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57-569: COS-B was the first European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) mission to study cosmic gamma ray sources . COS-B was first put forward by the European scientific community in the mid-1960s and approved by the ESRO council in 1969. The mission consisted of a satellite containing gamma-ray detectors, which was launched by NASA on behalf of the ESRO on 9 August 1975. The mission was completed on 25 April 1982, after

114-485: A Delta 2913 rocket. This article related to the European Space Agency is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . European Space Research Organisation The origins of a joint European space effort are generally traced back to a number of initiatives taken in 1959 and 1960 by a small group of scientists and science administrators, catalysed by two friends, physicists and scientific statesmen,

171-534: A fully voluntary mechanism for application project financing. Under the first package deal ESRO pursued a project to establish a European satellite system by the early 1980s in partnership with the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations and the European Broadcasting Union . ESRO merged with ELDO to form the European Space Agency in 1975 before the first satellite of

228-507: A more dominant role. The fact that sounding rockets are relatively inexpensive, have a short lead time, provide a test bed for more ambitious project and have a low risk of failure made them an ideal first project for the newly formed European Space Research Organisation. The first two ESRO sounding rockets were launches from the Salto di Quirra range in Sardinia on 6 and 8 July 1964. They released

285-573: A network of tracking and telemetry stations which can receive signals from spacecraft (ESTRACK). This network comprised four stations situated in the following locations: Secondly, it requires a central facility which edits and processes the information from the tracking network. The facilities at the centre, initially labelled ESDAC (European Space Data Acquisition Centre), were essentially a large mainframe computer or computers, which wAS made available both to its in-house staff and to visiting scientists and fellows who wished to use them to analyse and study

342-600: A payload of barium and ammonia into the ionosphere. The first launch from ESRANGE was made in November 1966. From this point onward the frequency of sounding rocket launches increased dramatically. The Norwegian base in Andøya was also used as a launch site. The British Skylark (83) and French Centaure (64) were the main rockets utilised for the programme. The American Arcas (14), French Bélier (4) and Dragon (2), British Petrel (1) and German/Swiss Zenit (1) were also used. In total,

399-594: A senior bureaucrat from Bad-Godesberg who was the chairman of the CERN Finance Committee at the time, took on this task. All Member States were to be represented on both working groups, which were empowered to set up subgroups to facilitate their work. By the third meeting of COPERS on 24 and 25 October 1961 in Munich, the Interim Scientific and Technical Working Group had prepared a 77-page document outlining

456-551: A silver coin issued between 1575 and 1641. The franc finally became the national currency from 1795 until 1999 (franc coins and notes were legal tender until 2002). Though abolished as a legal coin by King Louis XIII in 1641 in favor of the gold louis and silver écu , the term franc continued to be used in common parlance for the livre tournois . The franc was also minted for many of the former French colonies, such as Morocco, Algeria, French West Africa, and others. Today, after independence, many of these countries continue to use

513-423: A situation which was to continue until 1914. In 1926, Belgium as well as France experienced depreciation and an abrupt collapse of confidence, leading to the introduction of a new gold currency for international transactions, the belga of 5 francs, and the country's withdrawal from the monetary union, which ceased to exist at the end of the year. The 1921 monetary union of Belgium and Luxembourg survived and formed

570-515: Is a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions . Before the introduction of the euro in 1999, francs were also used in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, while Andorra and Monaco accepted the French franc as legal tender ( Monégasque franc ). The franc was also used in French colonies including Algeria and Cambodia. The franc is sometimes Italianised or Hispanicised as

627-609: Is equivalent to €0.00152449. A separate ( franc CFP ) circulates in France's Pacific territories , worth €0.0084 (formerly 0.055 French franc). In 1981, the Comoros established an arrangement with the French government similar to that of the CFA franc. Originally, 50 Comorian francs were worth 1 French franc. In January 1994, the rate was changed to 75 Comorian francs to the French franc. Since 1999,

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684-546: The International Ultraviolet Explorer mission with NASA under these policy guidelines. The first step towards a telecommunications program within ESRO was made in the end of 1966 when the European Conference on Satellite Communications requested that the organisation examine the potential for a European telecom satellite project. Although studies were carried out at this early stage as well as during

741-756: The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, was nominated chairman of this group; Reimar Lüst from the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Garching, Germany was appointed its coordinating secretary. The second was the Legal, Administrative and Financial Working Group . Its chairman was initially left open, though it was recommended that he be someone from the German Federal Republic. Alexander Hocker ,

798-618: The franco , for instance in Luccan franco . The franc was originally a French gold coin of 3.87 g minted in 1360 on the occasion of the release of King John II ("the Good") , held by the English since his capture at the Battle of Poitiers four years earlier. It was equivalent to one livre tournois (Tours pound). The French franc was originally a gold coin issued in France from 1360 until 1380, then

855-469: The lira on a similar basis in 1862. In 1865, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy created the Latin Monetary Union (to be joined by Spain and Greece in 1868): each would possess a national currency unit (franc, lira, peseta, drachma) worth 4.5 g of silver or 0.290 322  g of gold (fine), all freely exchangeable at a rate of 1:1. In the 1870s the gold value was made the fixed standard,

912-518: The Bannier Report ESLAB was merged with ESTEC. In 1964 ESRANGE was established as an ESRO sounding rocket launching range located in Kiruna (Sweden). This location was chosen because it was important to carry out a sounding rocket programme in the auroral zone, and essential that ESRO equip itself with a suitable range in the northern latitudes. Access to Kiruna was good by air, road and rail, and

969-472: The Bannier Report it became responsible for policy, planning and a posteriori control. The ESRO convention outlined the organisation as one which would be solely devoted to space science. As a consequence, scientific work was the main area of ESROs early operations. As the organisation and its capabilities matured it shifted from a strictly scientific programme to one where applicational activities played

1026-595: The Bannier group suggested that ESRO's top management structure be completely changed. The dichotomy between scientific and technical directorates was, in Bannier's view, wrong in principle for an organisation like ESRO. To overcome it, he suggested that the two posts be abolished. In its stead a new structure was proposed. It comprised the Director General (DG) plus four directors, two of whom were essentially responsible for policy-making and two for policy execution. A new post

1083-557: The Directorate. But this was only a stop-gap measure. Bannier realised that the entire structure of ESOC had to be changed. Firstly, they were emphatic that the executive function of the organisation should be clearly separated from the policy and the planning function. Secondly, as far as the scientific programme was concerned, they recommended that there be a clear institutional distinction drawn between spacecraft development and spacecraft operation after launch. To achieve these objectives,

1140-421: The ESRO jargon), the supreme governing body was the council, made of delegations from its Member States. Each member state had one vote in the council, where it could be represented by not more than two delegates, one of whom was generally a scientist, the other an important national science administrator. One or more advisers were usually included national delegations. The main tasks of the council were to determine

1197-674: The French franc, was introduced in the Saar Protectorate in 1948. On 1 January 1957, the territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany , nevertheless, in its new member state of Saarland , the Saar franc continued to be the currency until 6 July 1959. The name of the Saar franc in German, the main official language in the Protectorate, was Franken . Coins displaying German inscriptions and

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1254-621: The Italian Edoardo Amaldi and the Frenchman Pierre Victor Auger . Neither Amaldi nor Auger was a stranger to the cause of scientific collaboration on a European scale. Indeed, it was they who, in the early 1950s, were key actors in the process which led to the setting up of CERN , the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Now, as the decade drew to a close, they turned their attention to space. Success

1311-573: The Organisation's scientific, technical and administrative policy; to approve its programme and annual work plans; and to determine its level of resources both annually, and every third year for the subsequent three-year period. The council was advised by two subordinate bodies, the Administrative and Finance Committee (AFC) and the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC). At the executive level, ESRO

1368-555: The United Kingdom. Two other countries which had participated in the early COPERS activities, Austria and Norway, decided not to join the new organisation but retained an observer status. The first meeting of the Council opened in Paris three days later with Harrie Massey in the chair. Pierre Auger was appointed ESRO's first Director General. At the decision making level (the "Legislative" in

1425-574: The ability to mint its own currency, the Liechtenstein franc , which it does from time to time for commemorative or emergency purposes. The name of the country "Swiss Confederation" is found on some of the coins in Latin ( Confoederatio Helvetica ), as Switzerland has four official languages, all of which are used on the notes. The denomination is abbreviated "Fr." on the coins which is the abbreviation in all four languages. The Saar franc , linked at par to

1482-531: The basis for full economic union in 1932. Like the French franc, the Belgian and Luxembourg francs ceased to exist on 1 January 1999, when they became fixed at 1 EUR = 40.3399 BEF/LUF, thus a Belgian or Luxembourg franc was worth €0.024789. Old franc coins and notes lost their legal tender status on 28 February 2002. One Luxembourg franc was equal to one Belgian franc. Belgian francs were legal tender inside Luxembourg, and Luxembourg francs were legal tender in

1539-591: The currency has been pegged to the euro. The conquest of most of western Europe by Revolutionary and Napoleonic France led to the franc's wide circulation. Following independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the new Kingdom of Belgium in 1832 adopted its own Belgian franc, equivalent to the French one, followed by Luxembourg adopting the Luxembourgish franc in 1848 and Switzerland in 1850. Newly unified Italy adopted

1596-399: The debates in 1960 and, Auger apart, still active and eminent European space scientists. It then established two working groups. The first was the Interim Scientific and Technical Working Group and its task was to prepare the scientific programme for the future space organisation, paying particular attention to the technical and financial implications of its proposals. Lamek Hulthén , from

1653-579: The development of the European Ariane launcher. This task was entrusted to CNES . The second package deal enabled ESRO to enter into cooperation with NASA on the Spacelab project as well as manage the MAROTS maritime satellite navigation project. This agreement made funding easier and more flexible for the contributing nations which led to a doubling of the organisation's overall budget. ESRO also participated in

1710-708: The effort, the Orbital Test Satellite , would be successfully launched in 1978. Francs The franc is any of various units of currency . One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes . The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription francorum rex ( King of the Franks ) used on early French coins and until the 18th century, or from the French franc , meaning "frank" (and "free" in certain contexts, such as coup franc , "free kick"). The countries that use francs today include Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and most of Francophone Africa . The Swiss franc

1767-404: The end only a handful of projects produced concrete results. These were the two small, non-stabilised satellites ESRO I and ESRO II , launched in 1968 and renamed after launch Aurorae and Iris respectively; the two small highly eccentric orbit satellites HEOS-A and HEOS-A2, launched in 1968 and 1972 and then renamed HEOS-1 and HEOS-2; the medium size, stabilised satellite TD-1, launched in 1972; and

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1824-687: The franc as their standard denomination. The value of the French franc was locked to the euro at 1 euro = 6.55957 FRF on 31 December 1998, and after the introduction of the euro notes and coins, ceased to be legal tender after 28 February 2002, although they were still exchangeable at banks until 19 February 2012. Fourteen African countries use the franc CFA (in west Africa, Communauté financière africaine ; in equatorial Africa, Coopération financière en Afrique centrale ), originally (1945) worth 1.7 French francs and then from 1948, 2 francs (from 1960: 0.02 new franc) but after January 1994 worth only 0.01 French franc. Therefore, from January 1999, 1 CFA franc

1881-541: The future European Space Research Organisation. The so-called "Blue Book" was divided into five parts, each devoted to one of the following subjects: The Blue Book foresaw the firing of some 435 sounding rockets and the successful development and launching of 17 satellites in the 8 years covered by the ESRO Convention, namely 11 small satellites, 4 space probes, and 2 large satellites. It was assumed that 2 launchings would be required to orbit one successful spacecraft, so

1938-509: The future needs of personnel, finance and contracts, and to organise and implement the necessary procedures to maintain an a posteriori control over the Organisation's functioning. The two posts in the Directorate having executive authority would be filled by the director of ESTEC and of ESDAC, which was to be renamed ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre. As for ESRIN, the Bannier group judged its research to be marginal to

1995-500: The intentions and hopes of important sectors of the European scientific community while ignoring their lack of capacity to fulfill these intentions. The fact that transforming the manifesto into a true operational programme would be a long and laborious process and the results sometimes disappointing. The ESRO Convention entered into force on 20 March 1964. The ten founding states were Belgium, Denmark, France, (Federal Republic of) Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and

2052-532: The launching range was relatively close to the town of Kiruna. Finally and perhaps decisively, ESRANGE could be located near Kiruna Geophysical Observatory (subsequently renamed the Swedish Institute of Space Physics ). In 1972 ownership and operations of the range was transferred to the Swedish Space Corporation . Space science data handling has two aspects. Firstly, it requires the setting up of

2109-544: The major activities of the Organisation. Its director, they felt, should not be a member of the directorate but should rather report directly to the DG. The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) was to be a facility at the very core of ESRO. Its responsibilities included the engineering and testing of satellites and their payloads, the integration of scientific instruments in these payloads, and making arrangements for their launch. In some cases member states were to produce

2166-499: The minimum scale deemed necessary by the Council [...] to complete or complement the scientific studies carried out in Member States." This meant that ESLAB was little more than a venue for visiting scientists. ESLAB's role was later expanded. It acted as the interface between national scientific groups and ESTEC engineering groups as well as conducted its own research within the scope of the large astronomical satellite project. After

2223-402: The number of satellite and space probes launchings budgeted for was doubled. The total cost of the satellite programme was estimated at 733.5 million ₣ , of which 450 million ₣ was for launchers and launch operations and 283.5 million ₣ for spacecraft development. The Blue Book was more a manifesto of interests and expectations than a concrete working hypothesis. It only reflected

2280-559: The operational programme. For this reason the Council set up a group of experts led by J.H. Bannier to investigate and solve the problem. Bannier quickly relieved the pressure on the AFC by raising the limit below which the Executive could award contracts without having to seek committee approval. He further increased the role of the Executive by transferring certain competencies from the Legislative to

2337-483: The overall budget. This first lead to a change in the administrative structure and a 50% reduction of the scientific staff. Given the new budgetary environment, LPAC had to choose which two missions to fly among the five which had been planned thus far. It eventually chose HELOS, renamed Exosat , and the IMP-D, renamed ISEE-2 , projects. This new ESRO policy, negotiated in 1973, gave the organisation overall responsibility for

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2394-403: The program oversaw the launch of 168 sounding rockets with an average success rate of 75%. During the course of the programme, the size and payload of the sounding rockets used by ESRO increased from 2.7 to 5.55 m (in length) and from 140 to 310 kg respectively. About half of the 168 sounding rockets were dedicated to ionospheric and auroral studies, about a quarter to atmospheric physics and

2451-546: The recovered data. ESDAC was later renamed ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre. ESOC is located in Darmstadt (Germany). After the Bannier Report it gained overall executive authority for spacecraft operation. ESOC's director also became responsible for ESRANGE and for ESTRACK. ESLAR, a laboratory for advanced research was created in 1966 mainly to break the political deadlock over the location of ESLAB. Later renamed ESRIN, and acronym for European Space Research Institute, ESLAR

2508-447: The rest to solar, stellar and gamma-ray studies. While the number of launched rockets was lower than foreseen, the project exceeded expectations due to higher than anticipated payload capacity and longer range of the rockets. The Blue Book foresaw the launching of 11 small satellites, 4 space probes, and 2 large satellites. These ambitions were never realized mainly due to financial troubles. The programme went through many revisions and in

2565-507: The satellite had been operational for more than 6.5 years, four years longer than planned and had increased the amount of data on gamma rays by a factor of 25. Scientific results included the 2CG Catalogue listing around 25 gamma ray sources and a map of the Milky Way . The satellite also observed the X-ray binary Cygnus X-3 . COS-B was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 9 August 1975 on

2622-421: The scientific instruments for ESRO or produce them as part of their own national effort and compensate ESTEC for its service. In practise, national organisations simply used ESTEC as a service organisation and left it to pay for their efforts from the ESRO budget. After the Bannier Report the facility gained overall executive authority for spacecraft development and was merged with ESLAB. The satellite control centre

2679-474: The small satellite ESRO IV, also launched in 1972, which replaced the second satellite of the TD series (TD-2). All of these were multi-experiment satellites, i.e. the spacecraft carried a payload comprising several instruments provided by different research groups. This was the name of a policy shift negotiated by ESRO members in 1971 which drastically reduced scientific funding in favor of application activities doubling

2736-403: The subsequent 5 years the ESRO council would not approve research and development activities until 1971 when the first package deal took effect. The delay was due to ESROs rigid decision making structure and the unfavorable political situation which existed among ESRO members at the time. These problems were largely done away with as part of the 1971 policy change which, among other things, outlined

2793-500: The whole of Belgium. (In reality, Luxembourg francs were only accepted as means of payment by shops and businesses in the Belgian province of Luxembourg adjacent to the independent Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, this for historical reasons.) The equivalent name of the Belgian franc in Dutch and German, Belgium's other official languages, was frank . As mentioned before, in Luxembourg the franc

2850-468: Was also moved to ESOC. ESTEC was originally to be located in Delft (Holland) but because of unforeseen difficulties, Noordwijk was chosen instead. The situation with ESRO's laboratory, ESLAB was similar. It lacked the staff to function as an independent organisation. But this wasn't surprising since the ESRO Convention describes ESLAB's role in the following manner: "...to undertake joint research programmes on

2907-470: Was based in Frascati (Italy). The ESRO Convention describes ESRINs' role in the following manner: "...to undertake laboratory and theoretical research in the basic physics and chemistry necessary to the understanding of past and the planning of future experiments in space." The facility began acquiring data from environmental satellites in the 1970s. ESRO headquarters was home to the Executive arm of ESRO. After

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2964-598: Was called Frang (plural Frangen ) in Luxembourgish . The Swiss franc ( ISO code : CHF or 756; German : Franken ; Italian : franco ), which appreciated significantly against the new European currency from April to September 2000, remains one of the world's strongest currencies, worth as of August 2023 just over one euro. The Swiss franc is used in Switzerland and in Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein retains

3021-532: Was managed by a Directorate based in Paris, including the Director General assisted by a Scientific Director, a Technical Director and a Head of Administration . The directors of ESRIN , ESDAC and ESLAB reported to the Scientific Director; the director of ESTEC , who had also responsibility for ESRANGE and ESTRACK , reported to the Technical Director. The "Executive", as it was eventually called,

3078-431: Was rapid. Within a year of the first formal discussions being held amongst scientists, European governments had set up a preparatory commission in order to explore the possibilities for a joint space research effort. The European Preparatory Commission for Space Research ( French : Commission Préparatoire Européenne de Recherche Spatiale , COPERS ) held its first session in Paris on 13 and 14 March 1961. Its first task

3135-580: Was responsible for the implementation of approved programmes within the established financial envelope and under general control from the Scientific and Technical Committee. It was also called to perform feasibility studies of space missions proposals coming from the scientific community and recommended by the STC, in view of their eventual adoption in the programme. Only two years after the formation of ESRO, problems with its structure became painfully obvious. By mid-1966 it had climbed to 50%, placing enormous pressure on

3192-472: Was to be created in the first category, a so-called Director of Programmes and Planning (DPP), whose task it would be to prepare draft programmes of the Organisation, based on the scientific, technical, financial and time implications of the different proposals. The second member of the directorate concerned with forward planning would be the Director of Administration (DA) whose task it would be to prepare policy on

3249-471: Was to create the organs needed to define the scientific programme and the necessary infrastructure of the envisaged organisation, to draw up its budget, and to prepare a Convention for signature by those member state governments who wished to join it. To this end the meeting first elected its "bureau": chairman Harrie Massey , vice-chairmen, Luigi Broglio and Hendrik van de Hulst , and executive secretary Pierre Auger, all men who had played an important role in

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