The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA; ) is a public institution that coordinates Romania's national space technology. ROSA, established in 1991, is subordinate to the Romanian Ministry of Education.
ROSA is not a representative of the Romanian Government, but ROSA establishes cooperative agreements with international organizations such as the European Space Agency, and the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). Along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROSA represents Romania at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (COPUOS) and at its subcommittees.
In addition, the Romanian Space Agency conducts research projects through the ROSA Research Center.
History There are several notable historical figures in the aeronautics from Romania, including: Traian Vuia, designer and constructor of the first autonomous take-off airplane in 1906. Henri Coandă, designer and constructor of the first jet airplane in 1910. Elie Carafoli, contributor in aerodynamics and space sciences, former president of the IAF.
Romania is host to heritage companies like Airstar, Avioane Craiova, Industria Aeronautică Română, Romaero and Societatea Pentru Exploatări Tehnice. The country currently manufactures twenty different types of aircraft, based on a mix of domestic and international designs.
The country has experience in the field of space applications, such as satellite communications, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), global information, and positioning and navigation systems. Since 1977 it has operated as an Intelsat ground station in Cheia with two 32-metre antennas. Romania has been involved in more than thirty scientific and technological space missions in the Interkosmos program, including the 1981 flight of Dorin-Dumitru Prunariu on the Soyuz 40.
In 1992, Romania signed a cooperation agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the peaceful uses of outer space, followed by a Framework Agreement with ESA in 2006. Romania contributed through co-investigators to several ESA missions such as Hershel, Planck, SOHO and Gaia.
With Romania's accession to ESA on December 22, 2011, Romanian researchers in the industry now have the opportunity to participate in ESA missions. Since 2004, Marius-Ioan Piso (born January 7, 1954) has served as acting President of the agency and as executive director since 2005. He was involved in the establishment of the Romanian Space Agency in 1991.
The first Romanian satellite, Goliat was launched on the first flight of European Vega launch vehicle on 13 February 2012 from Guiana Space Centre.
Activities in the national and international programs National programs Leadership of national program of CD-I AEROSPACE Leadership of national program of CD-I SECURITY CEEX (11 projects coordinated and 7 as a partner) CORINT (3 projects coordinated) INFOSOC (2 projects coordinated and 1 as a partner) AMTRANS (1 project coordinated and 1 as a partner) AGRAL (1 project coordinated) RELANSIN (1 project coordinated) PNCDI-I (10 projects coordinated and 8 as a partner) PNCDI-II (10 projects coordinated and 10 as a partner)
International programs European Space Agency (ESA) (3) 6th Framework Program of the European Commission CD-I (5) United Nations (UN) Programs (2) Food and Agricultural organizational programs (2) PHARE Program (1) Bilateral and multilateral collaborations (10) Participation in consortia, networks, technology platforms
National and international affiliations Space Agencies Forum (1997) COSPAR (Committee for Space Research International Council of Science) (1994) — Romanian secretariat European Space Agency (ESA) — representative of Romania (1993–present) EURISY — member (2000) United Nations Regional Network for Space Sciences and Technology (1997)
Major international agreements ESA: European Cooperating State — 2006 and PECS 2007–2011. France: Agreement with CNES (2000) — project; Agreement with CNES (2004) — COROT space mission. Italy: Agreement of scientific cooperation signed with the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) in 2003. NASA: Understanding signed in May 2000. Projects in telemedicine, agriculture, and micro-gravity experiments on the International Space Station. NASA: Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Entertainment for the (AMS) on the ISS. Azerbaijan: Co-operation agreement signed in 2003 with the Azerbaijan National Aerospace Agency. Bulgaria: Agreement of co-operation in the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space in 1997 signed with the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency. Eastern countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic, Turkey) Contribution to the Regional Network for Research and Education in Space Science and Technology (under the auspices of the United Nations). Hungary: Agreement of space cooperation signed in 1998 with the Hungarian Space Office. Italy: Agreement of co-operation signed in 1998 with the Italian Space Agency.
Romanian experiment on STS-133 The final flight of NASA's space shuttle Discovery — NASA mission STS-133 — transported a Romanian experiment created by the Romanian Institute for Space Science to the International Space Station.
Growth and Survival of Colored Fungi in Space (CFS-A) was an experiment designed to determine the effect of microgravity and cosmic radiation on the growth and survival of colored fungi species.
Principal investigators: Dumitru Hasegan, Romanian Institute for Space Science, Bucharest. (ESA). The launch of STS-133 took place on February 24, 2011.
GOLIAT Goliat is the first Romanian artificial microsatellite, launched on February 13, 2012. It was selected to be launched into orbit by the European Vega rocket, on its first operational flight.
The system was developed and designed by ROSA in collaboration with the Institute of Space Sciences, BITNET and ELPROF companies between 2005 and 2007. The microsatellite is a cube with sides of 10 centimetres and a weight of one kilogram.
The Goliat mission was funded by the National Authority for Scientific Exploration within the National Excellence Research program and it has an educational character, being the first microsatellite launched in a ROSA space program.
RoBiSAT RoBiSAT represents the second Romanian artificial nanosatellites mission. The mission is composed of 2 Cubesat 2U-type satellites and was supposed to be part of the QB50 constellation. They were to be sent to the ISS in the second quarter of 2017 on the Cygnus CRS OA-7 however the mission was postponed indefinitely.
The two nanosatellites, called RoBiSAT 1 and RoBiSAT 2, were built at the Institute of Space Science located in Magurele, Romania.
Expertise National expertise National Attributes: Acting under the Authority of the Romanian Government — Ministry of Education and Research (1995) Reporting to the Sub-commission for Space — RO Parliament (2007) Executive president for the Inter-Ministerial Board on Security Research (2004) and Inter-agency INSPIRE Group of experts Inter-agency coop.: Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Interior Affairs, Romanian Intelligence Service Contract authority and PMU for the national RTD Programs on Space, Aeronautics, Security (1995–2008) Component of the National Emergencies Council (2000) National Certification Authority for GRID information infrastructures (2006) Certified security and classification organizational structure authorized to establish research and development Centers oriented on specific objectives of the Romanian RTD Plan
International expertise International attributes: ROSA is the appointed national representative for: European Space Agency (ESA) — by Laws 40/1993 and 01/2007 (1992–present) United Nations — Committee on the Peaceful uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) — by mandate from the Foreign Ministry (1994–present) Consultant for the EU Space Council / European Space Policy EC — FP6 — AEROSPACE PC (2001–2006) EC — FP7 — SPACE PC, SECURITY RESEARCH PC, TRANSPORTS PC (Aeronautics and Galileo) EC — GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA), GMES Advisory Council (GAC) (2007) INSPIRE — by mandate from the Ministry of Education and Research (2005–present) COSPAR — ICSU — National secretariat (1994–present) GEO — Principal representative NATO — Scientific Committee “Science for Peace and Security” (2004–present) NATO — RTO — Space ST Advisory Group (SSTAG) (2005–present) Space agencies: NASA, CNES (French Space Agency), Russia ROSKOSMOS (negotiations), Hungary, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan . . . Bilateral agreements International organizations membership and/or national representative: COSPAR, IAF, IAA, EURISY, ACARE, EREA, ASD, EDA, others Bilateral agreements with research organizations
Joining ESA The first agreement between Romania and the European Space Agency (ESA) was signed in 1992, followed in 1999 by the Romania–ESA Agreement on cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of space. Since 2007, Romania contributes to the ESA budget as a European Cooperating State (PECS), status ratified by Law no. 1/2007.
On December 22, 2011, Romania became the 19th member of the European Space Agency.
An important step in the accession process was to conduct a technical audit on the relevant entities in Romania (institutes, research centres, industrial companies and SMEs), which have space technological capabilities. The audit was conducted by ESA, based on a sample of 130 entities, 50 of them being organized technical visits and interviews.
The full member state of the European Space Agency status gives the organizations in Romania access, in the same way as the ESA countries, to all programs run. This is an important technology transfer and the opening of a high-tech market. The intellectual property is maintained at a national level, having an important role in the establishment of competence in the country.
Research ROSA Research Center The ROSA Research Center (RRC) was formed in 1998. Another step was the joint venture agreements concluded with CRUTA — the Romanian Center for Remote Sensing Applications in Agriculture — an SME laboratory initially organized as an independent branch of the ISPIF (Research and Development Institute for Land Use). A joint venture agreement was concluded with the Institute of Space Science in Bucharest.
Since 2006, on behalf of the Romanian Government, ROSA has strengthened its relationship with ESA by signing a PECS agreement.
RRC developed, since 2003, R&D projects addressing national strategy, as well as technological development in the GNSS field. One of the last projects, “Capacity, Infrastructure and Applications for GNSS-GALILEO” directly addressed the problem of extending EGNOS in Eastern Europe through infrastructure development.
Results of the research activities Romanian Space Agency has no object of industrialization and marketing. The research results were used for the development of systems and services dedicated to a particular beneficiary (information systems, consulting, education): Consulting services in satellite and inertial navigation applications (aerospace and GIS) Quality control services for the implementation of LPIS (system control plot) for agricultural subventions (paying agency of the Ministry of Agriculture) Information systems consulting for units/research (SMEs) Educational Software for remote sensing satellite and specialized disaster monitoring (European Space Agency) Pilot control system for Prahova SIPA plot Geographic information services through satellite remote sensing (Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environment) Satellite communication systems and data communication services (SMEs) Consulting regarding industries (European Space Agency) Pilot control system for Prahova SIPA plot Geographic information services through satellite remote sensing (Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environment)