07/02/2022 (Agence Europe) – Following a €750 million budgetary gap in the development of the European observation programme of Earth, Copernicus, (see EUROPE 12845/5), experts from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (DG DEFIS) agreed at a meeting held at the end of January to introduce a new programme milestone entitled “Funding Gate Milestone”, according to an announcement made on Friday 4 February. The deadline is set for the end of June 2024. As indicated by the ESA Director General (see EUROPE 12872/12), this is a postponement of a series of industrial commitments without there being much impact on the future of the programme. It allows for the normal deployment of the first-generation Sentinels and the commissioning of the Sentinel CO2M mission, as well as the continued development of the five remaining Sentinel expansion missions until theCritical Design Review is completed. (PH)