerals and organic compounds on Mars. This research, conducted by a team of French and U.S. scientists, will give us a clearer understanding of the conditions in which life began on Earth.”
Michel Cabane,
of the LATMOS atmosphere, environment and space observation laboratory (Université de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Université de Paris 6, CNRS) is co-principal investigator for the SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) experiment, alongside Paul R. Mahaffy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. In this capacity, he was responsible for providing the SAM-GC (gas chromatograph) subsystem, part of the SAM suite, a fully fledged analysis laboratory on the Curiosity rover.
Muriel Saccocio, who heads the joint CNES/CNRS team responsible for the design, construction and validation of ChemCam, received the jury’s special prize, the highest distinction in the L’Usine Nouvelle engineer of the year awards in 2012.
Close-up
annual report
201261
Sylvestre Maurice,
Astrophysicist at the IRAP astrophysics and planetology research institute in Toulouse, he is co-principal investigator for the ChemCam instrument, alongside Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“This scientific, technological and human adventure is shared by an entire team—including 140 people in France, mostly in Toulouse—united in their quest to determine whether Mars once harboured the conditions for life. It’s the first French experiment of its kind. It’s a unique experience, and we’re proud to be part of this U.S. mission.”
NASA TURNS TO FRANCE
Led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the MSL mission
is carrying 10 scientific instruments. French laboratories were
called on by their U.S. counterparts to jointly develop two of
them.
The ChemCam and SAM instruments were selected after a
close-run competition. ChemCam, part of which is mounted
atop Curiosity’s revolving mast, remotely selects and analy-
ses the composition of rocks and soil in the area around the
vehicle using an advanced infrared laser technology, applied
to the Martian environment by the IRAP institute and devel-
oped by Thales Laser. SAM is searching for the presence of
organic molecules, composed of carbon chains—the possible
remnants of past life—using its gas chromatograph, a field
in which the LATMOS laboratory has special expertise. The
ChemCam laser is also playing a vital role in the choice of
samples to be collected and analysed by SAM.
CNES managed France’s entire contribution to the mission
and is also involved in the operational phase. At the request
of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which has scientific
responsibility for ChemCam, the instruments are controlled
on an equal rota basis with CNES. The French Instrument
Mars Operations Centre (FIMOC) in Toulouse prepares the
tasking orders for samples to be analysed.
Mars explorationFrance at the heart of the United States’ MSL mission (ctd.)
Close-up
62
Mars draws the crowds
Three operational satellites are currently in orbit around Mars: NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter, launched in 2001 to detect chemical elements at the planet’s surface as well as traces of water, and also serving as a telecommunications relay between MSL and Earth; Europe’s Mars Express orbiter, launched in 2003 to retrace the planet’s geological and climatic history; and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), launched in 2005 to map the surface.The U.S. MAVEN probe will be launched in late 2013 to determine what caused the Martian atmosphere and water to be lost to space, as well as to study the role of solar wind.On 20 August 2012, NASA announced that the InSight Mars lander mission has been selected for launch. The InSight payload will include a major French contribution: the SEIS seismometer, supplied by CNES, the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and other laboratories. Launch is scheduled for 2016. The objective is to place a geophysical monitoring station on Mars’s surface to study its interior structure and composition.
Focus
Using photos such as this,
geologists, sedimentologists and
geochemists at France’s FIMOC
instrument operations centre select
rocks in the area around the vehicle
for analysis. They then task the
ChemCam laser with the help of
3D imagery.
Artist’s impression of the InSight lander
mission, which will study Mars’s interior
structure and composition.
The rock named Jake Matijevic was in
ChemCam’s sights on 21 and 24 September 2012.
The red dots are the areas targeted by the
instrument’s laser. The circular black and white
images were taken by ChemCam to look for
the pits produced by the laser.
The purple circles indicate where the Alpha
Particle X-ray Spectrometer trained its view.
annual report
201263
COROT AND EXOPLANETS
An impressive string of successes
SIX YEARS IN ORBIT, MAJOR SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS
The CoRoT space telescope, orbiting Earth at an altitude of
896 kilometres, pursued a dual mission to search for ‘exo-
planets’ outside our solar system and study the seismology,
or seismic vibrations, of stars. CoRoT stopped returning data
on 2 November 2012. Launched on 27 November 2006, its
mission was not expected to exceed three years, but in fact
it continued for six.
Satellite monitoring and tasking operations as well as data
processing and distribution to the science community are the
responsibility of CNES, with close support from laboratories
attached to INSU, the French national institute for universe
sciences: the LAM astrophysics laboratory in Marseille, the
LESIA space and astrophysics instrumentation research lab-
oratory, the IAS space astrophysics institute and the IRAP
astrophysics and planetology research institute.
CoRoT has detected 32 confirmed exoplanets, with others
yet unconfirmed. Thanks to CoRoT data combined with
ground observations, scientists now have detailed informa-
tion about these planets’ size, mass, density, orbits and
more. These valuable data are feeding into the models used
to describe and predict how planetary systems form.
With CoRoT, asteroseismology, the study of the internal
structure of pulsating stars, is gaining new insights into the
physical processes that transport energy from the nuclear
cores of these stars to their luminous atmospheres. CoRoT
has revealed a universal pattern in the solar-like oscillations
of red giants—stars that were similar to our Sun but are now
at the end of their lives. This pattern has been used to estab-
lish a relationship between a star’s oscillation frequency,
mass and radius, enabling the mass and age of these red
giants to be characterized.
CoRoT has proven its ability to observe stars over 30,000
light years away, returning valuable data for an increasingly
broad section of the science community.
Family portrait of the first 15 planets
discovered by CoRoT.
64
TWO EXTRAORDINARY EXOPLANETS
Of the exoplanets identified by the CoRoT space telescope,
two are particularly notable. CoRoT-Exo-7b was the first
rocky or terrestrial exoplanet to be discovered, known as a
‘super-Earth’ to scientists, with a diameter less than twice
that of our own planet. Some 400 light years from our solar
system, it has an orbital period of just 20 hours around its
host star, which is similar to our Sun. It has an extremely high
surface temperature of between 1,500°C and 2,300°C and
may be covered in lava, or belong to a class of planets
thought to be composed of part water and part rock.
CoRoT-Exo-9b, situated at 1,500 light years from Earth, is a
gas giant, similar to Jupiter. Its orbital period of 95 days puts
it in the ‘temperate’ zone around its host star, where water
could be liquid, unlike most other exoplanets discovered
to date, which are closer to their hosts and therefore much
hotter.
The CoRoT mission
centre, responsible for
observation tasking
and data reception.
Artist’s impression of exoplanet CoRoT-Exo-7b.
Artist’s impression of exoplanet CoRoT-Exo-9b.
annual report
201265
Planetology in the limelight
COSMIC VISION: LAST M-CLASS PROJECT UP FOR SELECTION
The future M3 mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme
will be selected in late 2013. This medium-size mission will
be chosen from among five candidates: the four shortlisted
by ESA in February 2011, plus Plato, a mission to search for
new exoplanets.
The four previously shortlisted missions are:
- EChO, a space telescope to characterize the atmospheres
of a representative sample of exoplanets;
- STE-QUEST, a fundamental physics experiment to precisely
measure the effect of gravity on matter and time, and test
the equivalence principle at atomic level;
- LOFT, a space observatory to study the movement of mat-
ter near black holes and neutron stars;
- MarcoPolo-R, a mission to return samples from a near-
Earth asteroid.
Work conducted in 2012 and 2013 will demonstrate the
maturity of these projects, in which French researchers, sup-
ported by CNES, are playing a prominent role.
Artist’s impression of the
JUICE mission, the first
‘large’ mission in ESA’s
Cosmic Vision programme.
A EUROPEAN MISSION TO JUPITER
The JUpiter ICy Moon Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft will be
launched in 2022 on an eight-year voyage to Jupiter. Selected
in May 2012, it is the first large (L-class) mission in the
European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision programme. JUICE
will perform detailed investigations of Jupiter’s atmosphere
and magnetosphere and will also study its three moons,
Callisto, Europa and Ganymede. Numerous French laborato-
ries are involved in this project.
66
CNES, LPC2E, CEA, IRAP, APC, LATMOS AND OTHERS
All together on Taranis
ELVES, SPRITES AND BLUE JETS
These are large-scale electrical discharges occurring in the
upper atmosphere above very large storm systems, particu-
larly in the tropical belt. Characterized by their brevity and the
intensity of the X-ray and gamma radiation they emit, these
high-energy phenomena, known as TLEs (transient luminous
events) and TGFs (terrestrial gamma-ray flashes), are known
to affect the properties of the ionosphere as well as the prop-
agation of radio waves at certain frequencies.
At an altitude of 700 kilometres, the Taranis microsatellite
will be ideally placed to study their influence on the upper
layers of the atmosphere. The first space mission dedicated
to these phenomena, Taranis is long awaited by many in the
science community around the world, and is being developed
in collaboration with institutions in the Czech Republic,
Poland and the United States.
The satellite will be launched in early 2016 and placed in a
low polar orbit, with a mission duration of at least two years.
Built around CNES’s Myriade microsatellite bus, it will carry
a suite of sensors pointed back at Earth: photometers, cam-
eras, X-ray and gamma-ray detectors, electron detectors,
a magnetometer and electromagnetic receivers.
The project is currently at the detailed design phase, with
intense activity focusing on prototyping, testing and control
of flight equipment, scheduled to conclude in the spring of
2013. Taranis will be orbited by a Soyuz launcher from the
Guiana Space Centre (CSG) as a passenger payload alongside
a larger satellite.
annual report
201267
In 2012, CNES had a total budget of €1,911m, excluding amounts allocated under the French government’s PIA future investment
programme. Funding came from:
- Government subsidies: €1,466m
- External contracts: €445m
This budget was allocated as follows:
- France’s contribution to ESA space programmes: €770m
- CNES multilateral programme: €1,086m
- CNES operating costs: €53m
(central directorates)
- Increase in working capital: €2m
The table below gives the breakdown of the source and application of CNES funds for 2011 and 2012, in accordance with the Government/CNES
multi-year agreement.
Financial resources
(€ millions) 2012 2011
Revenues
Government subsidies 1,466 1,495
External contracts 445 520
Total revenues [a] 1,911 2,015
Expenditures
France's contribution to ESA 770 755
Multilateral programme 1,139 1,259
Access to space: launchers 324 380
Utilization of space 705 770
Pooled resources 107 116
Civil applications 42 49
Earth, environment and climate 120 124
Sciences and preparing the future 167 170
Security and defence 269 311
Central directorates 53 54
VAT & payroll taxes 57 55
Total expenditures [b] 1,909 2,014
Working capital (budgeted) [a–b] 2 1
CNES BUDGET (EXCL. PIA PROGRAMME): REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES (BY THEME)
CNES’s net income in 2012 amounted to +€57.2m. This surplus reflects the new accounting method for recognising the French government’s
SCSP subsidy for public service expenditures.
68
(in € millions) 2012 2011
GrossDepreciation
and provisionsNet Net
Intangible assets (A) 919.2 587.4 331.8 244.7
Land 57.9 33.9 24.0 26.0
Buildings 401.5 308.9 92.6 96.4
Technical facilities, equipment 276.8 181.7 95.1 65.3
Space hardware 2,868.0 1,723.2 1,144.8 1,159.2
Other tangible assets 134.7 57.4 77.3 198.4
Tangible assets (B) 3,739.0 2,305.1 1,433.8 1,545.3
Capital assets (C) 174.3 153.5 20.8 22.0
FIXED ASSETS (A+B+C) 4,832.5 3,046.0 1,786.5 1,812.0
Inventories 3.5 3.5 2.8
Receivables 864.9 864.9 803.7
Securities 0.0 0.0 97.8
Liquid assets: PIA future investment programme 400.8 400.8 445.6
Other liquid assets 129.9 129.9 27.4
Accruals 1.0 1.0 0.5
CURRENT ASSETS 1,400.1 1,400.1 1,377.8
TOTAL 6,232.6 3,046.0 3,186.6 3,189.8
BALANCE SHEET: ASSETS AT 31 DECEMBER 2012
THE HIGHLIGHTS OF A PARTICULARLY BUSY YEAR WERE:
On the strategic front:
- The ESA Ministerial Council in November 2012 made a
decisive step forward for the European space industry and
Europe’s future in space, notably with the decision to pro-
ceed with preliminary studies of the new Ariane 6 launch
vehicle, in parallel with the continued development of an
adapted version of the Ariane 5 ME. It also approved the
extension of International Space Station operations through
to 2020 and the programme to develop the next-generation
Eumetsat Polar System (EPS-NG). Despite tight budget
constraints, the ministerial council meeting announced
total subscriptions in excess of €10 billion for ESA’s man-
datory and optional programmes.
- Continued contractual arrangements for projects funded
under the French government’s PIA future investment pro-
gramme: Ariane 6 preparation, SWOT, Myriade Evolutions
(Merlin) and the ‘satellites of the future’ programme in
telecommunications.
On the modernization front, a number of new mile-
stones were reached:
- Further improvements in financial management and
accounting: full and unreserved certification of CNES’s
individual and consolidated financial statements, accounts
prepared within a shorter timeframe from FY 2012, update
of the multi-year real estate strategy and early implemen-
tation of provisions relating to the presentation and evalu-
ation of asset funding by public bodies (issued by CNOCP,
the French public sector accounting standards board).
- CNES’s internal accounting and financial control mechanisms
were judged by the auditors to be robust, ensuring continued
effective management of risks across all key processes, and
their scope has now been extended (‘consolidation’ subcycle
of the ‘subsidiaries and holdings’ cycle).
annual report
201269
(in € millions) 2012 2011
Before allocation After allocation Before allocation
State endowment 0.0 0.0 21.5
Reserves (1) 29.3 104.2 28.1
Carried forward 17.7
Result of accounting year (2) 57.2 1.2
Investment subsidies 1,717.8 1,717.8 1,795.0
SHAREHOLDERS' FUNDS 1,822.0 1,822.0 1,845.9
PROVISIONS FOR RISKS & EXPENSES 11.5 11.5 9.6
Financial debts
Advances & down payments received 534.9 534.9 334.1
Fiscal & social security debts 76.7 76.7 71.8
Supplier debts 118.5 118.5 141.2
Advance: PIA future investment programme 399.7 399.7 449.9
Other debts, including ESA 221.8 221.8 334.3
Accruals 1.5 1.5 3.1
DEBTS 1,353.1 1,353.1 1,334.3
TOTAL 3,186.6 3,186.6 3,189.8
BALANCE SHEET: LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2012
(1) Available reserves, after allocation, amount to €47.5 million, taking account of the €56.7 million used to finance assets.
(2) Of which €56.7 million used to finance assets for the year, mainly from cash flow from operations.
70
(€ millions) 2012 2011
Production sold 334.1 411.3
Production of fixed assets 138.8 152.8
Operating subsidies 718.9 634.0
YEAR'S PRODUCTION 1,191.8 1,198.1
Other operating revenues 12.3 10.9
MISCELLANEOUS OTHER REVENUES 12.3 10.9
OPERATING REVENUES (A) 1,204.2 1,209.0
Subcontracting costs related to production 779.4 859.4
Other external costs 124.3 123.0
Taxes & duties 18.3 18.2
Payroll costs 154.4 149.3
Social security costs 65.4 63.5
Depreciation allowance 194.1 176.4
(–) Unused investment subsidy recorded under income -194.1 -176.4
Provision for risks 5.2 0.7
Other expenses 1.9 1.7
OPERATING COSTS (B) 1,148.9 1,215.7
OPERATING INCOME (A–B=C) 55.3 -6.8
FINANCIAL INCOME (D) 3.1 2.3
EXCEPTIONAL INCOME (E) -1.0 5.7
Corporation tax (F) 0.25
NET INCOME (C+D+E–F) 57.2 1.2
PROFIT & LOSS ACCOUNT FOR 2012
annual report
201271
(€ millions) 2012 2011
Net income 57.2 1.2
Depreciation expenses 202.2 176.9
Net allocation/(rollover) of provisions 1.9 -0.3
Unused investment subsidy recorded under income for the year -208.0 -179.2
Results on sale of fixed assets -1.4 -14.5
CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES (A) 51.9 -15.9
Investment subsidies 896.9 923.8
State endowment
Assignment of capital assets 7.2 17.0
Reduction in fixed assets
Increase in financial debts (ESA contribution arrears)
TOTAL SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES (B) 904.1 940.8
Expenditure on intangible capital assets 41.4 33.9
Expenditure on tangible capital assets 142.2 178.8
Capital expenditure (holdings)
ESA (contribution and variation in arrears) 770.0 711.1
Reimbursement of financial debts
Reduction in shareholders’ funds
TOTAL SUSTAINABLE JOBS (C) 953.6 923.8
VARIATION IN WORKING CAPITAL (budgeted): (A+B)–C = (D) 2.4 1.1
VARIATION IN WORKING CAPITAL REQUIREMENT (E) 42.5 19.4
VARIATION IN CASH POSITION (incl. PIA programme) (D–E) -40.1 -18.3
STATEMENT OF SOURCE AND APPLICATION OF FUNDS FOR 2012
72
% stake EmployeesRevenues (€ millions)
Results (€ millions)
SUBSIDIARIES in which CNES holdings exceed 50%
CLS 57.28 458 73.3 3.8
Novespace 59.39 10 8.2 1.0
Télespace Participation 99.99 0 0.0 0.3
HOLDINGSof between 33.33% and 50%
Arianespace Participation 34.81 323 1,344.5 3.3
Simko 40.00 73 36.0 5.6
TOTAL 864 1,462.0 14.0
SUBSIDIARIES AND HOLDINGS AT 31 DECEMBER 2012
annual report
201273
PARIS/LES HALLES CNES – Head Office2, place Maurice Quentin75039 Paris Cedex 01Phone: + 33 (0)1 44 76 75 00
PARIS/DAUMESNILCNES – Launch Vehicles Directorate
52, rue Jacques Hillairet75612 Paris Cedex
Phone: + 33 (0)1 80 97 71 11
TOULOUSECNES – Toulouse Space Centre18, avenue Édouard Belin31401 Toulouse Cedex 9Phone: + 33 (0)5 61 27 31 31 FRENCH
GUIANACNES – Guiana Space Centre
BP 72697387 Kourou Cedex
Phone: + 594 (0)5 94 33 51 11
Organizations: CNES – ESA – Arianespace – Thales Alenia Space – Astrium Services/Spot Image – ISRO – EADS Astrium – Photononstop – CLS – CESBIO – NASA – NASA/JPL Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems – NASA/JPL – Optique-Vidéo CSG – ESO/L – Calcada – Novespace – Zetapress – Cité de l’espace – Cinémathèque de Toulouse.Photographers: E. Grimault – P. Jalby – J. Chetrit - S. Corvaja – H. Piraud – S. Charrier - R. Barranco – S. Henri - E. Lefeuvre – O. Pascaud – S. Girard – P. Correia – F. Maligne – G. Barbaste – P. Baudon – S. Martin – JM. Guillon – B. Guindre – Illustration D. Ducros.Illustrations: C. Beauregard
CNES Editor-in-chief: Joëlle BramiDesign & pre-press: Copywriting: Françoise Couvry-Ventelon (FCV Communication) Translation: Delphine Libby-Claybrough – Boyd VincentArtwork: CNES Diffusion – Société Photon – Marie-Claire Fontebasso / Orianne ArnouldPrinting: Imprimerie MénardPublished by the External Communications, Education and Public Relations Directorate – Public Outreach Department
10-31-2690
74
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If you have a smartphone,
simply scan this code with
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View the digital version of this
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album at
www.cnes.fr/ra2012
Scan or click to see the 2012 CNES video album!
CNES – Head Office
2, place Maurice Quentin
75039 Paris Cedex 01
Phone: + 33 (0)1 44 76 75 00www.cnes.fr
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ANNUAL REPORT
2012
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