Romanian Space Agency

Not to be confused with RSA (disambiguation).
Romanian Space Agency
Agenţia Spaţialǎ Românǎ
Acronym ROSA
Established 1991
Headquarters Bucharest, Romania[1]
Administrator Marius-Ioan Piso
Budget US$ 8 million
extrabudgetary financing
Website rosa.ro

The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) is a public institution with extrabudgetary funding[2] which coordinates the national space technology research programs and the space research related activities since 1991. ROSA is subordinated to the Ministry of Education.[3]

As representative of the Romanian Government, the Romanian Space Agency establishes cooperative agreements with international organizations such as the European Space Agency[4] and the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and also bilateral agreements. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROSA represents Romania at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space - COPUOS and at its subcommittees.

The Romanian Space Agency also conducts research projects through the ROSA Research Center.

History

Romania has a long tradition in the aeronautical industry, which includes several historical personalities such as:

Romania can look upon a heritage of companies like Aerostar, Avioane Craiova, Industria Aeronautică Română, Romaero and Societatea Pentru Exploatări Tehnice – today more than twenty types of aircraft are being manufactured in Romania, some based on domestic designs.

Owing to this heritage, the country has some experience in the field of space applications, such as satellite communications, remote sensing, geographic information systems andglobal information, positioning and navigation systems. Since 1977 it operates an Intelsat ground station in Cheia with two 32 m antennas.[5] Romania contributed to more than thirty scientific and technological space missions in the Interkosmos program, including the 1981 flight of Dorin-Dumitru Prunariu on the Soyuz 40.

The Government together with private entities in Romania supports space activities as important and necessary element for the social development, therefore, in 1992, Romania was one of the first Eastern European country to sign a cooperation agreement with ESA[6] for the peaceful uses of outer space, followed by a Framework Agreement with ESA in 2006.[7] Romania contributed through co-investigators to several ESA missions such as Hershel, Planck, SOHO and Gaia.

Since 2012, the Romanian flag is raised at the European Space Agency (ESA)[8] headquarters, after Romania officially became the 19th ESA Member State on 22 December 2012.

With Romania's accession to ESA, it was opened for the Romanian researchers, especially for the Romanian industry, the opportunity to participate in ESA missions. Over two decades, the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA), based on their own research and consulting efforts, has become a scientific and high technology organization that coordinates, promotes and represents the national research activities and space aerospace and security applications.

Objectives

ROSA's main objective is to create favorable conditions for conducting space research and development activities, and to initiate and coordinate basic and applied research in space. ROSA ensures Romania's active presence in international actions that lead to advances in space and use of outer space for peaceful purposes; also, ROSA represents, warrant based, the government in relations arising from agreements concluded by Romania with foreign partners regarding space problems.

Management

President of the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) since 2004 and also Executive Director of the same organization starting 2005, Marius-Ioan Piso (born on January 7, 1954),[9] PhD in physics and Senior Scientist 1st degree, coordinates the Agency's development following three strategic directions: the Romanian space strategy implementation’s planning and coordination, representing Romania nationally and internationally and the constant development of partnerships, collaborations and bi- and multi-lateral relationships, and last but not least, the Agency’s involvement in national and international research and development programmes in space, aeronautics and security domains.

His name is linked to the establishment of the Romanian Space Agency in 1991[10] and the achievement of the organization's independency four years later, to the foundation of the Institute of Space Science, but also to the Romania and European Space Agency (ESA) cooperation's start. The constant concern regarding space research and technology development in Romania and the results obtained over time by the scientific and technological community, often under his supervision or guidance, have resulted in the country's accession to the European Space Agency in January 2011.

ROSA components

The STAR Programme

The STAR Research, Development and Innovation Programme - Space Technology and Advanced Research for the 2012-2019 period, approved by Law no. 262/2011,[4] is the instrument through which the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports - the National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS) ensures, through Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) as the lead organization of the program, the national support for the implementation of the Agreement between Romania and the European Space Agency (ESA) on Romania's accession to the ESA Convention.

The STAR programme held two competitions so far.

Activities in the national and international programs

National programs

International programs

National and international affiliations

Major international agreements

Romanian experiment on STS-133

The final flight of NASA's space shuttle Discovery - NASA mission STS-133 - will transport a Romanian experiment created by the Romanian Institute for Space Science to the International Space Station.[13]
Growth and Survival of Colored Fungi in Space (CFS-A) is an experiment designed to determine the effect of microgravity and cosmic radiation on the growth and survival of colored fungi species.[14]

Principal investigators: Dumitru Hasegan, Romanian Institute for Space Science, Bucharest. (ESA). The launch of STS-133 took place on February 24, 2011. For more details visit the mission's official webpage.

GOLIAT

Goliat is the first Romanian artificial microsatellite, launched on February 13, 2012.[15] It was selected to be launched into orbit by the European Vega rocket, on its first operational flight.[16]
The entire system was developed and designed by ROSA in collaboration with the Institute of Space Science and BITNET and ELPROF companies, between 2005 and 2007. The microsatellite is a cube with sides of 10 inches and a weight of one kilogram.

The Goliat mission was funded by the National Authority for Scientific Exploration within the National Excellence Research Programm and it has an educational character, being the first microsatellite launched in a ROSA space in a programme.

RoBiSAT

RoBiSAT represents the second Romanian artificial nanosatellites mission. The mission is composed out of 2 Cubesat 2U type satellites that will be part of the QB50 constellation. They will be sent to the ISS at the end of 2016 on the Cygnus CRS OA-7.[17] The two nanosatellites, called Robisat 1 and Robisat 2, were built at the Institute of Space Science located in Magurele, Romania.[18]

Expertise

ROSA is a public organization, integral contract-based financed; sources: RTD contracts, consultancy, international cooperation, management.

National expertise

National Attributes:

International expertise

International attributes

ROSA is the appointed national representative for:

Joining ESA

The first agreement between Romania and the European Space Agency (ESA) was signed in 1992,[19] followed in 1999 by the Romania-ESA Agreement on cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of space. Since 2007, Romania contributes to the ESA budget as a European Cooperating State (PECS), status ratified by Law no. 1/2007.

On December 22, 2011, Romania became the 19th member of the European Space Agency.

An important step in the accession process was to conduct a technical audit on the relevant entities in Romania (institutes, research centers, industrial companies and SMEs), which have space technological capabilities. The audit was conducted by ESA, based on a sample of 130 entities, for 50 of them being organized technical visits and interviews.

The full member state of the European Space Agency status gives to the organizations in Romania access, in the same way with the ESA countries, to all programs run, and this is an important technology transfer and the opening of a high-tech market. Also, the intellectual property is maintained at a national level, having an important role in the establishment of competence in the country.

Research

ROSA Research Center

The ROSA Research Center (RRC) was organized in 1998 as an entity legally represented by ROSA. RRC joined all research capacities in a unique management. Another step was the joint venture agreements concluded with CRUTA – the Romanian Center for Remote Sensing Applications in Agriculture – a SME laboratory initially organized as an independent branch of the ISPIF (Research and Development Institute for Land Use). A joint venture agreement was concluded with the Institute of Space Science in Bucharest. Since 2001, the RRC has been selected by the Ministry of Education and Research as a Center of Excellence in Space Applications.

Since 2006, on behalf of the Romanian Government, ROSA strengthened its relationship with ESA by signing a PECS agreement. The fields of science and technology knowledge developed by RRC are: space dynamics, in particular small satellites and tethered systems, magnetic fluids and magneto-fluidic composites; earth observation (remote sensing) satellite data retrieval, processing, algorithms and software development, applications development; spatial information systems integration, Global Navigation Satellite Systems and space technology for risk management and security.

RRC developed, since 2003, R&D projects addressing national strategy, as well as technological development in the GNSS field. One of the last projects, “Capacity, Infrastructure and Applications for GNSS-GALILEO” directly addressed the problem of extending EGNOS in Eastern Europe through infrastructure development.

Results of the research activities

Romanian Space Agency has no object of industrialization and marketing. The research results were used for the development of systems and services dedicated to a particular beneficiary (information systems, consulting, education):

ESERO Romania

Launched during the ‘Romanian Space Week’,[20] an annual scientific conference organised by ROSA between 12–16 May 2014, ESERO Romania was established as the result of a partnership agreement between the Romanian Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA), and it joins a European network of ESEROs which are now present in 10 European countries.[21]

ESERO is a project established by ESA aimed at using the fascination of space to support the teaching and learning of STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in European primary and secondary schools. Through ESERO Romania, ROSA and ESA plan to respond to Romanian specific national educational needs and eventually encourage the young generations to take up a STEM-related career.[22]

Events

2014

Annual Scientific Conference "Romanian Space Week",[23] May 2014

Between 12–16 May, the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) organised the 2014 edition of the annual scientific conference "Romanian Space Week" (RSW 2014). The event was dedicated to presenting the implementation status of the projects funded through the Programme for Research, Development and Innovation for Space Technology and Advanced Research — STAR, which aims to improve Romania’s industrial competitiveness in the Programmes of the European Space Agency.

The 2014 ESA-EUSC-JRC Image Information Mining Conference: The Sentinels Era, Bucharest, March 2014

The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) together with the University Politehnica Bucharest (UPB) hosted the Ninth ESA-EUSC-JRC Image Information Mining Conference: The Sentinels Era, between 5 and 7 March 2014. The event was aimed at European space agencies and organisations, aerospace industry and research centres, value added companies and service providers.

2013

The 29th EUGridPMA Meeting, September 2013[24]

Between 9–11 September 2013, the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) organised the 29th meeting of the European Grid Policy Management Authority (EUGridPMA). The European Grid Policy Management Authority is an international organisation that coordinates European e-Science authentication using digital certificates, and which, together with the Asia-Pacific Grid Policy Management Authority and the Americas Grid Policy Management Authority, form the International Grid Trust Federation.

2nd IAA Conference on Space Systems as Critical Infrastructure, August 2013[25]
Between 29 and 30 August 2013 the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) together with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) organised the 2nd Conference on Space Systems as Critical Infrastructure at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Mamaia, Black Sea, Romania. The symposium aims to explore how much we depend on satellites to support our most critical infrastructure and to live modern and mobile lives.
The annual scientific conference of the "Space Technology and Advanced Research - STAR" Programme , June 2013[26]

Between 26 and 27 June 2013, the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA), the coordinating organization of the Research, Development and Innovation Program - "Space Technology and Advanced Research" STAR, held the annual scientific conference dedicated to presenting the implementation stage of projects funded within the projects competition C1-2012.

ESA, ASTRIUM and Thales Alenia Space present the opportunities for participating in the ARTES 14 Programme (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) at Bucharest, April 2013

The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) organised an informative session on the ESA Programme dedicated to the next generation of Neosat platforms - ARTES 14 (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems). Representatives from ESA, as well as from prime contractors Astrium, subsidiary of EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) and Thales Alenia Space attended the event.

The briefing aimed to assess the possibilities, capabilities and interest in being involved in ARTES 14 from organisations in Romania, as well as to provide a better understanding of the general and specific issues related to this program.

The "European Earth Monitoring Programme GMES - Copernicus: Its benefits for the citizens of Eastern Europe" Conference, May 2013[27]

The Romanian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the European Commission and Eurisy jointly organised the second edition of the GMES COPERNICUS conference dedicated to Eastern Europe EU Member States. The conference took place in Bucharest on the 21st and 22 May 2013.

Since the first edition in 2012, the main objective of the conference was to highlight the various opportunities Copernicus can and will offer, with a focus on the new EU member states from Eastern Europe.

2012

PLEIADES: A new dimension of satellite imaging, October 2012[28]

Organised by the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) together with Astrium Geo Services, the Faculty of Land Reclamation and Environment Engineering in Bucharest, the Military Technical University in Bucharest and Tradsym Consult, the event presented the features of the new Pleiades-SPOT constellation, as well as applications developed by Romanian researchers, based on the image database provided by SpotImage-Astrium Geo Services.

Exploratory workshop with the scientific Romanian Diaspora on "Space — Science, Technology and Applications", September 2012[29]

The workshop brought together Romanian scientists working abroad to discuss space applications resulting from science and technology. The event was part of the event "Diaspora in the Romanian Scientific Research and Higher Education".

1st IAA Conference on Space Systems as Critical Infrastructures, September 2012

The conference was organised by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA), co-sponsored by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), on the 6th and 7 September 2012.

GEOSS Summer School - Remote Sensing of the Black Sea Marine Environment, August 2012 Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) organized the 4th edition of the GEOSS Summer School, part of the activities supporting GEO capacity building in Earth Observation.The goal of the summer school was to acquire knowledge on current use of remote sensing, EO data and the future remote sensing sensors, contributing to monitor the marine environment evolution and satellite oceanography.

GMES: New Opportunities for Eastern Europe, May 2012[30]

The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA), together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC) organized the "GMES: New Opportunities for Eastern Europe" conference on the 3 - 4 of May 2012.

Space Situational Awareness Workshop, April 2012[31]

ROSA together with the Research Agency on Military Technologies organized a workshop on Space Situational Awareness, where programmes of ESA and NATO were discussed, as well as the possibility to develop a Romanian ground based facility for NEO and space debris observation, space weather contributions in Romania, high performance computing mobile for disaster management applications etc.

2011

GEOSS Summer School: Advancing Earth Observation Data Understanding Crisis Management and Emergency Response, August 2011[32]

Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) organized the 3rd edition of the GEOSS Summer School, part of the activities supporting GEO capacity building in Earth Observation.The main goal of this year’s summer school is to acquire knowledge on current use of EO data and image information mining techniques contributing to prevent, monitor and assess the impact of natural and man-made disasters and crisis situations.

2011 IAA Planetary Defense Conference: From Threat to Action, May 2011[33]

The International Academy of Astronautics held its second conference on protecting our planet from impacts by asteroids and comets from 9–12 May 2011 in Bucharest, Romania. The 1st IAA Planetary Defense Conference: Protecting Earth from Asteroids, co-sponsored by the European Space Agency and The Aerospace Corporation, was the follow-on to three previous planetary defense conferences held in 2004 in Los Angeles and 2007 in Washington, D.C., and in 2009 in Granada, Spain.

References

  1. ↑ The location of the Agency is:
    Address: 21-25 Mendeleev str, Bucharest, 10362
    Phone: +4 021 3168722
  2. ↑ http://www.cdep.ro/pls/legis/legis_pck.htp_act_text?idt=16654
  3. ↑ http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/19683
  4. 1 2 http://lege5.ro/Gratuit/gi3diojshe/legea-nr-262-2011-pentru-ratificarea-acordului-dintre-romania-si-agentia-spatiala-europeana-esa-privind-aderarea-romaniei-la-conventia-pentru-infiintarea-agentiei-spatiale-europene-si-termenii-si-cond
  5. ↑ http://jurnalul.ro/it/stiinta/aplicatii-spatiale-in-romania-314636.html
  6. ↑ http://lege5.ro/Gratuit/gyztgmbx/acordul-intre-agentia-spatiala-europeana-si-guvernul-romaniei-privind-cooperarea-spatiala-in-scopuri-pasnice-din-11121992-
  7. ↑ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/European_Cooperating_States
  8. ↑ http://www.esa.int/ESA_in_your_country/Romania/Drapelul_romanesc_a_fost_inalt
  9. ↑ http://www.rosa.ro/index.php/ro/despre-noi/management/526-marius-ioan-piso.html
  10. ↑ http://www.research.ro/ro/articol/1368/sistemul-de-cercetare-institutii-publice-agentia-spatiala-romana
  11. ↑ http://www.spacealliance.ro/articles/images/a/romania_pecs.pdf
  12. ↑ http://www.parsec.ro/interviuri/hasegan/
  13. ↑ http://www2.spacescience.ro/?page_id=1959&lang=ro
  14. ↑ http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elias_Chatzitheodoridis/publication/235987986_PREPARING_CFS-A_EXPERIMENT_FOR_FLIGHT_ORBIT/file/60b7d51540792d4423.pdf
  15. ↑ ro:Goliat (satelit)
  16. ↑ http://www.mediafax.ro/stiinta-sanatate/goliat-primul-satelit-romanesc-a-fost-plasat-pe-orbita-luni-9230789
  17. ↑ http://www.realitatea.net/robisat-a-doua-misiune-spatiala-romaneasca-se-pregateste-de-lansare_1958263.html
  18. ↑ http://www2.spacescience.ro/?p=2450&lang=en
  19. ↑ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/Romania_accedes_to_ESA_Convention
  20. ↑ http://www.agerpres.ro/sci-tech/2014/05/13/biroul-european-de-resurse-pentru-educatie-spatiala-in-romania-lansat-marti-12-56-41
  21. ↑ http://www.esa.int/Education/Teachers_Corner/European_Space_Education_Resource_Office
  22. ↑ http://www.evz.ro/educatie-spatiala-si-pentru-elevii-romani.html
  23. ↑ http://www.rosa.ro/index.php/ro/comunicare/1206-conferina-tiinific-anual-romanian-space-week-12-16-mai-2014.html
  24. ↑ https://www.eugridpma.org/meetings/2013-09/
  25. ↑ http://iaaweb.org/content/view/541/720/
  26. ↑ http://www.rosa.ro/index.php/en/communication/events/1057-conferina-tiinific-anual-a-programului-tehnologie-spaial-i-cercetare-avansat-star.html
  27. ↑ http://www.enveurope.eu/misc/meetings-agendas/GMESConferenceBucharestFinalProgramme.pdf
  28. ↑ http://www.tradsym.ro/
  29. ↑ http://www.diaspora-stiintifica.ro/index.php?page=programe-workshop&id=12
  30. ↑ http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/GMES_in_Eastern_Europe
  31. ↑ http://events.rosa-rc.ro/indico/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=9
  32. ↑ http://www.asrc.ro/en/event_afisare/index/GEOSS-Summer-School
  33. ↑ http://www.c-space-eu.org/
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