This past summer, in the presence of the French ministry of research Roger Gerard Swartzenberg, Sergio De Julio, Chairman of the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) and M. Alain Bensoussan, Chairman of the Centre Nationale d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), have officially signed an agreement  memorandum in the Planet Earth Observation sector.

"The main objective of this agreement - explains the ASI chairman - is to create an earth observation dual system based on optical satellites and radars, with the relevant earth segment ".

In the frame of the inter-government agreement signed the last 29th of January in Turin by the French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, and by the then Council Chairman for the Italian Republic, Giuliano Amato, ASI and CNES will conduct a common definition study aimed at the development of a European dual Earth Observation system starting from their respective National programmes, COSMO-SkyMed for ASI, and Pleiades for CNES.

The study - the Italian space agency points out - will be conducted with the participation of the Defence ministers of the two countries.

This union represents a way in which to put to good use the acquired experience gained from the two research institutes in a space context through the existing French and Italian programmes for Earth Observation.

In particular, reference will be made to work already carried out in Pleiades and COSMO-SkyMed, but also using existing civil and military earth segments.