European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Europe a answer to Nasa the european space operations Center is the nerve Center of a Multi National space Agency by Randy Pruitt staff writer h a a a a Here in Germany do they speak m m b  Little attention to the a military Ana measure their Money in b by european currency units b ii i need another clue for most Bill earthlings it s a place that s out of this by my world. H a the City is Darmstadt. The place is the european space operations Center soca unique blend up of about 350 residents of Austria Britain Belgium Denmark of Nee Germany Ireland Italy the Netherlands Norway pain Sweden and Switzerland. Finland is an associate a Nebr while Canada maintains collaboration accords with the Agency. Together they work for the european space Agency Europe s equivalent to Nasa. From Germany they pull the invisible strings that control satellites orbiting the Globe. Scientists Monitor the weather explore the Earth s magnetic and electric Fields control telecommunications and conduct research by probing the Depths of outer space. Soc is the nucleus of the european space Agency and the nerve Center of a worldwide network of ground stations in Villafranca Spain red Belgium Perth Australia Kourou French Guiana and Malinda Kenya. Meteorological spacecraft Are handled by another station at Rehbach about 20 Miles from Darmstadt. Each ground station feeds in the information necessary to enable soc to remain in constant Contact with a vehicle that pay be thousands of Miles out in space. At the moment soc is controlling 16 satellites Quot you can t achieve anything in space without cooperation Quot said Jocelyne Landeau head of Public relations for soc. But it was economic forces rather than Geo political considerations that led the various european governments to Pool their resources. Quot no single country could pour enough Money into program to set up the necessary infrastructure Quot she said. Established in 1964 with Headquarters in Paris the Agency s aim was not Only to develop space research but also to establish a space Industry in Europe. That objective has been achieved she said. Quot after a Quarter of a Century we can do everything Nasa can do Quot Landeau said. Not quite. Esa still lacks experience in manned missions. While Competition among participating countries is open France at 30 percent contributes the largest share of the Agency s annual 2.9 billion ecu $2.4 billion budget. Germany contributes 23 percent. Each country is awarded contracts based on its financial participation. Ten percent of the budget is allotted for salaries and investment. Lately the Agency has been hit hard by economic crises plaguing member nations while political developments such As the reunification of Germany and the breakup of the socialist East Metloc has eroded interest in space technology. A a a a. Military satellites Are out of the question she said. Quot this is a question often raised by German visitors Quot she said. Quot they Are very concerned that we Don t fire a missile at the end of a Garden. There were Many talks during the Gulf crisis about our role if we should expand it. Some people say yes even within the Agency but we can say that 95 percent of people Are fully convinced that we should Only have peaceful  soc is also the space Agency s largest data processing Center with the largest number of computers. Soc also is responsible for internal electronic mail and All communications lines within the Agency. Quot we have permanent lines with Nasa for the Exchange of data. We have dedicated special lines with Iki the russians Quot Landeau said. Esa cooperates with the . On a number of projects. An especially successful venture was the Hubble space Telescope a project that is expected to revolutionize the study of astronomy Over the next 15 years. Europe has invested heavily in satellites and coverage is excellent she  there is feeling at the moment we should do something for the environment Quot she said. Quot in the future there will probably be a european environmental  working with the ., however can be frustrating Landeau admitted. Quot we had an agreement with Nasa that we would do Columbus which would be part of the .-led space station Freedom Quot she said. Quot because Nasa has a Peculiar Way of being funded every year it has to renegotiate. We re working ahead on budgets five years and much  the Columbus space program has been reduced in size and Cost and is now expected to be launched around the year 2000. In the future she foresees More cooperation with the russians and japanese. Quot there is a Strong current in favor of Earth observation missions Quot she said Quot after the launch of ers-1 Remote sensing satellite we had phone Calls every Day and letters saying can your satellite photograph this or that Quot people could relate to the satellite. When i say to visitors we Are controlling a satellite called Ulysses which is going to go to Jupiter first then use the Gravity of Jupiter and go Back to the Sun they stare at me and ask what for Quot a amps Dave Didio Quot you can t achieve anything in space without cooperation Quot says Agency spokeswoman Jocelyne Landeau. European Spece Agency technicians work on trs i an Earth monitoring satellite launched by the Agency. European space Agency an Aerial View of the soc Complex in Darmstadt. European space Agency the ers-1 Remote sensing satellite in orbit. 18 b the stars and stripes tuesday Art 19,1993 the stars and stripes b 19