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CNES has been innovatingfor industry, the military and research for 60 years

Jean-Yves Le Gall

CNES President

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industrie
Industry

The French space ecosystem is driving innovation and fuelling our economy.

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Defence

We are stepping up to the plate to assure our sovereignty and security, on Earth and in space.

recherche
Research

To understand our planet and explore the universe, we are pushing the boundaries of knowledge.

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Centimetres is the precision of satellite positioning data from the DORIS instrument operating on several missions (Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B, Sentinel-6, SWOT, etc.).

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Million km from Earth is where the U.S.-European James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the successor to Hubble, will orbit. It has taken 20 years to build and will be launched by a special variant of Ariane 5.

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Laser shots on Mars fired by the French-U.S. ChemCam instrument on the Curiosity rover since landing in 2012.

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Billion euros in funding secured for Europe’s space programme for 2020-2022 (2020-2024 for mandatory programmes) at the Space19+ ESA Ministerial Conference in late November 2019 in Seville.

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Orbital probes, spacecraft and observatories launched for science over the last 50 years from the Guiana Space Centre: from Gaia and Rosetta to the SPOT satellites, Planck, Herschel and ATV, CNES has hosted a plethora of emblematic ‘passengers’.

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Young students hosted every year by CNES for their end-of-degree internship.

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Tonnes is the weight of the Ariane 6 mobile gantry, the largest of its kind in the world.

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New small satellites set to be orbited between now and 2022.

82%

Engineers and executives, 37% of them women, make up CNES’s workforce.

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CNES

Four centres of EXCELLENCE

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CNES Head Office

All the languages of the world can be heard in the corridors of our Paris Les Halles facility! Every year, new agreements lay the foundation for science and technology partnerships. This is where we map out France’s space policy and coordinate CNES’s programmes.

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Launch Vehicles Directorate (DLA)

Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega are sustaining our strategic access to space. In Paris Daumesnil, we are leveraging our teams’ unique launch systems expertise to craft the vehicles of the future and maintain our sector’s competitive edge.

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Toulouse Space Centre

Developing satellites, exploiting their data and operating instruments on Mars, our teams in Toulouse are engaged on all fronts. Our agency’s biggest technical and operational field centre is inventing the future of space and bringing it into our daily lives.

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Guiana Space Centre

Pictures of satellites and launchers lifting off from Europe’s spaceport in the heart of French Guiana’s forest are viewed the world over, all made possible by the 1,700 people and 40 firms working at the base. Today, the Guiana Space Centre is evolving and upgrading to boost performance while preserving its environment

60 years

of stargazing

In 2021, CNES is celebrating a legacy of 60 years fuelling dreams and advancing science and technology. Today, society is in need of space and at CNES we are ready for a new decade of space exploration with you.

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CNES digest 2021
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