Strengthening space ties: new ESA International Fellowship for a Brazilian researcher

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Brazil have maintained a collaborative relationship in space exploration and technology over the years. In 2002, ESA and Brazil signed a Framework Cooperation Agreement to expand joint efforts in space science, Earth Observation, telecommunications, microgravity experiments, and life sciences, facilitating the exchange of experts and collaborative studies, and strengthening the scientific and technical ties between the two entities.

Since then, other joint initiatives followed. In 2011, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) became a member of the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’, an ESA co-founded global initiative that provides rapid satellite data access to support disaster management efforts. In 2018, ESA and the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) signed an Implementing Arrangement to establish and use telemetry and tracking facilities in Natal, Brazil.

In March 2024, Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA, and Clezio Marcos De Nardin, Director of the National Institute for Space Research, signed a Protocol of Intent to strengthen the relationship between ESA and INPE/AEB.

As part of the research outcomes stemming from the Protocol of Intent signed between ESA and INPE, Gabriel da Rocha Bragion, ESA International Research Fellow, will spend 12 months at ESA Φ-lab developing methods for estimating carbon stocks from biomass, using SAR data and machine learning techniques. 

Read the full article on www.eo4society.esa.int.