The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) is the leading organization for the space activities in Romania. It is an
–
legal person financed by its own sources, organized by the Government Decision no. 923/1995 and defined by the Law no. 500/2002. ROSA is reporting to the Minister of Education and Research and direct to the Prime-Minister for specific items defined by the law.
The main mission of ROSA is to promote, coordinate and develop space research and applications programs / projects in Romania and to represent the Government in relevant international cooperation agreements. By public tender, ROSA became the contract authority for the National Aeronautics and Space R&D Programme (2001-2006), co-financed by the state budget. By the Government decision No. 1574/2004, ROSA provides the secretariat for the Interministerial Group for Security Research and the President of ROSA was appointed as the Executive President of this Group. ROSA became the contract authority for the National Security Programme
ROSA represents Romania in the relation with the European Space Agency and acts as the head of delegation for the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
The financial support for the activity of ROSA is fully obtained from research, development and consultancy contracts concluded with public and private, national and foreign organizations, on a commercial basis, performed by its own research centre. More than 80% of the ROSA turnover is obtained from research and development activities.
Presently, ROSA is composed of the Headquarters (administrative, cooperation and programme management divisions) and the ROSA Research Centre (RRC), with 28 research positions from a total of 36 in ROSA. RRC was organized in 1998 in the frame of ROSA which is the legal representative.
A brief description of the skills, assets and resources of ROSA and ROSA – RRC as for international and national dimensions is given in the sequel.
The international relations are a main asset of the center. A major role of ROSA is to promote the integration of the Romanian space research and industry in the science and technology system of the European Space Agency (ESA). The Agreement ESA – Romania was ratified in 1993, followed by a second one in 1999. The process of ESA membership was started during 2001 by means of the ESA European Cooperating State Program, with the target of gradual integration during 2005-2009. By Law no. 40/1993, ROSA is the Romanian Government representative in the relation with ESA.
On 17 February 2006 Romania strengthened its relations with ESA by signing the European Cooperating State Agreement, becoming the third European country to join this status.
The signed agreement defines the legal basis for developing a Plan for European Cooperating State (PECS) Charter, describing activities, projects and budget for Romania's cooperation with ESA. It is expected that the PECS Charter will be signed within the next 12 months.
Mandated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROSA acts as the head of delegation of Romania for the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). During 2004-2006, Romania, by ROSA, detains the chairmanship of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of COPUOS.
Other agreements are concluded with major space agencies: NASA, CNES, and Russian Space Agency (in negotiations). Regional agreements are signed between ROSA, the Hungarian Space Office (1998) and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency (1997).
A regional network of cooperation in space science and technology for Central Eastern and South-Eastern Europe has been supported by seven countries n the region since 1998 in the frame of UN-COPUOS. Since 2003, ROSA, by RRC, is one of the partners in the ERA FP6 project START, with the aim to promote development and cooperation in the fields of space and aeronautics among the Associated Candidate Countries and New Member States. By means of CRUTA, ROSA developed excellent relations with the EU Joint Research Center since 1998 in the field of remote sensing applications for agriculture.
ROSA is also a member of EURISY (since 2001) and acts as the National secretary for COSPAR (since 1995). Members of the RRC staff are representing Romania to the EU FP6 related activities and are members in relevant organizations, as the International Academy of Astronautics.
Acting at the international level as a promoter of space applications as tools for a better life, ROSA was actively present to organizational initiatives in the field of the UN-COPUOS, ESA and other organizations. In 1999, ROSA co-organized with UN the “UNISPACE III Regional Preparatory Conference for Eastern Europe” (Bucharest, January 1999). During 21-25 May 2003, the UN/ESA/ROSA “Workshop on Space Technology for Disaster Management for Europe” was organized in Romania. The regional Conference “The Danube and Europe: Target for Integrated Space Applications” was co-organized by EURISY and ROSA during 23-25 June 2004 in Mamaia, Romania.
At the national level, ROSA is the horizontal manager of the scientific / technology cluster of space and aerospace research and technology groups and security from Romania. More than 150 organizations (research, universities, industry, SME’s, NGO’s) are included as contractors in the program coordinated by ROSA. ROSA cooperates by means of bilateral agreements with relevant national organizations, as the National Institute for Aerospace Research, the Institute of Space Science, Polytehnica University Bucharest, other Centers. ROSA is involved in joint national and international projects with other institutes and organizations. ROSA is participating in professional associations – as for telemedicine, aeronautics and is involved in the development of a science and technology park.
The ROSA Research Centre (RRC) was organized in 1998 as an entity represented legally by ROSA which joined all research contracts in a unique management. Another step were the joint venture agreements concluded with CRUTA – the Romanian Centre for Remote Sensing Applications in Agriculture – a SME laboratory organized initially as an independent branch of the ISPIF (Research and Development Institute for Land Use)– and the Institute of Space Science in Bucharest. Since 2001, the RRC has been selected by the Ministry of Education and Research as a Centre of Excellence in Space Applications.
The fields of science and technology knowledge developed by the ROSA – 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;
Space information systems integration (including Global Navigation Satellite Systems);
Space technology for risk management and security.
The expertise covers newly developed advanced technology in remote sensing (satellite and airborne), geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), geomatics and area-frame techniques. A new field of expertise is the GRID and data-mining technologies.
The research in ROSA - RRC is project-oriented. The overall objectives are to produce science and technology, to transfer the results to the users and to generate physical and human infrastructure (capacity building).
