The National Commission for Space Activities (CONAE) chaired the Disaster Working Group of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEO, for its acronym in English), during the last plenary meeting of the organization, held from November 14 to 16 in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The Argentine space agency is represented by Laura Frulla, Earth Observation Manager.

“For CONAE, this space is of great enrichment, because it represents the place where interactions take place with professionals of the highest academic and technical-scientific level from the 34 member space agencies and 29 associated agencies and institutions. Our national agency carries out dialogues and, in many cases, cooperative work with a large part of the participating organizations.” said Frulla.

CONAE already held the vice-presidency of the Disaster Working Group since November 2021 and in relation to assuming the presidency, Frulla considered: “We have managed to maintain international recognition, Argentina’s position as a leader in the space field and the updating and growth of scientific and technological knowledge.“.

During the meeting, the vice-chairmanship of the CEOS Disaster Working Group was also appointed, which will be led by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), represented by Lorant Czaran. This translates into joint work between CONAE and UNOOSA for the coordination and management of disaster-related projects that the working group carries out.

In addition, the change of CEOS presidency was celebrated, which in 2024 was headed by the Geoinformatics and Space Technology Development Agency of Thailand (GISTDA). It will now pass into the hands of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

To carry out the activities that the CEO is proposed, it has an organizational structure composed of different groups such as working groups, virtual constellations and ad hoc work teams, among others. The working groups address topics such as calibration and validation, capacity building and data democracy, disasters, climate and information systems and services, covering a wide range of data observation areas. Earth.

A key forum for international space agencies

There CONAE has been part of CEOS since 1999. The main function of this organization is internationally coordinate all civilian space missions designed to observe and monitor our planet, as well as harmonize Earth observations to facilitate community access and use of data.

THE CEOS members represent international agencies and institutions in which Earth observation plays a key role, notably in supporting the generation of information to support productive, economic, social and environmental aspects.. It’s him the only space where all the world’s space agencies come together with active participation, where they communicate, collaborate and exchange information on Earth observation activities. In addition, they discuss the different activities carried out by each of them with the aim of coordinating them and working on the missing information spaces.

“By participating in CEOS meetings, CONAE manages to generate exchanges of information and methodologies for the generation of products, participation in joint activities in other satellite missions or the generation of proposals for collaborative satellite missions, among other initiatives.. In turn, this allows CONAE to be aware of all technological advances in space, whether at the level of the development of instruments to be placed on board satellites, or at the level of new technologies for the generation of products with a benefit and a social contribution. to productive aspects,” he said.