The French Space Agency CNES’ Toulouse, France location. Photo: CNES

[Via Satellite 10-05-2015] French space agency, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have signed a revised cooperation agreement to promote and organize joint actions in the peaceful use of outer space. The agreement also enables exchanges of personnel with a view to forging closer ties between the agencies, and establishes terms and conditions for a framework conducive to cooperation.

The new agreement builds on a previous agreement signed in 2010. CNES and JAXA sought to update the agreement following changes in the space sector such as the increasing presence of emerging countries, the private sector, and changes in Japan such as the enactment of the new “Basic Plan for Space Policy” and the transition of JAXA to a national research and development agency. The revised agreement includes strategic meetings to hone collaborative initiatives and prioritizes cooperation through joint missions, space-based applications and the space environment.