Astrium mobilises to tackle global warming

At the beginning of May 2007, Astrium launched a company-wide appeal for ideas to combat global warming, inviting applications from all its sites in five countries. Over 380 suggestions were received via the intranet, and Astrium CEO François Auque just awarded prizes for the ten best ideas.

A selection committee had met during the summer to analyse the ideas and identify the subjects that appeared most promising in terms of future contributions by space to the fight against global warming. Ten ideas were selected in the four following topics: charting the thermal loss of buildings, measuring greenhouse gas emissions, capturing solar energy and transmitting it to Earth, analysing the winds to reduce air traffic consumption.

The four selected domains will now be studied in depth by working groups to establish their technical and economical feasibility.

This initiative demonstrates Astrium’s willingness to play a major and dynamic role in the battle against global warming by developing space systems adapted to this fight. It was part of Astrium’s celebration of World Space Week (4 to 10 October), with exhibitions in Toulouse, Bordeaux and Madrid, participation in various conferences to mark the 50th anniversary of the Space Age, and activities by Astrium staff in local schools to encourage pupils to talk about space.