Editing CNES (section)

== Programs ==
CNES concentrates on access to space, civil applications of space, sustainable development, science/technology research, and security/defence.<ref>{{cite web|title=About CNES |date=23 April 2015|url=http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/3773-about-cnes.php|publisher=CNES}}</ref>

===Access to space===
[[File:Ariane-1-3-4-showcase.jpg|thumb|[[Ariane 1]], [[Ariane 3|3]] and [[Ariane 4|4]] models in a CNES window]]
[[File:Ariane-5-model.jpg|thumb|[[Ariane 5]]-ECA model showcase at CNES, [[Paris]]]]
France was the third space power (see [[Diamant]]) to achieve [[Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes|access to space]] after the USSR and US, sharing technologies with Europe to develop the Ariane launcher family. Commercial competition in space is fierce, so launch services must be tailored to space operators' needs. The latest versions of the [[Ariane 5]] launch vehicle can launch large satellites to [[geosynchronous orbit]] or perform dual launches—launching two full-size satellites with one rocket—while the other launch vehicles used for European payloads and commercial satellites—the European/Italian [[Vega (launcher)|Vega]] and Russian [[Soyuz-2 (rocket)|Soyuz-2]]—are small and medium-lift launchers, respectively.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Federation|first=International Astronautical|title=IAF : Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)|url=https://www.iafastro.org/membership/all-members/centre-national-detudes-spatiales-cnes.html|access-date=2021-03-02|website=www.iafastro.org|language=en}}</ref>

===Sustainable development===
CNES and its partners in Europe—through the [[Copernicus Programme]] —and around the world have put in place satellites dedicated to observing the land, oceans, and atmosphere, as well as to hazard and crisis management. The best-known are the [[SPOT (satellite)|SPOT satellites]] flying the Vegetation instrument, the Topex/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2 [[oceanography]] satellites, the Argos system, [[Envisat]], and the [[Pléiades (satellite)|Pleiades satellites]].

===Civil applications===
CNES is taking part in the [[Galileo positioning system|Galileo]] navigation programme alongside the European Union and the [[European Space Agency]] (ESA), and—in a wider international context—in the [[International Cospas-Sarsat Programme]].<ref name="Galileo">{{cite web|title=Galileo and EGNOS|url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo_and_EGNOS|website=ESA Navigation|publisher=ESA|access-date=30 April 2018|date=August 24, 2017}}</ref>

===Security and defense===
The aforementioned [[Galileo (satellite navigation)|Galileo navigation]] programme, though intended primarily for civilian navigational use, has a military purpose as well, like the similar American [[Global Positioning System]] and Russian [[GLONASS]] satellite navigational systems.<ref name="Galileo" />

In addition to Spot and the future Pleiades satellites, CNES is working for the defence community as prime contractor for the [[Helios 1b|Helios]] photo-reconnaissance [[Helios 2 (satellite)|satellites]].

[[Copernicus Programme|Global Monitoring for Environment and Security]]—a joint initiative involving the EU, ESA, and national space agencies—pools space resources to monitor the environment and protect populations, though it also encompasses satellite support for armed forces on border patrol, maritime security, and peacekeeping missions.<ref>{{cite press release |date=September 2016 |title=Security Service |url=http://copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Copernicus_Factsheets/Copernicus_Security_October2017.pdf |location=Paris |publisher=European Space Agency |access-date=2018-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501093124/http://copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Copernicus_Factsheets/Copernicus_Security_October2017.pdf |archive-date=2018-05-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Ongoing missions===
France's contribution to the [[International Space Station]] is giving French scientists the opportunity to perform original experiments in [[microgravity]]. CNES is also studying formation flying, a technique whereby several satellites fly components of a much heavier and complex instrument in a close and tightly controlled configuration, with satellites being as close as tens of meters apart. CNES is studying formation flying as part of the Swedish-led [[Prisma (satellite project)|PRISMA]] project and on its own with the Simbol-x x-ray telescope mission.<ref>{{cite press release |date=June 22, 2006 |title=PRISMA PROGRAMME SEEKS TO ACQUIRE EXPERTISE IN FORMATION FLYING |url=https://cnes.fr/en/web/CNES-en/5283-prisma-programme-seeks-to-acquire-expertise-in-formation-flying.php |location=Toulouse |publisher=CNES |access-date=2018-04-30}}</ref>

CNES currently collaborates with other space agencies on a number of projects, including orbital telescopes like [[INTEGRAL|INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory]], [[XMM-Newton]], and [[COROT]] and space probes like [[Mars Express]], [[Venus Express]], [[Cassini-Huygens]], and [[Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta]]. CNES has collaborated with NASA on missions like the Earth observation satellite [[PARASOL]] and the [[CALIPSO]] environment and weather satellite.

It has also collaborated with the Indian Space Agency ([[ISRO]]) on the [[Megha-Tropiques Mission]], which is studying the [[water cycle]] and how it has been impacted by [[Global warming|climate change]]. CNES plays a major role in the ESA's [[Living Planet Programme]] of Earth observation satellites, having constructed the [[Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite]].

===UFO Archive===
{{Wikinews|French agency CNES to release UFO archives on the Internet}}
In December 2006, CNES announced that it would publish its UFO archive online by late January or mid-February. Most of the 6,000 reports have been filed by the public and airline professionals. Jacques Arnould, an official for the French Space Agency, said that the data had accumulated over a 30-year period and that UFO sightings were often reported to the [[Gendarmerie]].

In the last two decades of the 20th century, France was the only country whose government paid UFO investigators, employed by CNES's UFO section GEPAN, later known as SEPRA and now as [[GEIPAN]].

{{Wikinews|French Space Agency CNES releases UFO files}}
On March 22, 2007, CNES released its UFO files to the public through its website. The 100,000 pages of witness testimony, photographs, film footage, and audiotapes are an accumulation of over 1,600 sightings since 1954 and will include all future UFO reports obtained by the agency, through its GEIPAN unit.