Romania

Whereas Earth is the cradle of humankind – as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky famously said, Romania is one of the cradles of spaceflight. The history of space-related activities in Romania is four centuries older than the beginning of the modern Space Era.

As early as the 16th Century, Hermanstadt (modern day Sibiu, in Transilvania) became the place where Austrian engineer Conrad Haas (1509-1576) imagined world’s first multistage rocket. In his work Haas dealt with the technical details of rocket construction, describing many rocket types - including bundled rockets, and the idea of modern spacecraft. His work also dealt with the theory of motion of multi-stage rockets, different fuel mixtures using liquid fuel, and introduced delta-shape fins and bell-shaped nozzles.

In the 19th Century, Transylvania became the cradle of one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics. Herman Oberth was born in 1894 in the city of Schäßburg (present-day Sighişoara). His doctoral thesis, rejected as utopian by German scientists, was acclaimed in 1923 by the Romanian University of Cluj. For several years before his final departure from Romania in 1938, Oberth taught physics and mathematics at the Stephan Ludwig Roth High School in Mediaş.

Romania is also the home of aviation pioneers like Traian Vuia, Aurel Vlaicu and Henri Coanda. The latter is the builder of world's first jet powered aircraft, the Coanda-1910. The technology powering the White Knight – the mothership of SpaceShipOne – is rooted in the mind of a Romanian scientist.

Last but not least, Romanian engineer Elie Carafoli (1901-1983) brought his pioneering contribution to the field of Aerodynamics, being president of IAF between 1968 and 1972.

The communist regime, installed in Romania in 1947 – ten years before the start of the Space Age – chased away brilliant minds like Herman Oberth’s. On a positive side, the Soviet Union started the Intercosmos program, allowing citizens from allied Warsaw Pact and other Socialist nations to participate in space exploration. Most notable were the manned space flight missions that allowed the training and participation of twelve cosmonauts in Soyuz missions, along with the soviet cosmonauts between 1978 and 1988. This allowed Dumitru Dorin Prunariu to become the first Romanian cosmonaut. On May 14, 1981 he took off aboard Soyuz 40 and spent eight days on the Salyut 6 space station doing scientific research and experiments, including exploration of Earth's magnetic field.

In 1989, the fall of the Communist regime brought upon an era of freedom throughout Eastern Europe. The year 1991 marks the establishment of the Romanian Space Agency, reorganized by a Government Decision in 1995 as an independent public institution under the auspices of the Ministry of Research and Technology. The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) is the national co-ordinating body of the space activities in Romania. Its mission is to direct the national space research and applications programs, to promote space development, to be the Government representative in the international space cooperation and to develop specific project oriented research.

The European Space Agency (ESA) established relations with Eastern European countries in the early nineties when they approached ESA requesting to collaborate in space programs. This led to the signing of a framework Agreement with four countries, which evolved through joint cooperation projects. Thus, in 1992, one year after the establishment of ROSA, Romania signed in Paris the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the European Space Agency concerning cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. The agreement was ratified by the Romanian Parliament by means of Law 40/1993. Similar agreements were concluded by Hungary (1991), Poland (1994) and Czech Republic (1997). This Agreement paved the way for Romanian participation in several research projects with other European countries.

Between 1993 and 1999, a number of cooperative activities took place between ROSA and ESA in the field of science, space applications and exchange of information.

In October 1999, a second Agreement of Cooperation between the European Space Agency and the Government of Romania was signed, by Dr. Antonio Rodota on behalf of ESA and by Dr. Dumitru Dorin Prunariu, on behalf of the Romanian Government, in front of Prime Minister of Romania. ROSA’s CEO, Dr. Marius-Ioan Piso, has been appointed as the representative of Romania in the relations with ESA. This marked an opening for cooperation opportunities in several domains, including space industry. Art. 2.2 of the Agreement states:
“The areas considered by the Parties as offering potential for cooperation under this Agreement are:
•Space science, in particular space astronomy and astrophysics, solar system exploration and solar-terrestrial physics;
•Earth observation research and applications, in particular environmental monitoring, meteorology, aeronomy, geodesy and monitoring of major hazards;
•Telecommunications, in particular service demonstrations and satellite navigation;
•Microgravity research, in particular space biology and medicine, and materials processing;
•Ground segment engineering and utilization

In practice, Romania participated at:
space science missions PLANCK, SPORt, ROSETTA, CLUSTER, FAST;
Microgravity - ISS, ESA microgravity campaign. In July 2003, four Romanian students participated at the 6th Parabolic Flight Campaign for Students at Bordeaux, France, under the aegis of European Space Agency.
Earth observation - utilization of ERS data, training and preparations for ENVISAT, flood monitoring, Black Sea coastal studies
Telemedicine - project SHARED (1998)
Precision farming - project ADAM (ESA-CNES-ROSA)
Training courses, seminars, workshops
Software – LEOWORKS
ESA Education Office Outreach Program

On January 24-25, 2001, in the Romanian resort of Sinaia, ROSA, togheter with ESA and Eurisy, organized the “ESA - Romania Space Industry Workshop”.

The main goal of the Romanian Space Agency became the full integration in the European Space Agency. In September 2001, the European Space Agency organized a workshop in Paris with representatives from the four European Cooperating States. The objective of the workshop was to present the different possibilities existing through this newly created ECS status and to understand the different views and possible concerns of ESA’s partners in order to proceed, on a bilateral basis, with the negotiations of the ECS Agreement with each interested country (Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic).

The objectives of the Program for European Cooperating States (PECS) are, inter alia, to strengthen industrial expertise and the space industry network in each ECS, to allow a fair and equitable participation in future Agency programs, to encourage cooperation between scientific communities in ESA Member States and ECS, and to help countries to become more familiar with ESA’s working methods and decision making processes - paving the way for joining the Agency.

The PECS opens up the possibility to increase the potential synergy between ESA programs and the future plans in the space field for the four European partners. The ECS Agreement better suits our current industrial and financial capacities than the closer Associate Membership. It allows our four countries to participate in all Agency programs and enables ESA to benefit from our expertise.

Between 11-12 May 2004, Bucharest hosted the ESA Workshop on Space Industry.

In February 2006, ROSA and ESA invited all the stakeholders at the “SURE Session Announcement of Opportunity 2006 Information Workshop” held in Bucharest, at the Romanian Academy’s Library. The ESA’s SURE Programme leaders presented an opportunity unique at this time - to perform applied research activities aboard the International Space Station.

On 17 February 2006 Romania strengthened its relations with ESA by formally signing in Bucharest the European Cooperating State Agreement, becoming the third European country to acquire this status. Hungary was the first in April 2003 followed by the Czech Republic in November of the same year and by Poland in April 2007. 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.

In May 2007, representatives of European Cooperating States met at ESA headquarters in Paris to establish the Committee for the Plan for European Cooperating States. Present at this event were 15 delegates including representatives of ECS, observers from ESA Committees and delegations.

Within a year of signing an ECS agreement, each country would sign a PECS Charter - a five-year plan jointly agreed between ESA and the ECS which sets out the ESA activities in which the country will participate as well as its financial commitments. These include an agreement to commit a minimum of Euro 1 million per year, for five years, to strengthen the country's space industry.

By means of the European Cooperating State mechanism, and through the support of the relatively strong potential of the space and aerospace national industry, it is expected that Romania will become a relevant partner for ESA during this decade.