Brussels, 26/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement with the European Southern Observatory on Thursday 20 August increasing cooperation between the two in a number of scientific and technological areas.
“There is considerable overlap of interests between ESO, pre-eminent in ground-based astronomy, and ESA, Europe's leader in space research and technology. The new agreement provides a framework for future close cooperation and exchange of information in many areas, including technology and scientific research”, states the ESA website.
The agreement lays the foundations for strategic coordination of the two organisations' long-term plans as well as coordination of specific programmes. It will, in addition, promote coordination of scientific and training programmes, and sharing of best practice in many areas. Coordination in the areas of services, tools and resources will also be encouraged. Additional areas covered by the new agreement are technology development and public outreach activities.
ESO is an intergovernmental organisation for astronomy in Europe and is currently supported by Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. It is based in Garching, near Munich, in Germany. The Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in Chile's Atacama Desert and one of the world's largest visible light astronomical telescopes, was built and is operated by ESO. The Observatory is currently building its successor, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). (Pascal Hansens)