Funding

The budget of the ESSC is contributed à la carte through several ESF Member Organisations, as well as European and national space agencies >> More

Committee Members are required to maintain strong links with their national ESSC Funding Organisation(s) involved in space research.

Contributions from other bodies - such as the European Commission or the European Parliament – may also be sought. The budget of the ESSC (income and outflow) is managed by the ESF. Financial commitments for the Committee’s operation and work, including those for scientific and secretarial assistance, are made through the ESF.

The increasing volume of activities during the past years led the ESSC to produce a five-year financial plan and to request increased support from its funding institutions. Version 2.0 of that plan is currently being discussed and will be available following its final approval.

The Committee

The ESSC currently groups 16 members from 10 European countries, and aims at having 29 members from 12 countries at the end of the year. Committee Members are drawn from reputed experts active in all fields of space research on the basis of scientific expertise and recognition within the community. The Members are appointed ad personam by the ESF for a 3-year term (renewavle once) after appropriate consultation with the ESSC and with national research councils and academies in European countries (in particular ESF Member Organisations and ESSC Funding Organisations). 

The President of COSPAR sits in the ESSC  as an ex officio member.

The Chairman of the ESSC is appointed by the ESF, after appropriate consultation and search action. The current Chairman (May 2007- December 2010) is Professor Jean-Pierre Swings, Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Liège, Belgium. The previous Chairs were Professor Gerhard Haerendel (Germany, 2002-2007), Professor John Leonard Culhane (United Kingdom, 1998-2002),  Professor François Becker (France, 1994-1997), Professor Heinrich J. Völk (Germany, 1987-1993), Professor Johannes Geiss (Switzerland, 1979-1987), and Professor Harry Massey†, founder (UK, 1975-1979).

The Chairperson is assisted by the ESSC Executive Scientific Secretary, who is also the Head of the ESF Space Sciences Unit. This position is filled currently by Dr. Jean-Claude Worms,Strasbourg, France.

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Panels

Since 1994 the ESSC had 3 panels dedicated to "classical" space science (ESPSP), Earth observation (EEOP), and life & physical sciences in space (ELIPS). However space science topics have evolved substantially in the past 15 years, along with an increased call to trans-disciplinary activities. Subjects such as solar system exploration, exo/astrobiology, GMES, space weather, etc, now tend to fall between the cracks of disciplines as covered by the ESSC panels, or are overlapping across these panels.

The January 2008 plenary meeting of the ESSC thus agreed to a new structure comprising four panels dealing with:

• astronomy and astrophysics
• solar system & exploration
• research in weightlessness (life and physical sciences)
• Earth sciences (including space policy and space law)

Transition from the current 3-panel structure to the new one will be done gradually throughout 2008.

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Solar System and Exploration Panel - SSEP

Monica Grady (exobiology), The Open University, Milton Keynes, Chair
Göran Scharmer (solar physics), Institute for solar physics, Stockholm
Angioletta Coradini (planetology), Universität Ulm
Frances Westall, CNRS, Orléans
Luigi Colangeli (small bodies), INAF Osservatorio Capodimonte
Eigil Friis-Christensen (Earth & space physics), TU Denmark Copenhagen
Ian Crawford (planets & Moon), Birkbeck College London
NN (planets & Moon), as of 2009
NN (solar physics), as of 2009

An offspring from the former space science panel (ESPSP), the SSEP will deal with solar system science and exploration (both robotic and human exploration). Successive Chairs of E(SP)² were Herbert Schnopper (Denmark), Johann Bleeker (Netherlands), Jean-Loup Puget (France), and Catherine Turon (France).

The ESPSP was very active in the past few years in the assessment of, and recommendations on, the future of ESA’s space science programme, but also in dealing with studies on international cooperation in space science. In 2003, a major report on "demography of European space science" was produced by the ESSC, in which that panel played a major role.

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Research in Weightlessness Panel - RWP

Hans J. Fecht (material sciences), Universität Ulm, Chair
Manuel G. Velarde (fluid physics), UCM Madrid
Gilles Clément (neurophysiology), CRCC Toulouse
NN (physiology), as of 2009
NN (biology), as of 2009
NN (fundamental physics in space), as of 2009

A successor to the ELIPSP (formerly, EMP). ELIPSP met for the first time on 19 September 1994 in Paris and has produced recommendations that were included in the ESSC position papers concerning the International Space Station, and recommending in particular that microgravity research should become a mandatory programme within ESA. Successive Chairs of ELIPSP were Dick Mesland (Netherlands), Jean-Claude Legros (Belgium), Gerda Horneck (Germany), Daniel Beysens (France), Pascale Ehrenfreund (Netherlands), and Monica Grady (United Kingdom).

The ELIPSP was involved in 2000 and 2004-2005 in major reports commissionned by ESA and concerning the evaluation of ESA’s research plan in life and physical sciences in space (ELIPS programme).

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Earth Sciences Panel - ESP

Karel Wakker (solid Earth), SRON, Utrecht, Interim Chair
Christiane Schmullius (biosphere and land), Universität Jena
Michel Deshayes (biosphere and land), CEMAGREF, Montpellier
Olivier Francis (remote sensing), Luxemburg
Jouni Pulliainen (biosphere & land/polar regions), FMI Sodankylä
Frans von der Dunk (space law), Black Holes B.V. Leiden
David Vaughan (cryology/glaciology), BAS-NERC Cambridge
NN (atmospheric physics & chemistry), as of 2009
NN (oceanography), as of 2009
NN (GMES & disaster management), as of 2009

A successor to the EEOP, which was formed in February 1992 by the ESSC with the specific objective of providing general independent assessments and recommendations of all facets of the European Earth Observation programmes. Successive Chairs of the EEOP since its inception were Klaus Hasselmann (Germany), Robert Gurney (United Kingdom), Paul Simon (Belgium), Jean-Louis Fellous (France), and Christiane Schmullius (Germany). As its first task after its creation, the EEOP produced a major report titled "A Strategy for Earth Observation from Space", published by ESF in September 1992. It was hoped that the space agencies in Europe would be able to incorporate its basic tenets in their planning.

Among many topics, the Panel strongly recommended that the science part of ESA’s Earth Observation Programme should become mandatory. Although this is not the case today, ESA’s Earth Observation Envelope Programme, decided by ESA Ministers meeting in Brussels in May 1999, incorporates some long-term planning and funding elements, which is clearly a step in the right direction.

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Astronomy and Astrophysics Panel - AAP

Catherine Turon (astrometry), GEPI, Meudon, Chair
Karsten Danzmann (fundamental physics), MPI für Gravitationsphysik, Hannover
Matt Griffin (IR astronomy), Cardiff University
Per Barth Lilje (high-energy physics), University of Oslo
José Miguel Mas Hesse (UV astronomy), Centro de Astrobiologia, Madrid
Jean-Pierre Swings (astronomy), Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Liège
Jorgen Christensen-Dalsgaard (stellar physics and exoplanets), Aarhus University
Jordi Torra (galactic astronomy), Universidad de Barcelona

The AAP is also an offspring from the ESPSP, which met for the first time on 19 September 1994 in Paris and provided specific advice concerning the "classical" space science elements of ESA’s and Europe’s programmes, i.e. astronomy & astrophysics, planetary exploration, space & solar physics, fundamental physics. Successive Chairs of E(SP)² were Herbert Schnopper (Denmark), Johann Bleeker (Netherlands), Jean-Loup Puget (France), and Catherine Turon (France).

The E(SP)²  has been very active in the past few years in the assessment of, and recommendations on, the future of ESA’s space science programme, but also in dealing with studies on international cooperation in space science. In 2003, a major report on "demography of European space science" was produced by the ESSC, in which the E(SP)²  played a major role.

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