The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Member States participating in the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Programme approved the transition to Phase-2 of Segment 1 of the GMES Space Component Programme. Oversubscription of the programme by the ESA Council at ministerial level in 2005 was confirmed, with oversubscription to phase 2 of 116 percent, giving a total amount of €500 M. This additional contribution to the programme will allow ESA to confirm the development of the first three Sentinel satellites.
The GMES Space Component Programme is co-funded by the European Commission and ESA is responsible for the management and coordination of the overall GMES Space Component in Europe. As a result of this transition to Phase-2, ESA will be able to make progress on development of the Sentinel satellite series and, in particular, build Sentinel 1, 2 and 3, together with the necessary ground segment.
Prior to launch of the ESA-built Sentinels, which is planned for 2011–12, ESA will coordinate the provision of EO data required by the GMES services currently implemented by the EC. This will help to gradually take GMES from the pre-operational phase to the fully operational stage once the Sentinel satellites are in place.